Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

macondo123 · 2011-05-11 15:34:54

I found this old article, and it has improved the speed of iceweasel on my box.

http://www.ampercent.com/mozilla-firefo … aster/975/

krombi · 2011-05-12 11:03:51

Thanks! I'll try it soon on an older machine with just 512 MB of RAM.

Jade · 2011-05-15 20:18:55

This might be useful for netbooks

Val_B · 2011-05-15 20:31:59

Just an FYI about:config also works on Seamonkey/IceApe but, I have not found any settings changes to make much of an impact, YMMV though.

CBizgreat! · 2012-02-13 21:05:19

Am going to weasel my way into this how to, ya might even say iceweasel my way into etc smile . For a coupla reasons.

1. Imo it's a horrible example of how to tweak mozilla browsers.
2. Was thinking about adding a how to on this topic anyway and this one is already in the quick reference, shrugs.
3. Did I mention this is a pitiful how to about tweaking anything mozilla ? Don't want people seeing n trying this and concluding this is anything like the best 2 be had on the subject. The thing about trim on minimize is for windows, doesn't even work on gnu/Linux me thinks ... Just in general bytes real hard, so here's a real how to, on how to make iceweasel/firefox etc etc blaze and use less system resources.

1st things 1st, let's set up a new profile, so you can tweak and experiment in safety w/o messing up your working mozilla profile.

In terminal ...

firefox -P &exit

In a run dialogue ..

firefox -P

note: Firefox, iceweasel etc etc etc profile manager isn't avail if someone is still using an oldish version of a mozilla browser. Most don't have to worry, Corenominal took care of that by default and the rest don't have to worry either, upgrading iceweasel is just a #! forum search away. Only noting that less than version 4, think peeps are out of luck when it comes to the profile manager.

We run the above, the mozilla profile manager opens, we can create, rename or delete an existing profile and we already see that we have a default profile, we're going to create a new one, name it whatever ya like. Then you see a checkbox beside something saying Dont ask at startup ... We uncheck that box for now, so we can choose which profile we're going to use when a mozilla browser is launched.

We launch iceweasel(or whichever mozilla browser you have), profile manager pops up, we choose the new test profile we just made. The browser opens and you start w a clean slate, no plugins, no tweaks, everything plain default vanilla. Exactly what we want.

No matter what browser someone happens to be using, setting up your system to use a better dns server will definitely give you a speed boost. See this thread for more on it.

Next we install the plugin/addon noscript, it's a must have imo. Keeps javascript, flash and other web junk from eating up your CPU/RAM ... So yep, will give a speed boost and will save you mucho in terms of system resources by itself.

Now the about:config tweak section of this babbling post:

Click on the address bar in your mozilla browser and type about:config hit Enter, Accept the warning, as it doesn't really matter anyway, you have a brand new profile to play with, something goes wrong delete it, create another and start again ... There's a search bar at the top of the about:config settings and we are going to use it heartily now.

Type the following into that search bar, when they come up, set them as follows, or however ya happen to find works best for you, but these are about:config tweaks I've long used and gotten good result with.

network.http ( and all these will come up) Right click on each of them and select toggle so they are set to true.

1. network.http.pipelining
2. network.http.pipelining.ssl
3. network.http.proxy.pipelining
4. network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy Right click, select modify, set it to 8-10
5. network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server set it to 8-10 too.

6. network.http.max-connections-per-server set it to 16
7. network.http.pipelining.maxrequests also set to be 8
8. network.http.redirection-limit Set to 5
9. network.dns.disableIPv6 Set to true
10. network.http.fast-fallback-to-IPv4 Set to false ( if it isn't already default)

11. dom.popup_maximum Mine is set to 10 from a default of 20, number of popups a site can open.
12. network.prefetch-next toggled to false ( disables prefetching)
13. browser.backspace_action Set to 0 so backspace button works normally in mozilla browsers for gnu/Linux.
14. browser.sessionstore.max_tabs_undo Mine set to 5, can't remember what it is default.
15. browser.sessionhistory.max_entries ( default is 50) Set mine to 25
16. browser.sessionstore.max_windows_undo ... mine set to 1 from default of 3
17. browser.sessionstore.max_resumed_crashes ... Mine set to 1

18. browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers Set mine to 0, default -1 for 512mb/ram = 5wbpgs stored for backbutton. You could also set it to summin like 2, then 2wbpgs are stored. On highspeed connections it really isn't all that important takes all of .5secs for a webpage to reload fresh etc.

19. browser.sessionstore.interval ... Mine is set to 300000, so Fireweasel backs-up my current browsing session every 5mins. In case the browser crashes, it restores to the last sessionstore pt. Default is 15000 ... Think that's way too often. Have also heard of this default setting causing people youtube problems. Choppy ... laggy youtubing. etc. Of course you might prefer more often, nothing wrong with that play with it ... See what works best for you. ie: 60000 = Every 60secs

Notes: Many of you will have modern spec hardware with gigs n gigs of RAM anyway. So some of the above isn't so much important to you. Peeps like me with a massive 512mbs of ddr2 EVERY MB counts. Though such stuff as this and many the OS tweak too allows me to really make the most of things. For giggles earlier had Aurora ( aka: FF 11) running w 42 tabs open = 255mbs/ram. Follow and play with this stuff and you will have a much faster mozilla browsing experience and a much more system resources friendly one too.

Not so fast ... as usual thought of some junk to add.
UPDATE: For people with vidcards, Mozilla seems to suggest that leaving hardware acceleration enabled in both Firefor/IW can be a good thing in improving RAM usage. I have integrated intel graphics, no stand alone video card. Also get the feeling, it's mainly a "windoze-centric" thing. But if you have a stand alone video-card onboard. Might be a good idea to try it both ways and see what results you get with hardware acceleration on/off.

I also disable hardware acceleration in iceweasel/firefox/Aurora/etc's settings. In the browsers menu select Edit, then Preferences, then the Advanced tab, then the General tab and you'll see the checkbox for it. Also do some other tweaks in the browser settings themselves, like under the Tabs tab, I tend to uncheck stuff like warn on close, warn when opening too many tabs may slow x browser down etc.
Under the Privacy tab in the mozilla browsers settings ... A place to select History, I like to click that lil drop down menu and select "Use custom settings for history". You can fiddle with this o course to suit your preferences. I always uncheck the box for "Accept 3rd party cookies" and also like to set the Keep until to be "Until I close Firefox" So cookies get deleted everytime I close the browser.
And finally ... I also disable hardware acceleration in Adobe's accursed flashplayer. Go to youtube, select a video, pause the sucker and Right click anywhere within the video's box, adobe FP's controls open, select Settings and then uncheck box for "Enable hardware acceleration". That's about it, play around with this and other stuff until you find what settings work best for you. Some of the stuff in this quote is of course just my preferences, somebody else may of course like something else better.

vll ! wink

Last edited by CBizgreat! (2012-06-08 02:03:35)

thevdude · 2012-02-14 04:47:04

The easiest way? Get swiftfox!

machinebacon · 2012-02-14 04:59:06

...and set browser.tabs.animate to 0 cool

Last edited by machinebacon (2012-02-14 04:59:29)

CBizgreat! · 2012-02-14 12:49:26

Thanks for the add machinebacon ... Iz good to see you're still alive n kickin dude. Hadn't seen you popping up in the forums very often. One of the things I like most about mozilla browsers, so many things you can tweak and adjust. Talk about fine grained control of a web browser.

Thevdude ... whatever works for people, thought swiftfox is a long abandoned project though. Somewhere around v 3.5 or 3.6 ... Not that I have anything against it or people using it, if that's what they prefer. Am sure it still works alright too, though w/o continued development. People are no doubt going to be missing much mozilla goodness, as they come out with improvements and plugin selection or whatever else. Guess people would have to try a bunch and see what they like ...

vll ! big_smile

Last edited by CBizgreat! (2012-02-14 13:07:05)

fortyseven · 2012-02-16 06:34:40

I've recently developed a 'strong disliking' to FF and IW; they just seem to be soooo sloooow, especially IW. I've also found that if I leave IW open for long periods, it becomes useless and I have to close and restart.

Switched to Opera and with Turbo enabled, it's almost illegally fast!

CBizgreat! · 2012-02-16 06:55:02

^ Is o course your right to prefer this or that over this n that. However ... failing to see what any of whatcha said had to do with the topic of the thread, not that it matters overmuch either way. Also not that it matters overmuch too. Guessing I could take just about anything mozilla and have it kicking all hell outta Chrome, chromium, and Opera within 10-15mins. On this system and don't see why the same wouldn't apply to everyone elses in da world, mozilla browsers run circles around all the others. Not just faster, use a drop in the bucket of system resources, pretty much hands down kick da crappo outta the rest ... for me anyway.

Mileage may certainly vary though and nothing wrong with people liking whatever they like imo ... And for whatever reasons. Not like it matters much to me which browser someone else decides to use or how well it runs for em.

big_smile ... Shrugs.

afterthought babbling. Opera turbo .. From what I remember is more for dial-up connections. The babbling above is more suited to highspeed internet, which the majority of my country is using. The tweaks could definitely be a tad different for mozilla browsers on dial-up connections, much of it would still totally apply regardless. Have been using a highspeed connection so long, forget what mozilla tweaking would best suit 56k connections. If felt like it, could almost certainly get the same results with it too though, shrugs. Oh well ... again, all for people using what they prefer web browserwise, not like I own mozilla.
Nor have overmuch of a vested interest in showing folks what works for me. Only couldn't help notice how pitiful the info this quick reference linked to was and sought to remedy it for fellow #!'ers n gnu/nixers. As again, it's a horrible specimen of what's involved in making firefox/iceweael/etc run well imo ...

Last edited by CBizgreat! (2012-02-16 07:38:29)

fortyseven · 2012-02-16 14:22:34

^ Babble much? wink

dubois · 2012-02-16 14:31:36

fortyseven wrote:

I've recently developed a 'strong disliking' to FF and IW; they just seem to be soooo sloooow, especially IW. I've also found that if I leave IW open for long periods, it becomes useless and I have to close and restart.
Switched to Opera and with Turbo enabled, it's almost illegally fast!

Since you mention firefox and iceweasel apparently gorging themselves here's a little something that you can <ctrl+alt+r> every so often to knock the RAM usage down a bit. Not saying you need to switch back by any means but your post nudged my memory and I thought to toss this out. wink

CBizgreat! · 2012-02-16 14:54:40

A tad. lol

Interesting plugin dubois, one of the other kewl things about mozilla's stuff. Guessing somebody could use the browser for 20yrs and still be finding new plugins they'd never heard of. Have no need of a restart thingy, still neato how many dang plugins there are floating around.

vll ! smile

UPDATE: I finally went on a plugin rampage and installed several to my work iceweasel profile. I like doing that, I have a web browser I use for work related junk and tend to use another browser for play. Install most my plugins to that work browsers firefox profile, even then tend to keep plugins disabled when am not using them. Same thing could work for someone with only iceweasel or etc installed. Set up one profile for work, one for play kinda thing.

Last edited by CBizgreat! (2012-02-22 00:52:16)

fortyseven · 2012-02-17 06:27:09

dubois wrote:

Since you mention firefox and iceweasel apparently gorging themselves here's a little something that you can <ctrl+alt+r> every so often to knock the RAM usage down a bit. Not saying you need to switch back by any means but your post nudged my memory and I thought to toss this out.

This forum needs a 'thanks' or 'rep' function..

CBizgreat! · 2012-02-23 16:54:53

Came by another tidbit recently. Haven't really had time to check it out, snatched it from da Arch wiki, but it does make sense. Mentioned I disable a lot of stuff I consider fluff, bloat and/or annoying in whichever mozilla browsers settings. Well according to the A wiki this is also supposed to give a small boost.

In iceweasel/firefox/etc control menu select Edit, then Preferences, then Security ... Uncheck the boxes for "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries". As according to the Arch wiki, iceweasel/etc has to send http requests to google to check sites against a blacklist to find out if it should be blocked or not. Those extra requests would amount to some slowdown, not sure how much. I went ahead and disabled the suckers anyway. Am not too concerned with Sec on gnu/nix with mozilla's browsers. Others o course may feel differently, nothing wrong with that. Or with safe than sorry, don't think this is a golden speed boost kinda thing. More along the lines of every lil bit helps n lil stuff adding up, shrugs.

vll ! smile

Last edited by CBizgreat! (2012-02-23 16:59:21)

cJones · 2012-02-28 07:38:34

@ post 5: Good job CBizgreat, thank you! When I get my old desktop up and running it will actually need the help haha

sqlpython · 2012-03-14 01:15:06

Usually try to do that manually, would check out this book

I always get good results with those hacks...

CBizgreat! · 2012-03-14 01:28:00

Definitely hope it helps cjones,

Is always good trying to share anything useful with other nixers and learn good tips, tricks etc from all you gals/guys too. Sqlpython ... appreciate the feedback. Some of this stuff is just preferences I've come to like. Whether trying to get more speed, useability ... make things use less sys resources ... blahblah. But good to hear that others get good results from using similiar mozilla tweakage.

vll ! smile

Anaconda · 2012-03-14 23:52:30

CBizgreat! wrote:

In iceweasel/firefox/etc control menu select Edit, then Preferences, then Security ... Uncheck the boxes for "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries". As according to the Arch wiki, iceweasel/etc has to send http requests to google to check sites against a blacklist to find out if it should be blocked or not. Those extra requests would amount to some slowdown, not sure how much. I went ahead and disabled the suckers anyway. Am not too concerned with Sec on gnu/nix with mozilla's browsers. Others o course may feel differently, nothing wrong with that. Or with safe than sorry, don't think this is a golden speed boost kinda thing. More along the lines of every lil bit helps n lil stuff adding up, shrugs.

Maybe the privacy gurus should take note of this one.

If you are logged out of any Google services and using some other search like ixquick but you are running iceweasel/firefox without these features disabled then "iceweasel/etc has to send http requests to google to check sites against a blacklist" thus informing Google of what sites you are visiting.

Sneaky bastards. hmm

Certainly should be safe enough to disable "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries" if one is running Linux & using noscript & using common sense out on the wild web.

Last edited by Anaconda (2012-03-14 23:55:22)

dubois · 2012-03-15 00:02:55

Hello, Anaconda. I've been running Iceweasel [or Firefox] for four-and-a-half years with those two boxes unchecked. No issues. My browser does run a bit quicker as it doesn't have to check all those sites...

Good tip, CBizgreat! -- I'd have posted it but it's become second nature to me not to have it installed I simply forgot.

Anaconda · 2012-03-15 00:18:07

@dubois Glad that you seem to get a bit of a speed boost out of it. I don't really notice a difference with mine but I thought since it was mentioned as a performance thing and not as a potential privacy thing, it should be pointed out to those who might care about that.

echo: "Good tip, CBizgreat!"

kiiroitori · 2012-03-15 13:55:28

I am wondering if anyone is doing the "cache to RAM" optimization. I guess that would be a big performance boost and I am tempted to try it.
On Arch there is the firefox ramdisk script which looks nice (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Firefox_Ramdisk) . Is there something similar that one can use in #! ?

dubois · 2012-03-15 14:23:33

^ While using an original model ASUS 701, 4GB SSD, 1GB RAM, I used method 2 described in the link you provided -- it worked real fine and would have no issues recommending it's use to anyone. Simple. Easy to Use. Works as described. I've no need of it now on my newer model ASUS 1015PEM, 250GB HDD, 2GB RAM, although iirc I tried it.

kiiroitori · 2012-03-15 14:59:34

Thanks Dubois for the quick reply! I will try it this week-end I guess smile

CBizgreat! · 2012-03-15 20:46:49

Thanks fellas ...

Haven't tried the cache to RAM thing, am on a dinosaur pc ... Too low spec to devote the ram. Makes sense that'd it'd be somewhat faster ... Data to RAM's gotta beat read/write to disk. Tend to set things up to use less RAM with mozilla browsers, store minimum of backspace actions, tabs n windows undo's, prefetch ... blahblahblah. Not much of a speed hit that I can see, by letting whatever URL reload fresh when needed.

Google and privacy, tend to think of as trying to empty out a river with a teaspoon. Google n others have so many tentacles out in webland, whether directly or by affiliates. Google analytics this, agreements that, who knows where they're pulling data or who they're buying information from. Gives me a headache even thinking about it. Am using google's public dns servers here. So they've got a thumb on my net travels regardless. Not too many versions of mozilla back. Started noticing a plugin called Google updater or similar installed default. Thought wth is that, am not using Chrome, don't want a google updater.

Tons of stuff like adobe flashplayer thingy, ridiculous how many of us use it. Have never bothered reading the TOS or end-user policy for the thing, Adobe's privacy policy etc. Probably wouldn't be able to understand it, even if did. No doubt all written in legalese, lawyers and judges don't even really understand that crap. Just pretend they do, ... cuz it's their job. smile

Hmmmm, but when do bother to think about it ... agree ... sneaky bastids ! For the most part, think of online privacy as being about as realistic as expecting privacy in public. Once ya step out that door, off of your home network, just like stepping out your front door, you're in public. Using information superhighways n networks owned by others. Aka: Out walking around in cyber public. People that really need it or want online privacy am sure are taking steps, learning about their options and doing the best they can. If those are good people, then wish em all the luck/best in the pursuit.

As ever Vll ! wink

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2011-05-11 15:34:54

Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#2 2011-05-12 11:03:51

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#3 2011-05-15 20:18:55

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#4 2011-05-15 20:31:59

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#5 2012-02-13 21:05:19

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#6 2012-02-14 04:47:04

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#7 2012-02-14 04:59:06

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#8 2012-02-14 12:49:26

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#9 2012-02-16 06:34:40

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#10 2012-02-16 06:55:02

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#11 2012-02-16 14:22:34

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#12 2012-02-16 14:31:36

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#13 2012-02-16 14:54:40

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#14 2012-02-17 06:27:09

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#15 2012-02-23 16:54:53

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#16 2012-02-28 07:38:34

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#17 2012-03-14 01:15:06

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#18 2012-03-14 01:28:00

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#19 2012-03-14 23:52:30

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#20 2012-03-15 00:02:55

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#21 2012-03-15 00:18:07

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#22 2012-03-15 13:55:28

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#23 2012-03-15 14:23:33

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#24 2012-03-15 14:59:34

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

#25 2012-03-15 20:46:49

Re: Speeding up iceweasel/firefox

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