DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Firefox too slow...

15 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/firefox-too-slow.27824/

saurabh.sauron
saurabh.sauron Original post #1
May 7, 2006 at 3:02 PM
Firefox runs too too slow in ubuntu. Opens up well but swithing between tabs, opening sites is quite slow. pls help.
soham
soham #2
May 7, 2006 at 3:51 PM
You may try the extension Fasterfox. it may help speed up the connection to some extent.
vignesh
vignesh #3
May 7, 2006 at 5:24 PM
The OS doesn`t suck.... I use a dialup and its quite fast ....
U
ujjwal #4
May 7, 2006 at 5:43 PM
Firefox is slow. Its XUL interface makes it customisable but sluggish on old hardware. You could try switching to a browser like Opera, or else some other Gecko based browsers like Skipstone, Galeon, Kazehakase and Epiphany. Even the official Mozilla build will be faster than firefox. You could also try to use the build of firefox shipped with Damn Small Linux. It is optimised for speed and size.

47shailesh - That is a funny post
B
Brat-Man #5
May 7, 2006 at 5:49 PM
Ironically Win Ver. Firefox running in WINE it Much Faster than Which Runs on Linux :(
U
ujjwal #6
May 7, 2006 at 5:52 PM
If that is true, it means that the GTK2 toolkit (used by mozilla firefox) is quite a lot slower than the Win32 toolkit. The GTK1 versions of firefox are noticably faster than the GTK2 versions.
kushaaal
May 7, 2006 at 10:47 PM
Been using firefox recently, few tips on getting pages to load faster.. Works great, so for those who use firefox, have a go at the following
Here's something for broadband people that will really speed Firefox up, I read in some forum, but can't remember one, so just can't give credit. :)
1. Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining
network.http.proxy.pipelining
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it recieves.
If you're using a broadband connection you'll load pages 2-3 times faster now.
30 sounds like it might be a tad overkill, but you can always tweak it later
Broadband users, you will never forget me after this
vignesh
vignesh #8
May 8, 2006 at 9:33 AM
Epiphany and Galeon are also mozilla like and really fast...Epiphany is what I use
praka123
May 8, 2006 at 11:32 AM
I dont feel any speed cap with firefox 1.5 in gentoo Linux
B
Brat-Man #10
May 8, 2006 at 10:54 PM
Oh.. The Browsing Speed Doesnt Differ.. and Its Not What this Thread is About i Suppose..
Its About the Speed of the Application..
vignesh
vignesh #11
May 9, 2006 at 9:05 AM
Is talking about the time taken by firefox to start...
mayanksharma
May 9, 2006 at 3:54 PM
update to the newer version,and try disabling the good for nothing extensions of it.
Instead try Fasterfox!;)
You will love it.
saurabh.sauron
May 13, 2006 at 4:19 PM
i recently switched over to opera. it takes a fractions of a second to start. it is patched to the latest update btw.
vignesh
vignesh #14
May 13, 2006 at 9:10 PM
Plus Opera is only 3.4 mb compared to 8.5 Mb (firefox.)... So it takes less time to download as well.. Its available as rpm/deb for download.
amitsurana
May 14, 2006 at 12:02 AM
I too felt same... Opera is far far faster than Firefox when it comes to loadin on desktop... even downloads is good in opera...