Here are some hoops:
Firefox / IE Browser Tweaks
Below, you will find browser-specific settings and registry entries to speed up both Firefox and Internet Explorer. The settings are generally intended for broadband internet connections, and can noticeably improve your web browsing experience.
Internet Explorer
According to the HTTP specs, only a limited number of simultaneous connections to web servers are allowed, while loading web pages. With today's broadband connections, it is beneficial to increase the number of concurrent connections to reduce page loading time. To increase the number of concurrent connections, add the following entries to the Windows Registry (the settings are not present by default in all Windows versions).
Under Windows 9x/ME/2k/XP
Navigate to Start > Run, type: regedit , find the following locations and add the DWORD values:
HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
"MaxConnectionsPerServer"=dword:00000008 (not present by default, recommended: 8)
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=dword:00000008 (not present by default, recommended: 8)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
"MaxConnectionsPerServer"=dword:00000008 (not present by default, recommended: 8)
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=dword:00000008 (not present by default, recommended: 8)
Internet Explorer 8 under Windows Vista/7/2k8 Server
Click the Windows button, type: regedit, and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\
FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPER1_0SERVER\explorer.exe=8 (DWORD, default: 4, recommended: 8)
FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPERSERVER\explorer.exe=8 (DWORD, default: 2, recommended: 8)
Notes:
The above should also work if you create a DWORD "iexplore.exe=8" instead of using "explorer.exe=8" (Windows 7 has explorer.exe in the registry by default).
Keep in mnd that setting those values exceed the HTTP RFC specs. Increasing the number of concurrent connections over 10 may cause problems with some websites not completely loading, or dropping/retransmitting some requests. If you experience problems, just reduce the numbers to a lower value, or return the settings to the Windows defaults (4 and 2 concurrent connections).
The above parameters, and the web patch in the downloads section of the site work with Internet Explorer versions 4 and above.
Alternatively, to apply the above tweak for Windows 9x/XP/Me/2k, you can download a web patch (sguide_webtweak_2k) from the download section of the website.
While these entries improve web page loading considerably, there is some concern that they tend to strain webservers more (they increase bursts of concurrent requests), but have no effect on average throughput.
References:
Q183110 - "WinInet Limits IE connections per server"
KB282402 - "How to configure Internet Explorer to download more than two files at one time"
Firefox
Pipelining requests
This setting is equivalent to the IE tweak above. It allows for more simultaneous connections to web servers. Note that the HTTP specs suggest for 4 concurrent connections. Setting this value to 10 allows for more web page components being downloaded at the same time, noticeably improving browsing. To appy the tweak, follow the simple instructions below:
1. In the address bar, type: about:config
2. Locate and change the following values (by double-clicking on them):
network.http.max-connections = 24 (default is 24)
network.http.max-connections-per-server = 10 (default is 8)
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy = 8 (default is 4)
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server = 4 (default is 2)
network.http.pipelining = true (default is false)
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests = 10 ( default is 4)
network.http.proxy.pipelining = true (default is false)
3. Optionally, you can also tweak the following settings:
content.notify.backoffcount = 5
ui.submenuDelay = 0
Note: Setting the number of connections per server to a much higher number (over ~10) can cause web servers to drop some requests, resulting in incomplete pages, increased retransmissions, etc., so it is not recommended.
Reduce Initial Page Delay
By default, Firefox waits 0.25 seconds (250ms) before beginning to draw web pages. To reduce this initial delay, do the following:
- In the browser address bar, type: about:config
- Anywhere in the browser window, right-click and create: NEW > String
- Name the string: nglayout.initialpaint.delay (no spaces) and set its value to an integer between 0 and 50 (something sensible, in milliseconds).
Note: This setting is not present by default. When not present, Firefox waits 250 milliseconds before first displaying the page.
Use memory cache
Firefox has the ability to write cached files to RAM instead of the hard disk. This is much faster, and reduces hard disk drive wear. It is highly recommended if using SSD drives.
To change the cache location to RAM:
- open Firefox
- type about:config in the address bar, Enter
- double-click browser.cache.disk.enable to set the value to False
- right-click anywhere and create "New" "Integer" values with the preference name "disk.cache.memory.capacity"
- set value to memory size in KB. Enter 32768 for 32MB, 65536 for 64MB, depending on your RAM size.
- also add another setting named "browser.cache.memory.capacity" and set to the same number.
- restart Firefox
Advanced Firefox Settings
Below, you will find settings that may increase your perceived page loading time a bit further. Note that those are most likely best left at the default values. These settings generally do no exist under the Firefox about:config, and need to be created if you'd like to experiment with them.
content.interrupt.parsing - default/recommended is true. When true, parsing can be interrupted to process UI events.
content.max.tokenizing.time recommended value ~ 2250000. Defines maximum number of microseconds between reflows.
content.notify.interval - recommended value ~ 750000
content.notify.ontimer - recommended set to true. If so, doesn't reflow pages more often than the content.notify.interva timer.
content.switch.threshold - raising the value will make the browser more responsive at the expense of page load time.
browser.cache.memory.capacity - memory, in KB reserved for caching decoded images. Default varies with RAM
Now dribble.