MOzilla/Firefox/ThunderBird Browser Tweak

Fix a memory leak in Firefox 1.0

To solve this, Firefox power users recommend limiting the memory cache using the Configuration Console. This frees up memory for other apps, speeding up everything to a greater or a lesser extent, depending on your machine and the applications you run. Here's how the trick works:

Step 1. Type about:config into Firefox's Address Bar and press Enter.

Step 2. Right-click any row, then click New, Integer. Type or paste the following preference name into the dialog box that appears (this is a hidden preference that doesn't exist in the Configuration Console until you create it):

browser.cache.memory.capacity

Step 3. Click OK, then enter the following integer number into the next dialog box, representing 16 MB of RAM for the cache:

16000

Step 4. Click OK to close the dialog box, then close all instances of Firefox and restart it.



Common to all configurations

These are the settings that seem to be common to all configuration files regardless of connection speed or computer speed with a couple of additions - plugin paths can be found with about:plugins and the bookmark menu delay is turned off.

user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("plugin.expose_full_path", true);
user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0);

Fast Computer Fast Connection

user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

A couple settings of note - Firefox is allocated 4096 KB of memory by default and in this configuration we give it roughly 65MB as denoted by the last line. This can be changed according to what is used.

Fast Computer, Slower Connection

This configuration is more suited to people without ultra fast connections. We are not talking about dial up connections but slower DSL / Cable connections.

user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

Fast Computer, Slow Connection
user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 8191);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

Slow Computer, Fast Connection
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 1000000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 1000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 4095);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 1000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

One of the changes made for this particular configuration is the final line where the status bar is disabled for changing web pages to save processor time.

Slow Computer, Slow Connection

We have entered the doldrums of the dial-up user

user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 750);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts

Power users (lazy people) love keyboard shortcuts and we have a semi exhaustive list of the common ones here. The most important ones (in our opinion) are near the top while the more benign ones are closer to the bottom. If we have missed anything that you think is important be sure to let us know.

To use the keyboard shortcuts hold down CTRL and press one of the following:
T Opens a new tab and takes the focus to the new tab
O Open Local File. This is one of the biggest changes from IE where both Ctrl-O and Ctrl-L opened a dialogue box for a URL.
L Changes focus to the Address bar
Tab Scrolls through the tabs from current window towards the right. Loops back to the first tab when rightmost tab is reached
1..0 The numbers 1 to 0 takes the focus to Tab 1 to 10
N Opens a new window like IE
W a tab or if there are no tabs, close the window
B Open bookmark sidepanel
D Bookmark current page
H Brings up the history dialogue box on the right. Useful if you closed a page accidentally and forgot the URL. Or to make sure your kids are not looking at pr0n
U Show page source
Y Open downloads window
K Focus goes to search bar

Some of the more common shortcuts just for the heck of it.
R Refresh current page
F Find in page
G Find Again (used in conjunction with Ctrl F)
J Page Info (same as properties in IE)
- Decrease font size
+ Increase font size
S Save current page to disk
P Print current page
A Select All

F5 - refresh page
F6 - Same as CTRL-L, focus is taken to the address bar
CTRL Y - Open up the downloads window
CTRL K - Focus is taken to search bar

Optimizing the connection speed: MOzilla/Firefox

Enter about:config in the location bar to reach the preferences. The relevant entries for the simultaneous connections are:

* network.http.max-connections =(default 24) change to 200
* network.http.max-connections-per-server =(default 8) change to 100
* network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy =(default 4) change to 10
* network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server =(default 2 or 32) change to 50

To change a value right-click the preference and select Modify.

Enter the new value.

The status changes from default to user set.

The values to use depend on the particular system and connection speed. Some experience is required to find the 'right' settings.

Modification of HTTP_USER_AGENT:

Example: HTTP_USER_AGENT=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4b) Gecko/20030516 Mozilla Firebird/0.6

Don't you hate that? now to stop this from happening lets begin open your mozilla browser or firefox and type this in the bar "about:config" w/o quotes ok?
Enter "about:config" w/o quotes in the location bar to reach the preferences. Some items of the content of HTTP_USER_AGENT can be modified there.

To completely fake HTTP_USER_AGENT a new preference must be added. The value of general.useragent.override is used as the current string which is transmitted in HTTP_USER_AGENT. It is fully customizable by the user and overrides all other settings related to general.useragent.x. To create the new preference right-click anywhere in the window and choose New/String.

Enter "general.useragent.override" as preference name.

Type in the string to use for HTTP_USER_AGENT. We recommend to use an empty string, i.e. leave the input field blank.

The new preference is added to Mozilla Firebird now.

To double-check the result visit a web based proxy checker site. The proxy checker should display something like HTTP_USER_AGENT (none) or HTTP_USER_AGENT isn't shown at all(e.g. http://www.inet-poli...cgi-bin/env.cgi ).

Modification of HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE:

The CGI variable HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE is sent to a web site at each request. Usually it contains information about the languages the user is able to understand. To improve the anonymity the content of HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE should be faked or removed.

Enter about:config in the location bar to reach the preferences. Right-click intl.accept_languages and choose Modify.

Type in the string to use for HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE. We recommend to use an empty string, i.e. leave the input field blank.

The value for HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE is empty now. Double-check the results with a web based proxy checker.

The value of HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET can be changed too. Just modify the preferences intl.accept_charsets and intl.charset.default. But be careful, your browser may display the wrong characters on some web sites. Look up the Character Coding which matches your installed operating system here.

Disabling of HTTP referrer logging:

The CGI variable HTTP_REFERER tells the visited web site which hyperlink the user has clicked to reach the site. By reading this variable the web site can trace the user's way through its site. It could also block access to certain contents when external linking is attempted. Sometimes the hyperlink to a certain site carries additional information to reveal its origin. For better anonymity the HTTP referrer logging should be disabled.

Enter about:config in the location bar to reach the preferences. Right-click on network.http.sendRefererHeader and choose Modify.

Enter 0 to disable the referrer logging. Press OK.