New IE vs. Firefox

[miamirice]

Yes, Firefox is more secure, but I'm an impatient browser. I am running a 1.7 Ghz Pent M 1GB RAM on a T42 and I see a definite, real difference in loading times between the latest versions of IE and Firefox.

Now that IE seems to have a pretty effective pop-up blocker (well, I have been impressed by it) does Firefox have such a huge advantage over IE, given it is slower than IE?

[wolfman]

Have you tried to tune Firefox? There is a wealth of configurable options. If you type about:config in your URL textbar you will see a number of configuration parameters. The ones I changed that made a noticable difference in page loading in Firefox are:

network.http.pipelining true
network.http.proxy.pipelining true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 30
nglayout.initialpaint.delay 0

Please note I added the last entry as it was not already present in about:config's list "out of the box"...I think spending a little time tinkering with Firefox will yeild some pretty dramatic performance differences.

I personally avoid IE like the plague...

[carbon_unit]

Don't forget:
browser.turbo.enabled true

[wolfman]

Thanks! I almost thought that was a joke at first, but it's really in there. LOL

[jdhurst]

Use what you wish. Today, all the modern applications can be secured, and with the addition of an integrated firewall, IDS, AV system, you are very safe. A dollop of common sense when browsing doesn't hurt either.
... JD Hurst

[stgreek]

Yes, Firefox is more secure, but I'm an impatient browser. I am running a 1.7 Ghz Pent M 1GB RAM on a T42 and I see a definite, real difference in loading times between the latest versions of IE and Firefox.

Now that IE seems to have a pretty effective pop-up blocker (well, I have been impressed by it) does Firefox have such a huge advantage over IE, given it is slower than IE?

Difference in loading time is because IE is preloaded when the system starts. Other than that, I avoid ActiveX like hell, and to be honest I prefer software that is open and where you know what is going on (and if something goes wrong, people can fix it) instead of software where you have no idea what Microsoft (or any other company) is up to every time you run it.

As for the popup blocker, I don't know about IE but Firefox has the added benefit of the adblock extension, which makes browsing MUCH faster and cleaner.

[miamirice]

Interesting...I'm halfway sold...but what do those options change about Firefox??? Can it be applied no matter what networking situation I'm in, without compromising any of Firefox's advantages over IE?

wolfman Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:29 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have you tried to tune Firefox? There is a wealth of configurable options. If you type about:config in your URL textbar you will see a number of configuration parameters. The ones I changed that made a noticable difference in page loading in Firefox are:

network.http.pipelining true
network.http.proxy.pipelining true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 30
nglayout.initialpaint.delay 0

Please note I added the last entry as it was not already present in about:config's list "out of the box"...I think spending a little time tinkering with Firefox will yeild some pretty dramatic performance differences.

I personally avoid IE like the plague...

[miamirice]

OOPS

I typed in a mistake entering those suggestions from wolfman. I wrote the wrong preference name for that last one he suggested - the "nylayout.initialpaint.delay." How do I delete a line?

[wolfman]

I just tried the same thing to see what Firefox would do and after closing down all of my browser windows and restarting I went into about:config again and the invalid entry was still there. So here is one fix (may not be the only way):

If you use Windows XP, go to "start->run" and enter "%AppData%" (sans quotes) and click "OK". This will bring up Windows explorer a few directory levels above your Firefox configuration files. Close out of all your Firefox browser windows and then use windows explorer to navigate to %AppData%\Mozilla\FireFox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default directory (where the xxxxxxxx is replaced with an 8 letter randomly generated alphanumeric value - it should be the only subdirectory there). You will find a prefs.js java script file there - open it in wordpad or your editor of choice. Find the invalid entry and delete that line only, save and exit. Restart the browser and verify the entry is now gone via the about:config panel.

The configuration changes I gave you above do assume you have a broadband connection of some type. My brother did not and I had to bump down the settings of the network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to 5 I think otherwise it sort of swamped his pipe and slowed things down. You can get a description of the settings in about:config from here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQ ... ig_Entries

Upon (re)review of the faq it appears 8 is the highest honored value, anything above 8, like the 30 I mentioned above, is reset to 8. I've been using these settings for about 6 months with no issues, so they should be safe. Also, they impact page rendering performance, not start up time.

Good luck!