20 Essential Tweaks and Tips Every Firefox User Should Know
20 Essential Tweaks and Tips Every Firefox User Should Know
Posted 11/10/2009 at 9:00am
| by Norman Chan
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Firefox may be your default browser, but that doesn’t mean you really use it to its full potential. Mozilla’s browser is a big threat to Microsoft not because it’s fast and full of unique features, but because it’s also extremely customizable. Add-ons, style scripts, and hidden preferences let you personalize your Firefox experience to meet your tastes and needs. Sure, you may know about hidden easter eggs like the about:robots page, but we’re going show you the 20 most essential tips, tricks, and tweaks to this super browser.
Undo Closed Tabs and Windows
This is actually a feature that has been around since before Firefox 3, but we’re often surprised by how many people don’t know about it. Firefox stores a record of every open and closed tab in all windows for each browsing session. So if you accidentally closed a tab, you can bring it back by pressing Ctrl + Shift + T. The restored tab retains its surfing history as well, and you can bring back old tabs even after you’ve opened several new ones since the initial close.
Speed Up Browsing
Firefox 3.5 is fast at loading pages, but its operational speed can get bogged down by overloading extensions. But you can add further optimizations to the browser by making a few tweaks behind the scenes. Load up the about:config page (by typing about:config in the location bar), and make the following changes:
Set network.http.max-connections to 96 – This sets the total number of HTTP connections Firefox can make to a web server. The default value is 30 (raised for the previous default of 24), but if you have ample bandwidth, increase the number speed up the loading of multiple-tab bookmarks.
Set network.http.max-connections-per-server to 32 – The default is 15, but you can raise it to increase the number of connections made to a single server. This is useful if you’re planning on browsing a site while downloading many files from it at the same time.
Set network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server to 8 – Raising this setting from 6 to 8 improve performance when working through multiple pages of a site. We don’t recommend setting this value to anything higher than 8.
Set network.http.pipelining to true – Pipelining is an application of the HTTP 1.1 protocol where multiple requests can be sent to a web server before any responses are received. Not all servers support it, but this will improve your browsing speed if you’re on a high-latency (slow) connection.
Set network.http.proxy.pipelining to true – Same as the setting above, but only applies if you’re using a proxy connection.
Set network.http.pipelining.ssl to true – If you’re encountering problems with pipelining enabled, the root of the problem may be a broken proxy server sitting between you and the target server. SSL (secure) sites don’t have this problem, so this setting will let you turn on pipelining for those sites only, regardless of the other pipelining settings.
Set network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to 8 – With pipelining enabled, this preference specifies the maximum number of requests to make to a server at once. Raising the default value from 4 to 8 will speed up your requests to a server, but will cause a small delay if one of the requests fail.
Use Gmail as Your Default Mail Application
When Firefox 3 was first released, one of the new features was the option to associate html protocols with web applications, such as launching a webmail service when clicking a “mailto:” link. Unfortunately, at the time of launch, only Yahoo’s mail client was officially supported, and users had to either use extensions or manipulate some javascript code to enable Gmail as the primary mail handler. The current iteration of Firefox has included Gmail in the web app client list, and here’s how you turn it on.
Go to Tools-> Options, and select the Applications tab. This is a list of protocol and content associations, with their respective plug-ins for each type of content (ie. Mp4 video). In the search field, type “mailto”. Then, in the Actions drop down menu, select Gmail as your default client. That’s it! The next time you click on an email link, Firefox will open up Gmail in a new tab to send an email. Bonus tip: download and install the Better Gmail 2 add-on to add extra UI features if you’re planning on using Gmail as your primary mail client.
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jimmydshoulder
January 11, 2011 at 5:25pm
I understand this article was written more than a year ago but please take down the portion of this article concerning the about:config tweaks. The only difference that I noticed, as most others did, was that Firefox was now significantly slower. I've been a subscriber for a while and know that slowing down PC's is not one of your goals. I applaud you for having an extensive and easily accessible online archive; but since this isn't fine literature I believe removing or at least correcting the faulty information would only serve to enhance the value of this vast trove of information. I am not asking that you review every article ever written, just the ones that people complain about. If articles like this, about improving a popular product were kept up-to-date, they would be of great service.
JiMiZnHB
December 22, 2009 at 6:48pm
Hello,
I am NOT sure WHY... But EVERY Time I try to Use your "About:Config" Suggestions Firefox SLOWS DOWN!!!
Lucky for me that I Still have a Copy of FIRETUNE :P
It Fixed The Problems the came from Making Your "About:Config" changes :)
Well, better Luck next Time
FRAGaLOT
November 28, 2009 at 7:29pm
Using these tips made FF load pages slower if not all out stall, after clicking link. So I'm gonna have to un-do some of these tweaks. Oh well..
Mahogany
November 26, 2009 at 4:03am
I'd add another under the "14 Essential Keyboard Shortcuts" to make it 15. On shortcut I find very useful is Ctrl + either + or - to increase or decrease font/page viewing size.
Also, another add-on I really like is Adblock Plus. Also, since I like to have lots of tabs open at once, I find Tabs Open Relative (which makes your tabs always open just right of the tabe you open it from so that you don't have to go scrolling over to the far right to access it) and Aging Tabs (which helps you to see which tabs you've accessed most recently).
r7mr7m
November 14, 2009 at 11:11am
Had the same problems. But a lot of my extensions had been updated recently and so I had to disable all of them to see if it was one of them. Turns out it was just the about:config tweaks. I only did the first few (before the pipelining ones) and still had the problems. Too bad.
quickone
November 14, 2009 at 7:03am
Yeah, going to have to go with everyone else on this one, the about:config changes made me have to use IE for a day or two until I got FF back to the way it was. It would be fine for a minute or two but then pages would not load or would take MINUTES to load. :(
~~The difference between insanity and genius is merely succes~~
mikestjames
November 13, 2009 at 5:31pm
Firefox 3.5.5 became s sludge bucket after implementing the speed tweaks on my very fast Vista64 machine. Your could go eat lunch waiting for pages to load, Had to undo them to get back to normal (fast) speed. Waste of time for me, at least. Very bad advice.
K0BALT
November 13, 2009 at 1:45pm
Tried these settings and it ruined my browser. i had to keep restarting Firefox because nothing would load. Restored back to default...... for those who need to do the same, just open the Start Menu and type.....
firefox -safe-mode ....... then just check the box to restore default preferences and restart.
Lummoxx
November 13, 2009 at 6:45am
I tried the changes in the "Speed Up Browsing" section, and experienced much worse Firefox performance.
Pages were taking longer to load, images seemed to be a big factor, and had frequent DNS lookup delays. The status bar would be "Looking up...<site>".
After resetting the values, it's back to normal again.
Black Lable 69
November 12, 2009 at 3:01pm
Everything was fine until a day or so later & just like some others, Firefox loaded very slowly & couldnt play any form of online video. I had to completely reinstall Firefox which is a headache if you have a thousand bookmarks like myself. Thanks though & maybe others will have better luck.
sdelvecchio
November 12, 2009 at 7:36am
Don't forget that use can also use Ctrl+Z to open the last closed website once you open a new tab with Ctrl+T. If you just keep hitting the Ctrl+Z to step back through pages.
nduanetesh
November 11, 2009 at 10:48am
The only keyboard shortcut I actually ever use is to hit the forward slash key "/" to open up the quick find bar at the bottom of the page. It's just like the find bar except it auto hides when you stop using it, and you have to know the keyboard shortcuts to move up and down through the things youv'e found (F3 to find next). It's pretty sweet!
V-mateika
November 10, 2009 at 9:10pm
I had no clue you could use the middle mouse button to open a link in a new tab!! I do it so often the "slow" way! This made my life a heckuva lot easier!
Houndf
November 10, 2009 at 7:50pm
Careful what you do with the about:config. Screwed up my firefox and it took forever to load pages (fast with every other browser). It worked for some people so just make sure it will work before you jump gung-ho with all the commands.
K0BALT
November 10, 2009 at 5:40pm
I never knew about the Ctrl-F to find a specific text on a webpage..... ive wanted to do that for so many things, but never knew you could. I also didnt know you could change the 'mailto' setting to Gmail instead.... thats a huge save for me. Excellent article. Very informative.
jazboy
November 10, 2009 at 4:41pm
Very good article. I am using firefox from quite long time but never bother to do customization. This tutorial encouraged me to do so.
herochild
November 10, 2009 at 11:00am
most of these tricks are good, but the one to use About:config in order to enable Autofill makes it nearly impossible to type anything in the URL bar, as Firefox keeps trying to autofill it-with the wrong things!
Bloody_El
November 10, 2009 at 10:41am
For some reason the tweaks slowed down my browser to 56k like speeds. After resetting the about:config files it's at a good speed "in my eyes." I dunno though
Wyluliraven
November 10, 2009 at 10:34am
I tried all the about:config tweaks mentioned above (minus the proxy server ones), but ran into an issue with being able to load videos on hulu.com. I have not identified exactly which setting it was yet, but if you're an avid hulu consumer, be careful, and remember which settings you used.
Freedom is the right of all sentient beings -- Optimus Prime
ZayLay
November 10, 2009 at 8:07am
I've stopped using Firefox since switching to Windows 7. The new thumbnail preview of your tabs is really awesome, and works in every other browser besides firefox. I really miss some of the simple features of Firefox, and can't wait until they finally add support for the Win 7 Thumbnail previews of tabs. Anyone know of when that might be available?
myndflyte
November 10, 2009 at 8:55am
Give this a try. Just found it, and may try it when I get home.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/10/14/firefox-3-7-adds-per-tab-thumbnails-like-ie8-on-windows-7
ZayLay
November 10, 2009 at 10:18am
Thanks so much for that pre-release link to Firefox 3.7. Now i've got the best of firefox, with the Windows 7 preview of tabs :)
jey18
November 10, 2009 at 7:31am
Even with my fairly strong connection (see below) this slowed my browsing down to a halt. I had to open IE just to get back to MPC's website to revert to default.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/618224257.png
FRAGaLOT
November 10, 2009 at 5:48am
Another awesome Firefox Trick is using PIPES between URLs for your home pages. So go into Tools - Options, and under home page type:
http://maximumpc.com|http://www.twitter.com|http://www.google.com
Note the PIPES (vertical line) between each url. So when you open FireFox, or click the HOME button, those three URLs will open in their own tab!
aviaggio
November 10, 2009 at 10:40am
Wow, this tip is great! I had been wondering if such a thing were possible as I always load up the same 5 pages in the AM. Now I can just hit home and voila! Thanks for the tip!
Black Lable 69
November 09, 2009 at 11:34pm
Thanks a lot, really :-) Now almost all my websites "Even the Heavy ones like G4" take only 1 to 3 seconds to fully load. I've noticed a significant boost in speed after following your instructions. THANKS! & now I can continue to look at Bridget Regans legs on G4 with even more speed. SET FOR LUDRICRIS SPEED
deadgarth
November 09, 2009 at 10:57pm
Hmm, setting the max connections to 96 really slowed me down and I thought I had a pretty good connection. I'll have to play around with it a bit more.
Airheadq
November 09, 2009 at 9:47pm
Great article. Its always nice to have the features of Firefox all-in-one place for refrence in case I missed something. But being the power user that I am, I've done all of this. :P
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