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Speeding up Firefox
Why HTTP pipelining isn't default setting
Boing Boing explores a configuration change (many of you may already know) that can speed up browsing with Firefox, but warns that the tweak could cause some problems with Flash. They also point to this entry over at MozillaZine that explores why HTTP pipelining isn't enabled by default (some pages as a result can be displayed incorrectly).
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Weirdal
Premium Member
join:2003-06-28
Grand Island, NE

Weirdal

Premium Member

not me :)

luckily I havent had any problems with changing the setting yet. though I don't see much of a boost in speed

Gbcue
Premium Member
join:2001-09-30
Santa Rosa, CA

Gbcue

Premium Member

Re: not me :)

said by Weirdal:

luckily I havent had any problems with changing the setting yet. though I don't see much of a boost in speed
Yea. I didn't see that much of a speed boost either. It actually slowed my browser down a bit because it would hang or something.

Jehu
Premium Member
join:2002-09-13
MA

Jehu

Premium Member

Re: not me :)

If you have a CPU monitor running you can see some serious burn while using FF after making the tweaks.

state
stress magnet
Mod
join:2002-02-08
Purgatory

state

Mod

Re: not me :)

Firefox (with the default config) never really ran slowly for me, but I was curious and tried it out on a Linux box and a Windows box.

I noticed the increased CPU usage while loading pages (in Windows) and I really didn't notice pages loading any faster (either platform), so back to the default settings for me.

usefirefox
@kilng01.ct.comcast.n

usefirefox to Jehu

Anon

to Jehu
Even with the final version of 1.0 I'm still experiencing some sort of glitch where if firefox.exe is running for a good while, it starts eating up just about all the CPU resources essentially grinding my system to a halt before I have to kill it and restart it. I'm running an Athlon XP 2000+.

click_310
Eat my shorts
join:2002-12-06
Savannah, GA

click_310

Member

Re: not me :)

same problem here....

Ant718
join:2002-01-30
Bronx, NY

Ant718 to Weirdal

Member

to Weirdal
Should I even bother? My FF works fine for me. Will it really make a big diff. in the load times or is it negligible?

el scorcho
Cupid Stunt
join:2000-12-01
Brooklyn, NY

el scorcho

Member

odd

i've had pipelining enabled for years on IE without any noticably adverse effects, and it's always been enabled in Firefox through the Moox (»www.moox.ws) builds i've used. i think the key is not trying to go overboard on the simultaneous connections number, though i've read that it's hardwired in Firefox to not go past 8.

Jehu
Premium Member
join:2002-09-13
MA

Jehu

Premium Member

I do notice some speed increase

...and if it messes up flash content then all the better

User0101
Premium Member
join:2002-12-12
S-ZZ9-PZA

User0101

Premium Member

Another Happy Customer

I've noticed a significant change in performance on my 3Mb/256Kb Cable Connection. As far as my setup I have it at 8 which is a suitably comfortable number considering the default is 4.
ke4pym
Premium Member
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC

ke4pym

Premium Member

Still doesnt fix problems behind a BlueCoat

Click for full size
DSLR @ Work
We use a BlueCoat net nanny/cache engine here. Supposedly, it was designed for "IE only". I constatly get redirection timeouts from CNN.com and news.com.com.com.com.com.org.com Really annoying, but I keep using it cause I just hate IE that much. Here's what DSLR looks like on FF 1.0 from work:
brammerv1
join:2003-04-24
Marion, OH

1 edit

brammerv1

Member

Wow! Much faster.

Wow... I made the appropriate changes except set 'network.http.pipelining.maxrequests' to '10' and noticed a huge change.... much, much faster.

Awesome! Yet another reason to move to Firefox!

Wonder if there is a way to set this as default when installing? I am hopefully taking all of our 125 work PCs to FF in the future and would love to have this as the default installation.

PhoenixDown
FIOS is Awesome
Premium Member
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY

PhoenixDown

Premium Member

Re: Wow! Much faster.

wow, I am noticing a difference using 30.
I didnt add "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" though.

paulsysp
Sunny
Premium Member
join:2002-02-03

paulsysp to brammerv1

Premium Member

to brammerv1
I only changed max request to 8 and found a big difference - by also changing Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true" & Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true" and setting value to Zero i found this slowed me down a bit.

So now everything default except max request which is set at 8.
felixml
join:2003-02-19
Sherman Oaks, CA

felixml

Member

AntiSpy software

anything for Mozilla browser?
do not see any difference with Firefox

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall

MVM

Re: AntiSpy software

said by felixml:

anything for Mozilla browser?
I'm 99% sure it will work with Mozilla too. Try it, it won't break anything.

vernik20022
join:2004-02-11
East York, ON

vernik20022 to brammerv1

Member

to brammerv1
Same here, page loads immidiately after the tweak.
Thanks BBR for usefull info

Pz_
join:2001-03-31
Brownsburg, IN

Pz_ to brammerv1

Member

to brammerv1
Have to add mine to the list. Made all the changes, and it really moves along nicely now.

Way faster.

Thanks for the tip.
DXPSMAN
join:2004-12-30
Lake Arrowhead, CA

DXPSMAN

Member

Dont Need It, Besides...

My page load is immediate anyways... I hate heard that this can cause some serious Java problems too, although Im not sure why
bw93918
join:2001-01-15
Washington, DC

1 edit

1 recommendation

bw93918

Member

Re: Dont Need It, Besides...

»addons.update.mozilla.or ··· .0&go=Go

Besides you can use that extension above that will enable you to tweak those settings alot better and all in one place. Also allows you to just as easily disable it. I have had no problems and i'm running that extension on 3 computers.
felixml
join:2003-02-19
Sherman Oaks, CA

felixml

Member

AntiSpy software

Go-faster tweak for Firefox
Here's a great go-faster tip for Firefox, the free, rock-solid, secure browser from the Mozilla Foundation:

1.Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

If you're using a broadband connection you'll load pages MUCH faster now!

bigyeah
Premium Member
join:2004-06-25

bigyeah to bw93918

Premium Member

to bw93918

Re: Dont Need It, Besides...

I was looking in the about:config and it doesn't add the delay, is it hidden, and still doing it? or does it not do it?

bklynite
Premium Member
join:2001-03-18
Brooklyn, NY

bklynite

Premium Member

Re: Dont Need It, Besides...

Delay no longer works in the 1.0 builds. Don't bother with it.

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

Morac

Member

It works better now than in earlier versions

I had tried it in the 0.9 version and the result was that while it was faster, many pages would just fail to load completely (mostly images). They seemed to have fixed this problem in 1.0 and I've noticed that it is faster, especially with pages that contain a lot of content.

Also you can increase speeds by adding more upping the number of maximum connections per server.

Ivybridge_I7
Cyber-Crime Researcher OpSec
Premium Member
join:2004-06-09
Daytona Beach, FL

1 edit

Ivybridge_I7

Premium Member

Firefox tweaks

I made the changes and can tell that their is a small decrease in hesitation during page loads. It's hard to tell because of bottlenecks that occur in any internet provider at any given time.


»www.antihotmail.com
Dslreports.com Profile: »profile.antihotmail.com
spammers_are_scumbags@antihotmail.com

IowaViking
Livin' the nightmare
Premium Member
join:2003-09-08
Pleasantville, IA

IowaViking

Premium Member

Another Firefox Tweak

Found this on a site. It works great. Will make Firefox open up a lot quicker.

Right click your short cut that you click to open your firefox and click Properties and in the Target field

Add /Prefetch:1 to the end so it should look something like this:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /Prefetch:1

Click Apply then OK

I tried this today at work and man does it open really fast now.

Ant718
join:2002-01-30
Bronx, NY

Ant718

Member

Re: Another Firefox Tweak

say what?

Mashiki
Balking The Enemy's Plans
join:2002-02-04
Woodstock, ON

Mashiki

Member

Re: Another Firefox Tweak

Builds a prefetcher file for that application in priority 1 mode.

Prefetching to make it simple is where XP looks, re-arranges the disk as well as knowing the location and segments where the information is stored for that application, and efficiently prepares them for in-memory launches so the time required for launching the program is reduced.

Not all programs play well with the prefetcher however.

If someone is up for it they can give a more detailed answer.

logcabinboy
join:2001-07-23
Whitmore, CA

logcabinboy to IowaViking

Member

to IowaViking
The correct way
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -Prefetch

IowaViking
Livin' the nightmare
Premium Member
join:2003-09-08
Pleasantville, IA

IowaViking

Premium Member

I did it the way that I posted and it works fine as well.

Roundboy
Premium Member
join:2000-10-04
Drexel Hill, PA

Roundboy

Premium Member

well

this isn't always a good thing..

each pipline is a request to the page... so those of you setting up the pipeline to be 30 could potentially be hosing up a website, depending on the number of conenctions they allow..

Mozilla set this for a reason.....

PlagueX1
Plague
join:2004-08-27
Twining, MI

PlagueX1

Member

increase

I've noticed a pretty decent speed increase when it comes to loading regular pages. I've noticed that the page starts loading sooner and faster. Havn't tried doing macromedia websites yet, although.

zemus
join:2001-01-13
Brooklyn, NY

zemus

Member

how do u delete

how do u delete the new key.

Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI

Bill_MI

MVM

Re: how do u delete

In about:config, double click on it and default settings will be set.

In the case of the added key nglayout.initialpaint.delay, it will then be gone. The default is 250 yet this value is not there by default (shrug).

RFCVIO
@mfi.net

RFCVIO

Anon

RFC

You can do the same thing in IE by using a well know registry tweak.

Understand what you are doing goes against RFC's. You could find yourself banned by site owners as all those open connections cause severe load to web servers.

••••••

geeknik
join:2000-04-30
Luther, OK

geeknik

Member

network pipelining...

Setting the pipelining requests to 30 is stupid anyways, because the hard limit is 8, and setting it to anything more then 8, is going to be ignored anyways.
pacmanfan
Premium Member
join:2003-11-22
Mansfield, MO

pacmanfan

Premium Member

HTTP pipelining...

Is really *REALLY* nice on high-latency/high-bandwidth connections, like satellite.

tyspeed29
Premium Member
join:2001-01-04
Simi Valley, CA

1 edit

tyspeed29

Premium Member

Re: HTTP pipelining...

Click for full size
Internet Explorer
Click for full size
Mozilla with Pipelineing
Try this to see your realtime netspeed Internet Explorer vs Mozilla.

»www.numion.com/YourSpeed

JE
JE 's BACK BABY
Premium Member
join:2000-12-15
Charlotte, NC

JE

Premium Member

Mine Works

Hi all,

Mine was already set to true and 100 by using the Chrome Edit Extension.

You can just use this code, and install it into your user.js file

Make sure u get the Chrome Edit Extension so it will be much easier. Then, go to Tools, Edit User Files, user.js, and insert the code.
------------------------------------------------------------
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 1000000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 1000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 4095);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8); [ ---- that is 8]
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 100);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.dnsCacheExpiration", 360);
user_pref("network.dnsCacheEntries", 100);
user_pref("network.ftp.idleConnectionTimeout", 60);
user_pref("network.http.keep-alive.timeout", 30);
user_pref("network.http.request.max-start-delay", 5);
user_pref("network.http.connect.timeout", 30);
user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0);
user_pref("network.http.sendRefererheader", 0);
-----------------------------------------------------------

JE
wiggles4
join:2004-10-09
Eugene, OR

wiggles4

Member

Worked Great For Me

Damn. That was a very nice improvement.
tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL

tkdslr

Member

My firefox speed up..

My firefox speed ups..

besides using adblock and flash block..

in the "about:config" page (just type it into the address bar)

browser.cache.disk.capacity 0
browser.cache.disk.enable false
browser.cache.memory.capacity 32768
borswer.cache.memory.enable true

Makes firefox run nice, and fast
A real plus it no longers makes fragmented mess out of the hard disk. (no more need for routine defragging

9115xa
@east.verizon.ne

9115xa

Anon

.

you want fast use opera

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

1 edit

Grail Knight

Premium Member

Re: .

Sure are you going to buy us all a copy?

Here are my tried and true speed tweaks:

-----------------------------------------------------------

user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 8000);
user_pref("browser.cache.disk_cache_ssl", true);
user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 4095);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 1000000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 1000000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 20);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 12);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 100);
user_pref("capability.policy.policynames", "allowclipboard");
user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.sites", "http://www.mozilla.org");
user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.cutcopy", "allAccess");
user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.paste", "allAccess");
user_pref("browser.display.show_image_placeholders", false);
user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0);
-----------------------------------------------------------
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