how to get firefox to load faster - Windows Vista

Question

How do I make Firefox 3.5 open faster? I love FF but use IE8 when I want to get on fast because it opens faster...I'm running Windows Vista, Home Premium.

Answer 1

If you have any add-ins installed, they can drastically increase the amount of time FireFox takes to load up.

Start by disabling all of the add-ins. Then enable them one at a time in order of priority to you. Stop when the amount of time it takes to start is as long as you are willing to put up with.

Answer 2

Just continue to use it. Superfetch will learn that you like to use Firefox and preload it into memory so it starts faster.

Answer 3

Firefox introduced a new thing where it scans all your temp files in 3.5. I believe in 3.5.2 they disabled this, so your best bet would be to update to that.

Answer 4

Clear your cookies and cache. That might affect load times.

Answer 5

This worked for me:

http://lifehacker.com/5311669/speed-up-firefox-35-start+up-on-windows

Basically, clear out these folders (exact location names might vary for Vista):

C:\Documents and Settings*user*\Local Settings\History

C:\Documents and Settings*user*\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

C:\Documents and Settings*user*\My Recent Documents

C:\Documents and Settings*user*\Temp\

Cut my work firefox startup from about 20secs to 5 secs on XP (a mature installation). No difference on new install of Win 7 at home, but then there's been no time to build up crap in the relevant locations.

Answer 6

Try FireTune to optimize FF config...

Answer 7

Also, if you don't like IE, but don't necessarily want to ditch all of your extensions in Firefox, consider using Chrome for those times when you just need a browser up right away. I use it for that purpose a lot, although Firefox is still my main browser.