MR Tech's Mozilla, Firefox & Thunderbird Hacks

[mrtech]

Disclaimer:  Neither MRTECH.com nor Mel are responsible for any side-affects, crashes or disasters that may occur from applying any of the following hacks, 'nuff said, let's get-it-on!!!!

I had originally written about download throughput hacks and a FavIcon hack, and after looking around I found a few more that are of interest and I figured I'd share them with everyone. BTW, these hacks will also work with Netscape 7.x/8.0 and Thunderbird.

I'm not taking credit for all of these hacks, just some, but I figured putting them all together would be a great resource, enjoy.  These tweaks have been tested on high speed networks and cable, they might need to be tweaked for slower connections.

What's new with this release (9/18/2006):

• Updated to remove some unused and update some typos, etc.

What's new with this release (6/28/2005):

• Added: "app.update.interval" to "Performance" section which check for Firefox updates every 7 days not every day
• Added: "browser.sessionhistory.max_viewers" = 5 to "Performance" section, which adds support Firefox 1.1 blazing fast back & forth page caching
• Added: "network.prefetch-next" set to false to avoid additional traffic and other possible issues.
• Updated: Increase mousewheel scroll from 6 lines to 8

What's new with this release (9/23/2004):

• Added: "mail.default_html_action" = 3 to compose emails in both html & text formats and remove old annoying prompts
• Added: Disable "mailnews.message_display.allow.plugins" and "javascript.allow.mailnews" of these for security reasons
• Added: Set "alerts.totalOpenTime" = 7 seconds to give me time to click on the mail alert pop up
• Added: Enable "browser.xul.error_pages.enabled" to display error page instead of error popup (for performance reasons too)
• Added: Disable "mailnews.show_send_progress", really no use for a progress window if the email has a progress bar on the bottom
• Added: Disable "mail.inline_attachments" for security and performance reasons
• Fixed a typo on the "network.http.keep-alive.timeout" line

How to:
You can apply the patches one of these ways:
1) Use the ChromeEdit Extension,
2) use the about:config screen which lets you add, modify or reset values or
3) manually add all of these hacks to the prefs.js or user.js :

Option 1:

• Download ChromEdit, Install, restart browser
• Select the new link in the Tools Menu call Edit User Files
• Click on the user.js tab
• copy and paste the hacks listed below at the BOTTOM of the user.js file
• save the user file and restart

Option 2:

• Type about:config at the location/url bar, this will list all current preferences

Option 3:

• exit out of the browser completely,
• find your prefs.js file (usually deep in your Application Data\Firefox\Profiles\... directory for windows users),
• backup your prefs.js or user.js file,
• copy and paste the hacks listed below at the BOTTOM of the file,
• save the prefs file and restart your browser

<Begin>
// MR Tech Hacks and Tweaks - Updated 9/18/2006 4:38:53 PM
// Performance

// This will allow Firefox to maintain it GUI memory so that the browser window
// will snap right back after being minimized. This is fairly new and will be available
// in the very near future, might be in the 0.9.x builds, but it works in current Trunk/Brand builds
user_pref("config.trim_on_minimize", false);

// Specify the amount of memory cache:
// -1 = determine dynamically (default), 0 = none, n = memory capacity in kilobytes
// If you have the memory to spare, enabling this will run things a little smoother
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536); // thus equal about 64 megs, drop down to less if you can't spare the RAM

// Remove painting delay when loading pages
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0); // Default is 250

user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true); // Turn on timer-based reflow management

user_pref("content.notify.interval", 100); // Sets the allowed time between reflows in microseconds

// Set the number of reflows to do before waiting for the rest of the page to arrive
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 200);

// Other Tweaks
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000); // New 8/25
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 8191); // New 8/25

// Enable Improve pipelining:
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.firstrequest", true); // Default is false
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8 ); // Default is 4 - updated 9/18/2006

// Increase Multi-Threaded Downloading performance
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 96); // Default is 24 Use this for modems
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 32); // Default is 8 Use this for modems
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 24); // Default is 4 Use this for modems
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 12); // Default is 2 Use this for modems

// Other Tweaks
user_pref("network.dnsCacheExpiration", 86400); // Updated from 360 to 86400 - 9/22
user_pref("network.dnsCacheEntries", 256); // Updated from 100 to 256 - 9/22
user_pref("network.ftp.idleConnectionTimeout", 60); // New 8/25
user_pref("network.http.keep-alive.timeout", 30); // New 9/22

user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0); // New 8/25

user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true); // New 9/22

// Shows an error page instead of an error popup dialog, have been using this for a long time now
// found this useful if you load multiple pages at the same the dialog box actually holds up the browser
// using this will allow the other pages/elements to load for the rest of the pages
user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true) // New 9/23

// Check for main Firefox application update every 7 days not every day
user_pref("app.update.interval", 604800) // Updated 9/18/2006

// Searching & Type Ahead
// Change to normal Google search:
user_pref("keyword.URL", "http://google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=");

// Find As You Type Configuration:
// Set this pref to false to disable Find As You Type:
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind", true);

// If you set this pref to true, typing can automatically start Find As You Type.
// If false (default), you must hit / (find text) or ' (find links) before your search.
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.autostart", true);

// Set this pref to false if you want Find As You Type to search normal text too:
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly", false);

// Set this pref to true if you require that the link starts with the entered text:
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.startlinksonly", false);

// This is the time in milliseconds for the Find As You Type to stop watching for keystrokes:
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.timeout", 3000);

// User Interface
// Enable Bookmark Icons (I love this feature)
user_pref("browser.chrome.site_icons", true);
user_pref("browser.chrome.favicons", true);
user_pref("browser.chrome.load_toolbar_icons", 2); // New 8/25

// Do not Reuse Active Mozilla Browser, create a new one for email links etc.
user_pref("advanced.system.supportDDEExec", false);

// Disable Smooth Scrolling (found it faster to have this off)
user_pref("general.smoothScroll", false);

// Allows for faster mouse scrolling
user_pref("mousewheel.withnokey.numlines", 8 ); // Adjust this accordingly - Default = 1 - updated 9/18/2006
user_pref("mousewheel.withnokey.sysnumlines", false); // This must be set to false in order to read previous line

user_pref("browser.display.show_image_placeholders", true); // New 8/25

// 1.0 Preview disables dynamic theme switching, this re-enables dynamic theme switching.
user_pref("extensions.dss.enabled", false); //New 9/1: maybe buggy don't complain Smile

// Mail & News
user_pref("mailnews.start_page.enabled", false); // New 9/23

// always send messages in MIME format (both plain- and HTML-formatted)
user_pref("mail.default_html_action", 3); // New 9/23

// The follow two are disabled for security reasons
user_pref("mailnews.message_display.allow.plugins", false); // New 9/23
user_pref("javascript.allow.mailnews", false); // New 9/23

user_pref("alerts.totalOpenTime", 7000); // New 9/23

// Disable this for performance and security issues when reading emails
// Security issues? Yes especially with zlib, jpeg, png and all kinds of new attacks coming out,
// displaying images inline can no longer be taken for granted. This only affects attached graphics.
user_pref("mail.inline_attachments", false); // New 9/23

user_pref("mailnews.show_send_progress", false); // New 9/23

// Security
// Just to make sure, disable windows shell: protocol
user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.shell", false);

// Show full path for plugin file on about:plugins page
// the full path was removed for security purposes, please keep that in mind
// Note: showing full paths can be a security risk only use when debugging.
user_pref("plugin.expose_full_path", false);

// Disable prefetching as it may try to set cookies and other unwanted cache bloat
user_pref("network.prefetch-next", false); // New 6/28/2005
<End>

[mrtech]

What's new with this release (9/22):
# Updated  extensions.disabledObsolete, set this back to true, I think it was causing upgrade/extension problems.
# Added comment with last updated to make it easier to check future updates.
# Updated network.http.pipelining.maxrequests since 8 is the hardcoded limit now
# Updated network.dnsCacheExpiration to a higher number
# Updated network.dnsCacheEntries to a higher number
# Added network.http.keep-alive.timeout tweak



Edited By mel on 1095885730

[Rick Rohlf]

First, I'd just like to say that this is an amazing resource.  Thanks, Mel!

But I think I might be confused by the following tweak:

// Do not Reuse Active Mozilla Browser, create a new one for email links etc.
    user_pref("advanced.system.supportDDEExec", false);

I would like to be able to just click a link in email to have a new browser window open - and I thought that's what this was supposed to do.  But it doesn't seem to work in Netscape 7.2

Should the value "false" be reset to true to enable this tweak?

Thanks again,

Rick Rohlf[/color]

[mrtech]

The supportDDEExec is for external apps launching links, like thunderbird, outlook, app that link to their sites.  Since Mozilla and Netscape have intergrated Mail/Browser it's not really an external app.

I did some quick snoop and can't quite find anything that pops out to do this with Mozilla/Netscape, but I'll keep looking, in the meantime, I may add some more Mozilla/Netscape specific tweaks after looking around the about:config listing.  I'll post an update here.

[mrtech]

Ok, did some more digging, there really isn't a direct way to do this and the only way I found to open a "new window" is to disable the option for opening middle-clicks in tabs and then you can middle click on mail links and have them open in a new window.  Of course leaving this setting as is would open up the link in a tab if you wanted to settle for that

So to open in a new Window use this:
user_pref("browser.tabs.opentabfor.middleclick", false);

For a new Tab use this:
user_pref("browser.tabs.opentabfor.middleclick", true);

I checked for extensions that might do this and could find anything either, I'll keep looking.

[mrtech]

What's new with this release (9/23):
# Added "mail.default_html_action" = 3 to compose emails in both html & text formats and remove old annoying prompts
# Added: Disable "mailnews.message_display.allow.plugins" and "javascript.allow.mailnews" of these for security reasons
# Added: Set "alerts.totalOpenTime" = 7 seconds to give me time to click on the mail alert popup
# Added: Enable "browser.xul.error_pages.enabled" to display error page instead of error popup (for performance reasons too)
# Added: Disable "mailnews.show_send_progress", really no use for a progess window if the email has a progress bar on the bottom
# Added: Disable "mail.inline_attachments" for security and performance reasons
# Fixed a typo on the "network.http.keep-alive.timeout" line

[Rick Rohlf]

Hi Mel:

Thanks for the info on the "external application" explanation.  

Don't spend any more time on it on my account; I'll just continue to right click and click "open in new window."

(Dang, how lazy does a guy have to be to want to save a freakin' click??  

Thanks again!

[mrtech]

I hear yeah, not sure if they'll add this either since they are focusing more on Firefox and Thunderbird.  Maybe posting something in the mozillazine.org site either forum below to see if someone can create an extension:

General: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=7
or Features: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=8

Good luck!



Edited By mel on 1095974473

[Guest0001]

I hope you realise that by increasing max connections per server like so you are hurting the resources of every single website you are visiting. There is a reason the maximum HTTP connections is specified at 2 in the RFC. Selfish tweaks like yours cause excessive load on web servers by reducing 6x the amount of client slots that it would normally be able to serve. Imagine if everyone applied this tweak... web servers would need 1000-2000 children to handle the same amount of load that normal clients today generate.

If anyone has applied this so-called tweak, I recommend you remove the "Increase Multi-Threaded Downloading performance" tweaks. Increasingly a number of web servers will also block your IP address or throttle your connections causing broken images if you attempt to open too many connections. In fact I may even write an Apache module to automate this as I'm seeing it happen all too often on my server.

Please folks, don't do this: it's bad for the web server software, the OS having to keep track of so many open connections, routers dealing with TCP state and increased packets/sec, the list goes on. Essentially by selfishly opening so many connections you are causing problems for everything and everyone but yourself.

[mrtech]

OMG, slow down killer, if you have a page that has so much traffic that the 1% of the 4% of total Browser users that might apply these patches will hurt you then you really need to upgrade your server or load balance.

These hacks have been around for ages even with IE,  and Apache, IIS and other servers handle things just fine.  And as a point of information the Max self-imposed limit for HTTP/1.0 is 4 and the actual documented limit for HTTP/1.1 is 2.

Now when applications hack the same settings for Internet Explorer, do you go on their forums and flame and rant?

[AdamStac]

Any chance that you can update this for v1.0? Seems pretty cool, but I'm not sure that this will aplly to the latest version...

Thanks in advance!

-Adam

[mrtech]

Nope these hacks work with 1.0, some I found in some doc's might have been deprecated and are not longer adjustable, I'll confirm those and try to post an update, but so far all the browser specific hacks do a very nice job of speeding things up.

[FLiPRiZa]

many thanx mate...really really helpful and direct...

[mrtech]

Glad I could help I should be updating these sometime soon, but I'm to help.

[mrtech]

#  Added: "app.update.interval" to "Performance" section which check for Firefox updates every 7 days not every day
# Added: "browser.sessionhistory.max_viewers" = 5 to "Performance" section, which adds support Firefox 1.1 blazing fast back & forth page caching
# Added: "network.prefetch-next" set to false to avoid additional traffic and other possible issues.
# Updated: Increase mousewheel scroll from 6 lines to 8



Edited By mel on 1119977117