Firefox is not one of the lightest or fastest browsers. Its advantages are found on other levels, such as the fact that it is open-source, relatively easy to use and above all quite customizable. But it is possible to speed up Firefox.
I will list in this article a list of procedures to speed up Firefox, optimize it or even make it more enjoyable.
Speed up Firefox with a new cache
One way to speed up the display of web pages under Firefox is to activate a new generation cache in firefox’s advanced settings.
This V2 cache separates the data stored for each site visited, instead of having a cache that aggregates everything.
This cache activation only saves you a few milliseconds. So this trick alone won’t make your browser super-fast.
But if you combine this method – another set of tricks, it gives you a few milliseconds – a few milliseconds – a few seconds, etc. Little by little, mine of nothing, it makes Firefox as fast as other browsers!
How to activate optimized cache
In Firefox’s address bar, type about:config and press your Entry button.
To the message Act with caution, click Accept risk and continue
In the new search bar, type browser.cache.use_new_backend
You can choose between Boolean, Number or Chain. In this case, leave in Boolean and click on the .
By clicking the most, you will have the line that will get bold and you will have the true value that will appear.
This means that it is activated. you have nothing else to do except close the tab about: config. The new cache is already on.
Note: This optimized cache is by default not activated because in some cases it can cause a tab crash. It depends on the configurations and is random. If this happens, you just need to redo the procedure and disable this cache.
For my part, no worries for several months.
To disable optimized cache
Follow the same procedure as when you activate, but at the last step, you have 2 possibilities.
- Either you click on the double arrow, which will change the value from true to false.
- Either you click on the trash, which will give the default for that line.
Optimize Firefox’s memory consumption
The more you leave Firefox open (even inactive), the more memory it will consume… In a few minutes, Firefox can use 100,000 K of or even 200,000 K. The more resources it consumes unnecessarily, the slower your computer will be and the slower Firefox will be. And so to accelerate Firefox, you need to optimize its resource management.
This defect has been known for a very long time.
Although this is a known problem, I never really researched it, especially since at one point Mozilla had announced several times that it had reduced this memory leak. So I didn’t pay attention and the 200,000 K which sometimes reached 800,000 K seemed normal to me although knowing this huge.
Know the current consumption of Firefox
To find out how to consume memory by Firefox:
- Press the following 3 keys simultaneously: CTRL, SHIFT and ESC
- You’ll have the task manager who will appear
- Click “process” tab
- Search for “firefox.exe“
The Firemin program is known as the firefox plumber. From my recollection, there are others, but all that is optimization software, I’m wary, they usually do worse than better! I decided to test Firemin because it immediately announces the color:
The method Firemin uses to decrease Firefox memory usage is not sourced and the debate over if it works or will not go on until the end of time, but the logic remains; If it works for you, use it and if it doesn’t, don’t use it. It is really that simple.
Translated into French, this means:
The method That Firemin uses to decrease Firefox’s use of memory is not proven and the debate about whether or not it works will continue until the end of time, but the logic remains; If it works for you, use it and if it doesn’t work, don’t use it. It’s as simple as that.
In short, it does not promise mount and wonders! And it seduced me. Because software of this kind rarely keeps their promises and in the end, we are disappointed!
Optimize Firefox’s memory management
From a regular memory usage to at least 200,000K, with Firemin, Firefox now uses only on average about 2,000k. That’s 100x less! For personal use for Firemin of about 800K!
In short, thanks to Firemin, this is all beneficial because the computer will be able to recover all the resources that Firefox used to increase the performance of your PC!
In fact, you only have to close Firemin to notice that Firefox is gaining weight very quickly!
In terms of setting, nothing complicated. It’s portable software, so no need to install it, just decompress it.
Personally, I left the default settings at 300. I just checked the box “Start Firemin when windows starts” since I have firefox which is also launched at windows startup.
In terms of options, the most important is the optimization rate that is adjusted by a slide. The smaller the value (to the red), the less Firefox will consume memory, but the more the processor (CPU) will be used. Conversely, the larger the value (to the green), the less the CPU will be solicited. But the more Firefox will consume RAM. The author recommends a setting between 300 and 500.
Ah, and check well that the location of the Firefox file is correct, otherwise, it won’t work! ;-)
Firemin download link
Booster Firefox
Firefox uses, among other things, a SQLite database. This database contains a lot of data that is used and modified all the time! By dint of using it, the file grows and fragmentes, causing your Firefox to slow down! We see very quickly that the software is slow, but we rarely think about doing the cleaning!
Speedyfox is a small free portable program (so does not require installation), which allows you to optimize and speed up Firefox, Thunderbird, Chrome and Skype and thus make them faster, smoother and lighter!
At launch, it automatically detects the profiles of these different programs and optimizes the SQLite databases of these software!
If you’ve never done it, chances are you’ll see the change!
Software link: Speedyfox
Replace the famous anti-pub AdBlock Plus with Ublock
Recently, I discovered a replacement for the famous Adblock Plus ad blocker.
Ad blockers can block harmful items and make your internet browsing faster. Here you’ll also see another way to optimize memory management to speed up Firefox at the same time!
Adblock Edge
There are already quite a few similar and competing ad blockers. But one that struck me was mostly Adblock Edge. It is a fork of Adblock Plus (ABP ) that was created when the company of Adblock Plus had decided to let pass so-called non-intrusive ads … Questionable and debateable, but what I found ridiculous is the fact of having created a fork just to put this function in unchecked …
uBlock
So recently, during one of my surfing sessions on the net, I wondered where this fork was. Was it continuing on exactly the same line as Adblock Plus with only change the absence of a non-intrusive ad list or had it been added additional options? I don’t have the answer because I saw that the project had been abandoned in favor of another named uBlock!
Surprised, I begin to do my little research: it is reputed to have a low consumption in memory! Much weaker than Adblock Plus! There, I must admit that I was immediately interested. Especially when you see the consumption of Firefox and a lot is due to plugins, including ADBP! In addition it uses the same filters as Adblock, that is to say the famous lists like EasyList et al. They fit perfectly and therefore we are not at all disoriented to want to look for new effective lists!
I continue my research, and there I discover that in fact, there are 2: uBlock all short and uBlock Origin!
uBlock or uBlock Origin
There, it begins to become dark: small war between the two, one is a fork of the other. One is “accused” of monetizing the plugin. The other is “accused” of removing functionality, etc. Especially since apparently uBlock was the first before the Origin uBlock, and some call uBlock Origin… uBlock…
Personally, I didn’t look too far. Unravelling the real from the fake when you haven’t followed the project, it takes a lot of time and research. After some research, I got the info I wanted. Everyone agrees on this point: the original author of the plugin is currently working and only on uBlock Origin (UO).
So I decide to test UO to see if it can really replace AdBlock Plus. No matter the arguments, rumors, defamation and other conflicts that there may be between the two versions.
Comparison between ABP and UO
Memory consumption
One of the big strengths of the UO plugin is memory consumption: which says less memory consumed, says more resources allocated to other tasks including responsiveness.
Personally, I noticed that I was able to speed up Firefox with the latter only with Adblock, but maybe it’s a placebo effect.
On the other hand, memory consumption level, there is no photo! uBlock Origin consumes much less. As this image proves. The data comes from my Firefox -13 anti-undesirable lists enabled – using the plugin about:addons-memory, which indicates the fingerprint of plugins:
As seen, Adblock Plus uses 26MB of memory, compared to 0.96MB. And this, with exactly the same filtering lists!!!
And yes, because another strong point, uBlock uses exactly the same list of AdBlock!
Lists of pub blockages
ADB Plus allowed to see the number of times a particular ad blocking rule had been used. UO does not incorporate this kind of meter. In ADB, this kind of counter was rather interesting because it allowed me to remove some blocking lists that was completely unused during my surfs. And so allowed me to gain a little resource. In UO, the meter is missing, but in my case, this has no longer become useful given the very low memory consumption! In addition, the filters are cached.
On the other hand, in ADB, you could see all the items on the list directly in one window and sort them out. This is not possible in UO. UO only shows the list as if it were an open text file in Firefox.
Another detail also, it does not allow to disable a filter from a list as is possible in Adblock. On the other hand, it gives all the queries that are launched in the browser. He says exactly where it blocks in case of false positives.
Hide other visuals
uBlock Origin includes an item blocker. Item like banners or a graphic element that you don’t like, which Adblock Plus doesn’t natively. It is possible to add this feature to ADB by adding an additional plugin to the plugin: Element Hiding Helper for ADB. But after testing, the UO one seems to me much more efficient! On some sites, Element hiding helper could not remove some overlays composed of 3 layers, which UO did very well without worries!
Site blocking entirely
If uBlock blocks you an entire site, instead of showing you a blank page, it warns you. It tells you why and what action to remember:
Conclusion
Adblock Plus makes it easy to surf the internet by effectively blocking ads. But I personally think his time is starting to be over! It has already lost a few feathers with its history of accepting non-intrusive ads and is under too much pressure against ad publishers. He was even attacked in court. (But that’s another debate).
It’s an excellent ad blocker, but alas uBlock Origin is a much more than convincing alternative! Not only does it use the same filters, so that blocking level, it doesn’t change anything. And so we’re not out of place at the source level of the lists. But in addition, it incorporates a powerful element masker and this, natively. Not to mention his really minimal consumption for the job he does all the time! And besides, it’s free!
The only problem I could find him is at the interface level. It is from my point of view, slightly lower than that of ADBP. But it’s not an interface that’s particularly complicated. For example (actually, it’s the only one I’d say), to access the UO dashboard/configuration, you either have the choice to pass the firefox plugins page (like all plugins), or directly through the UO icon. But you don’t have a button options or other, you have to click on uBlock Origin version x.x.x.x to access it… In addition, there is no way to disable a filter without disabling an entire list or site (but the possibility of whitelisting by domain, sub-domain, / , etc. …)
UO link for Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
Use an SSD
As for tips to speed up your PC, using an SSD will make your Firefox much faster!