How to tweak your iceweasel or firefox web browser using about:config settings

[way12go]

How to tweak your iceweasel or firefox web browser using about:config settings

Tweaks require changing the browser settings in about:config

Open a tab and type

about:config

and press return or enter

and modify these values...

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.

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...

[dante]

I'd like to reopen this thread and set the topic to tweaking FF/IW also by using addons, not only by using about:config.

IMHO using addons like noscript, adblockers, and flashblockers massively speeds up the browser. Especially turning off JS and just enabling scripts you need is crucial, since JS just srcrews up a good load of internet pages. Not to mention the privacy issues with JS. Just a thought..

What about anti tracking addons (ghostery and the like) ?

Cheers,
Dante

[berliner58]

For people like me who experiment with several Linux distros,
using the about:config  is  awfull  because I tweak at least  10 or more security settings manually.

I found an easy way to tweak all the settings by creating a file (user.js) once and copying the file into the new firefox folder of each new linux distro I am testing. At restart of Firefox, my tweaks are permanent and I save so much time.
The file user.js can be created with every text-editor, it is easy even for a newbie like me.

Here is the complete description for this excellent method:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/User.js_file

[Dai_trying]

I like this idea with the user.js, I do a lot of installs when testing new distros out so thanks for that!  :)