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There are a zillion ways to configure Firefox using the obscure but incredibly cool feature known of as "about:config"
Try this, and don't be frightened. Well, you should be a little frightened. Type the following into the URL box at the top of your browser:]
about:config
How you've got a strange new window with a zillion alphabetized options. Above this is a "filter" box into which you can put a filter. For instance, you can type this into the filter:
network
and you can see dozens and dozens of network related options. Keep typing so this is in the filter box:
network.prefetch
If you see "network.prefetch-next" then you're on to something. If you don't, you've got an older version of Firefox and should upgrade (or you mistyped!).
Prefetch is where the browser goes ahead and starts loading the contents of pages that are linked to on whatever page you are viewing. This could be a good idea, but how often do you actually click on more than one link on a particular page? I suspect rarely.
One thing I often do is to accumulate a large number of pages under one bookmark heading, then open them (at a later time) all at once. I don't do that just for fun, there is usually a reason. If the "prefetch" feature is turned on, that means that Firefox will start preloading perhaps hundreds of pages that I'm never going to look at. Things can get very hairy, and very slow.
What I would do is to get this key up and visible, right click on it, and pick "Toggle" which changes "true" to "false."
This will make a very tangible difference in your browsing speed under certain fairly common conditions.
This web page has numerous similar tips and excellent instructions on how to implement them.
Happy browsing!
Technology
Comments
Thanks for the info on this. I use SeaMonkey on my Windows system; I will be curious to see how these features work here.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | November 19, 2007 7:22 PM
Excellent tip!
I recommend some decent plugins to go with that tip, AdBlock Plus, Tiny Menu, and for website programmers Web Developer.
Posted by: Webs | November 19, 2007 10:35 PM