Speed Up Firefox

[Loy Hawes]

I just came across this application that makes a significant speed improvement in Firefox.

http://www.totalidea.com/freestuff4.htm

For those of you who might be saying "Firewhat?" Go here,

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

[Tom Stover]

Loy, could you answer a couple questions about firefox for me? I'm not very computer savvy and would like to know if fire fox wipes out explorer or could I switch from one to the other? I started to down load fire fox but decided I didn't know enough about it. I have read their adds but wanted to ask someone that uses it about it.

[Tony Falotico]

Tom, both browsers can live in harmony on the same 'puter. I have both, I use Firefox exclusively, LOML uses Explorer. I like the tabs in Firefox, can have several pages open at the same time and simply tab back and forth.

You do have to select which one will be your default browser. LOML and I use different log ins (Windows XP) so Firefox is my default, explorer is hers.

[Kevin Arceneaux]

No, it does not. Firefox, Netscape, and IE can all co-exist. I have all three, some sites you have to have IE so I have that. Netscape I have had forever, but I am a recent convert to Firefox.

The only thing I do not like about Firefox and the latest Netscape, is that you have a lot fewer options in the options menu. You have to type somethings in like the new Netscape. It took a while to find and figure out, but once you do it is fairly easy.

I use Thunderbird for my email program also.

[Jim Becker]

Tom, not only can Firefox coexist with IE, you NEED to have both on your machine as there are some sites that will only work with IE. (FEMA comes to mind...sheesh!) I have an add-in in my Firefox (which by the way, was updated today to version 1.0.7) that allows a right-click on a page that doesn't cooperate to bring up that same page in IE.

[Scott Parks]

I use Firefox exclusively with no problems. I'm not aware of a speed issue with it??? Is this upgrade worth doing?

[Loy Hawes]

Scott,
I noticed a significant difference in the time it takes for pages to load. I would say its worth a try.

[Loy Hawes]

Here is a plugin I use a lot that you may find useful,

http://superdragandgo.mozdev.org/

[Ted Shrader]

Loy -

I installed the speed upgrade, but didn't notice a difference.

What kind of internet connection are you on? I have 5Mbs cable ISP. (Just did a test at 4999kbps download and 1139kbps upload - on a separate tab in Firefox.)

Ted

[Tony Falotico]

Loy, Ted ... I Upgraded to 1.0.7 last night and installed the speed upgrade, seems a little faster but not all that much. Don't know which one to attribute it to. Granted I'm still on dial-up (52.0 kbps right now). That's the price you pay for living in a rural redneck encampment. :) No cable, high speed not available via Bellsouth yet (they have it in town but not out here, I'm only 6 miles out), I guess satellite might be my only option, I haven't looked into it because Bellsouth has been saying 'any time now' for the last two years.

[Boyd Gathwright]

.... Noted, thanks ;).

[Jim Becker]

Granted I'm still on dial-up (52.0 kbps right now).

Tony, that's an unusually high download rate for dialup...you must be on REALLY clean lines!! Hopefully, BellSouth will "see the light" and join Verizon in deploying fiber to the prem one of these days.

[Tony Falotico]

Tony, that's an unusually high download rate for dial up...you must be on REALLY clean lines!! Hopefully, BellSouth will "see the light" and join Verizon in deploying fiber to the prem one of these days.

Thats my connection speed, not my download speed. We got hit by lightning a couple years back, took out the phone and some other stuff. Bellsouth replaced the lines from the road to the house, since then I've been fairly consistent (knock on wood!).

The main highway from town to my place is being rebuilt as we speak from 2 lane rural to four lane divided, most of the land from town to I-75 has been purchased by developers so we anticipate some heavy duty commercial development in the next 2-5 years (Home Depot -- you listening !!). The land between me and the highway has already started with residential development. With all that going on, services should be upgraded. We (FDOT) are working with the local utilities to install fiber to interconnect the traffic signals (that's what I do to pay for the shop). We have found it to be win win to share the fiber with utilities as a larger bundle shared is much cheaper than everyone installing their own. Bottom line, it's coming, I just do not know when.

Jim, what do you know about satellite, should I be looking into it ??

[Jim Becker]

Thats my connection speed, not my download speed. ...
Jim, what do you know about satellite, should I be looking into it ??

Yes, I know it's connection speed...but it's unusually high which is why I commented on your lines being "very clean". Best I've ever seen on dialup as I travel is about 48k for the connection. Never have I seen 52k.

I'm not up on satellite, but it seems to be a good, albeit expensive, alternative when other high-speed access is not available. Sat is not usually DSL speed, but a considerable upgrade in speed from dialup. The one big problem with Sat is that there is considerable latency (delay) in the signals...you can't change the speed of light!...so some applications, such as VoIP and most VPN (virtual private network connections for working at home) will not work with it.

[Tom Stover]

Well, I downloaded firefox and installed it. I'm amazed how much faster it is than explorer,or is that just my imagination? I know I have to get use to it and tweek it to suit me and learn to use certain features of it. Oh, thanks for the link Loy and I let you know what I think of it Later.

[Jason Roehl]

Jim, WAY back when I was in the dark ages of dial-up, I routinely connected at 52k. Of course, Mulberry's phone co-op is only about 2 blocks from my house... Actually, I expected that. If I connected at anything less than about 48k, I would reconnect.

[Loy Hawes]

Loy -

I installed the speed upgrade, but didn't notice a difference.

What kind of internet connection are you on? I have 5Mbs cable ISP. (Just did a test at 4999kbps download and 1139kbps upload - on a separate tab in Firefox.)

Ted

It won't make your connection to the internet any faster. All it does is tweak some settings in firefox. The speed up you should see is in how fast web pages load. If you read through the top part of the Firetune website it explains what it is supposed to do. I noticed an improvement and my ISP is Comcast @ 4Mbs.


For those of you who use tabs. If you have ever accidently closed a tab you might find this plugin useful. It will undo a closed tab.

https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=58