How to Make Firefox Load Pages Faster

[Angelus]

In general, the Firefox developers update to improve speed whenever a feature is well-tested and unlikely to cause errors. There's no hidden magic button that will triple your browsing speed. That said, experimenting with settings often helps. The most common cause of slowdowns is a buggy add-on, which this guide also covers.



Method 1
Changing Config Settings

1. 
   
   1
   Update Firefox. Many optimization tweaks from the past are now included by default in Firefox. To take advantage of them, update to the latest version. This happens automatically when you check your version number.
   
   
2. 
   
   2
   Back up your preferences file. These settings can cause bugs and slowdown for some users. You can usually revert them without a problem, but back up the file just in case so you can restore your old preferences:
   • Open a new tab and enter about:support in the address bar.
   • Look for "Profile Folder" and click Show Folder next to it (Show in Finder on a Mac).
   • Go one level up from the folder that opens. You should see a folder with a string of letters and number, ending in ".default."
   • Right-click this folder and choose "Copy," then right-click in a backup location and select "Paste."
3. 
   
   3
   Try one setting at a time. These settings are intended for advanced users, and could cause problems with your add-ons. It's best to change one setting at a time so you can test the effect.
   • You can find tools online to test the speed of your browser precisely.
4. 
   
   4
   Adjust connections per server. Your browser limits the number of simultaneous connections to a single server. Upping this limit will make a noticeable change to pages with many images or videos, if your bandwidth can handle it. Increasing this too much is considered bad etiquette, and may get you banned from a server, but you have a little wiggle room:
   • Search for network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server and double-click the Value. Increase this to a maximum of 10.[1] Some users prefer 8 to be on the safe side.
   • Search for network.http.max-connections. Set this value to 256, if it isn't already.[2]
5. 
   
   5
   Disable animations. Firefox displays small animations when opening or closing tabs. This is usually not an issue, but you can avoid some hang-ups if you tend to open or close many tabs at once:[3]
   • Set browser.tab.animate to False.
   • Set browser.panorama.animate_zoom to False.
   
   
6. 

 

[Angelus]

6
Consider disabling prefetching. Prefetching loads pages before you visit them, guessing which links you'll click on. When working correctly, this should only use idle browser time, and will actually increase load speed. If you have unusually slow load speeds, a buggy prefetch could be the issue. Make the following changes to disable both forms of prefetch, then reverse them if there's no speed up:[4]

• Change network.dns.disablePrefetch to True.
• Change network.prefetch-next to False.
• Change the value of network.http.speculative-parallel-limit to 0.

1. 
   
   7
   Toggle hardware acceleration and WebGL. These functions use your graphics card to speed up certain functions, especially loading videos. However, this can cause slow load times or blurry text, especially with older operating systems or graphics cards. Try watching videos with these settings on and off to see which works best for you:[5]
   • Change webgl.disabled to True or False.
   • Visit aboutreferences#advanced in a new tab. Check or uncheck "Use hardware acceleration."
   • Unlike most setting changes, you may need to restart Firefox for these to take effect.[6]

Method 2
Troubleshooting Slowdowns

1. 
   
   1
   Install an ad blocker. On many web pages, advertisements take up a large fraction of the load time. Install Adblock Plus or another ad-blocking add-on to prevent these ads from loading.
   • Many web hosts rely on ads for most of their revenue. Consider disabling ad block on sites you'd like to support.
2. 
   
   2
   Start Firefox in safe mode. Click the menu icon (three horizontal bars), then the help icon (?), then Restart with add-ons disabled. If Firefox runs much faster in Safe Mode, a faulty add-on is slowing you down.
3. 
   
   3
   Disable add-ons. Enter about:addons in the address bar, or click the menu icon (three horizontal bars) and select Add-ons. Disable one add-on at a time, and browse for a while to see if it speeds you up. Visit the same page to remove the add-on permanently or re-enable it, depending on your test.
4. 
   
   4
   Switch to the default theme. If you have a custom theme, it could be slowing down your browser. Visit the Appearance tab on the add-ons page, and switch to the default theme.
5. 
   
   5
   Minimize memory usage. If you've just closed a bunch of tabs, Firefox might lag for a while until it deletes the contents of those tabs from its memory. Get rid of them right away by visiting about:memory and clicking Minimize memory usage.[7]
6. 
   
   6
   Adjust cache. The cache is another feature that speeds up browsing in general, but can slow you down if it gets too full for your hard drive. To adjust the cache size, visit aboutreferences#advanced, click the Network tab, and check "Override cache management." Increase the cache if you have a fast drive with plenty of space, and reduce it to about 250MB if you have a slow or mostly full hard drive.
   • Clearing your cache every couple months is a good idea, or whenever your browser gets unusually slow. You should also clear the cache before reducing its size.

 

[Angelus]

1. 
   
2. 
   
   7
   Reset Firefox. If you are experiencing major slowdowns on a broadband connection, you might have to reset Firefox to remove a buggy add-on or setting change. This will delete all your add-ons, themes, and download history, and return your settings to default. Visit about:support and click Refresh Firefox, or see this article for more detailed instructions.

Method 3
Pipelining

1. 
   
   1
   Understand pipelining. Pipelining allows Firefox to open more than one connection to a server. This will only help if you have a good broadband connection. Even then, this only gives a small speed boost, and can even cause slight slowdowns or errors. The difference in results are probably dependent on the way the web page is structured, so give it a try and see if it helps for your most visited websites.[8][9]
2. 
   
   2
   Visit about:config. Open a new Firefox tab and enter about:config in the address bar.
3. 
   
   3
   Enable pipelining. Search for network.http.pipelining using the bar at the top of the page. This entry should be set to "Status: default" and "Value: false." Double-click that line to change it to "Status: user set" and "Value: true."
4. 
   
   4
   Adjust other settings (optional). There are quite a few related settings you can change as well. Adjusting most of these is not recommended unless you know what you are doing. Here are a couple you could try:
   • network.http.pipelining.maxrequests was capped at 8 for many years, but now the limit (and the default) is 32. Raising this number could cause errors. Lowering it will reduce speed but free up your bandwidth a little.
   • Enabling network.http.pipelining.aggressive doubles down on the tactic: when it works, you'll be even faster, and when it doesn't, you'll be much slower.[10]
   • If you route all your internet use through a proxy, you'll need to enable network.http.proxy.pipelining. (You'll need to do a new search to find this.)
5. 
   
   5
   Switch to secure-only pipelining if you encounter problems. If pipelining is slowing you down, or causing errors in your web pages, return it to the default "false" position. You can still implement pipelining for secure websites by enabling network.http.pipelining.ssl. Most pipeline-related errors come from proxy servers, which are not an issue with secure connections.[11]
   • Despite the problems with "unsecure" connections, pipelining does not open you up to any security risks.

 

[Angelus]

These simple tips and tweaks will help you make your Mozilla Firefox browser run faster
Mozilla Firefox (or simply Firefox) is a free and popular open-source web browser that is available for Windows, OS X and Linux operating systems, with its mobile versions available for Android, and Firefox OS. Firefox is loved by the users because of its fast speed and greater customization features. The speed of Firefox web browser was found to be more than Google Chrome, according to some tests. However, the speed reduced at numerous occasions without any obvious reason.

A slow browser cannot take full advantage of a super-fast Internet connection if your browser is running at dial-up speed. Numerous issues like Firefox hangs, slow switch from one tab to other, slow page loading, slow startup time of Firefox, frequent crash and issue related to YouTube videos are the reasons behind the slow performance of Firefox.

However, in this article, we will provide you with the best tips to make Firefox run faster. So, let’s have a look at some twists and basic tasks that can easily speed up your slow Firefox.


1. Refresh Firefox
Considered as one of the best way to make Firefox faster, the command of Refresh Firefox will bring most of the Firefox setting to its default. However, you should be aware of what actually happens when you perform Refresh Firefox. The Profile Folder contains the browser setting and other important data in Firefox. Before this refresh, Firefox creates a new Profile Folder and back up all of the important Firefox data in this.

Firefox will save Browsing History, Bookmarks, Passwords, Open Windows & Tabs, Cookies, Auto-Fill info, and Personal Dictionary. However, the items that would be deleted will be Download History, Website Permissions, Social Features, Themes & Extensions, Plugin Settings, DOM Storage, and Search Engines you have added.

For refreshing Firefox, you need to type about:support in URL bar of Firefox and enter. On the right side, you will see a button Refresh Firefox and proceed. Alternatively, you can also go to Firefox.com where you can find Refresh Firefox button. But, this will work only when you use the latest version of Firefox.

2. Clear Browser History
It’s strongly suggested to clear your browser history once a week to clear cache and cookies of web browser. While keeping them will increase the loading speed of web page, however, these temporary file will make the web browser heavy if it is kept for many days. This will result in Firefox getting hung, which in turn would lower the speed of page loading.

In order to clean temporary files from your system, you should use CCleaner as it effectively cleans all temporary files of web browser installed in your PC.

For deleting browser history from Firefox, Click on Menu > History, Click On Clear Recent History > Select Everything and Clear Now.

3. Pipelining

Pipelining, a built-in feature in the configuration of Firefox allows it to send multiple requests to web server in a minute. In order to make Firefox use this feature, you need to enable Pipelining.

a. In URL bar of Firefox, type about:config and press Enter.

b. On this screen, you have to look for network.http.pipelining configuration.

c. Type network.http.pipelining in the search box below URL bar. It will provide you configuration related to Pipelining.

d. There will be many configuration related to Pipelining but we have to configure network.http.pipelining.

e. By default, the configuration for network.http.pipelining will be set to False. To change it to True, you need to double-click on it.

f. Then, you need to set network.http.pipelining.aggressive and network.http.pipelining.ssl to True. Also, set network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to 8, as by default it will be set to 32.

4. Enable HTTP Cache
Once you enable the http cache, your Firefox will get rid of most UI lags and other browser slowness issues. You have follow the steps below to enable http cache in Firefox:

a. Type about:config in URL bar and hit enter

b. Now type browser.cache.use_new_backend in search.

c. Double click on its setting and set it to 1. Before it, it set to 0.

d. Now Firefox will use HTTP cache as it is enabled now.

5. Safe Mode
A feature that is built in Firefox, Safe Mode disables themes and plugin installed in Firefox. By browsing the web in safe mode, theme and plugin will not affect the browsing speed, as they are disabled.

It enables you to find any theme or plugin that is causing the slowness in Firefox. Once you go back to normal mode, you should enable all plugins one by one to find that theme or plugin causing slowness.

6. Optimize Windows
Speed up Windows and make your computer work better. To know more on Optimize Performance of Windows 10, visit tenforums.com.

7. Block unwanted content
There are many Firefox add-ons that can make pages load faster by blocking content you don’t need, such as trackers or ads.

a. The Disconnect add-on blocks invisible webpage parts that track you online.
b. The Flashblock add-on allows you to selectively enable and disable Flash content on websites.
c. The NoScript add-on allows you to selectively enable and disable all scripts running on websites.

8. Update Firefox
The latest version is faster than ever before and contains fixes for many problems that could slow down your Firefox. Here’s how you can update Firefox to the latest version.

By default, Firefox is set to automatically update itself but you can always do a manual update.

a. Click the menu button, then click help and select About Firefox.
b. The About Firefox window will open and Firefox will begin checking for updates and downloading them automatically.
c. When the updates are ready to be installed, click Restart Firefox to Update.

Despite of doing all the tips and tweaks to make Firefox run faster, if your Firefox is still running slow, then there are only few points to consider. You need to uninstall the currently installed Firefox and install a fresh copy of latest version of Firefox. Also, uninstall and install all add-ons.

If you are still not experiencing faster Firefox, then you should upgrade your computer hardware to higher end. It is strongly suggested to keep number of plugin at minimum, as they can consume CPU usage and memory.

If there are any other tips and tweaks that can help Firefox run faster other than the ones provided above, can be mentioned in the comments section below.

 

[Angelus]

The Ultimate Guide to Making Firefox Faster
If you’ve been using Firefox for a long time, you may have noticed it getting slower as time passed. Maybe it takes a few seconds to start up or takes a bit longer loading webpages. You might start noticing that it takes a second or so to switch between tabs or that the menu option doesn’t pop up instantly.

If your installation of Firefox runs slow or freezes more than you’d care for, there are a lot of different ways to speed things up a bit. In this article, I’m going to go through all the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years to keep Firefox fast and efficient. Depending on your operating system and system configuration, some tweaks might give you more of a boost than others.

Note that some tweaks require changing the browser settings in about:config. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read my previous post on backing up and modifying the about:config configuration in Firefox.

Enable HTTP Cache

There is a new HTTP cache option that can be enabled in Firefox, which will help reduce UI glitches and various other browser crashes. Open about:config and search for the following entry:

browser.cache.use_new_backend
Double-click on it and change the value from 0 to 1. You can then simply close the about:config tab and continue browsing. There is no need to restart the browser or computer, etc. The new cache will be enabled and you should get a speed boost and a smoother browsing experience.

Refresh Firefox
Firefox has a really cool feature that basically performs an automatic tune up on your Firefox installation. However, you only want to do this after you understand exactly what it does. Firstly, it will keep your browsing history, bookmarks, passwords, cookies, website auto-fill info and personal dictionary.

It will delete extensions and themes, website permissions, added search engines, download history, security settings, plugin settings, toolbar customizations, user styles and social feature. To get to it, you have to type in about:support in the address bar.

Click on the Refresh Firefox button at the top right to get started. I have used this feature a several times and it works great. It does take a bit of time reinstalling a few add-ons, but I’ve found that it helps me get rid of the add-ons I never used in the first place.

Enable Safe Mode
Firefox has a nice feature called Safe mode that disables extensions and themes in order to determine whether an extension is causing problems. Since Firefox is all about extensions, you’ll definitely run into some with poorly written code that can cause a lot of grief.

If you find that browsing in safe mode is super fast compared to normal browsing, then you can almost guarantee that it’s an extension causing the slowdown. You can restart Firefox in safe mode by clicking on the menu icon and then clicking on the help icon.

Now choose Restart with Add-ons Disabled to get into safe mode.

Safe mode will also turn off hardware acceleration and will reset toolbar and button customizations. Everything will go back to normal when you restart Firefox normally so don’t think you’ve lost any customizations you might have made.

Also, when you restart, it’ll ask you to Start in Safe Mode or Refresh Firefox, which is the the other tip I already mentioned above.

It’s best to disable all add-ons and then enable them one by one to see which one is causing Firefox to slow down, freeze or crash. You can see all the add-ons and plugins by clicking on the Firefox menu and clicking on Add-ons.

The more add-ons and plugins you disable or delete, the faster Firefox will run. Some plugins will be set to Ask to Activate, which is ok. You want to check all the ones that are set to Always Activate and see which ones can be switched to Ask to Activate.

Minimize Memory Usage
Firefox has quite a few of these built-in performance tricks and another one is to minimize the memory usage. Go ahead and type in about:memory into the address bar and you can get detailed memory usage information about Firefox.

You’ll see a button under Free Memory called Minimize memory usage. Click on that and it will try to free up memory immediately and therefore make Firefox run faster. This is a good option to use if you had a bunch of tabs open in Firefox and you recently closed out a lot of them. Any memory being previously held by those tabs and still being used by Firefox will be freed.

 

[Angelus]

Clear Cache
Another easy way to make Firefox faster is to periodically clear the cache. By default, Firefox will cache the contents of most websites you visit, so that they load faster when you visit them again. In the short term, this works well and does speed up browsing, however, once the cache becomes very large, it can start to slow things down.

If you click on the Firefox menu, click Options and then click on Advanced, you’ll see a Network tab that lets you clear the cache.

I don’t suggest clearing the cache very often, as that will slow down browsing. The best thing to do is to check every few months or to check the Override automatic cache management box and set the value depending on what type of hard drive you have. Since this cache is accessed via disk, it can be pretty slow if you have a slow hard drive.

However, if you have an extremely fast SSD drive, then using the cache can be more beneficial. So keep it small (<250 MB) if you hard drive is slow and leave it alone if you have a very fast hard disk.

Firefox Pipelining
If you have used Firefox for a long time, you have probably come across this hack on many blogs. Pipelining is a feature that basically lets Firefox open multiple connections to a server, theoretically loading pages faster. I’ve had mixed results with this setting, so it’s best to test it yourself first to see whether it’s worth keeping enabled.

There are different views on what value should be set for the max number of connections, but the consensus from most diehard Firefox fans is 8. In order to enable pipelining, go to about:config and type in network.http.pipe in the filter box and you’ll see several settings.

The values you need to change are shown in the image above. I have also listed them below if it’s not clear.

network.http.pipelining – true

network.http.pipelining.aggressive – true

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 8

network.http.pipelining.ssl – true

Other Settings
There are a couple of more obscure settings that could possibly speed up your Firefox browsing, but results are not guaranteed. It’s best to test these and see if there is any noticeable difference.

network.dns.disableIPv6 – true

browser.tabs.animate – false

browser.display.show_image_placeholders – false

Hopefully, your installation of Firefox is running a bit faster. I don’t recommend using add-ons like FasterFox because they only change the settings we have talked about above and adding more add-ons to speed up Firefox just doesn’t make any sense. If you have your own tip for speeding up Firefox, let us know in the comments. Enjoy!