Firefox is my primary browser for a long time. Only problem with Firefox is it’s startup time and once launched. Apart from the slow start up, Firefox rules the browser performance with its unique features and user friendliness.Some users had to wait several minutes until Firefox would appear. We are going to see some best ways we can speed up the Firefox Start up. These 10 reasons will definitely make your Firefox Browser Start up faster.
1.Change the Browser Home page to Blank page
Problems with a website can cause Firefox to take a long time to start. Try changing your Firefox home page to a different website or use a blank home page.
2.Remove unwanted Live Bookmarks
Apparently, the amount of bookmarks you have can extend Firefox’ start-up time. Especially Live Bookmarks will slow it down as Firefox checks for the latest updates. So remove any Live Bookmarks you’re not really using and generally clean out the rest of your bookmarks.
3.Check your antivirus software
Firefox reads a number of files normally during startup. Some antivirus software may do intensive scans of each of these files during startup and block access until those scans complete. If the problem began after installing, updating, or reconfiguring your antivirus software, contact the software provider for assistance.
4.Clear History and Cookies On Shutdown
All this information about your past browsing session/s will slow down Firefox as it launches for a fresh session. If you don’t ever view data stored in the history, you can set up Firefox to clear it whenever it shuts down.
5.Troubleshoot extensions or themes
Firefox loads extensions when it starts up and many extensions add start-up tasks. So identify an extension that may be causing the problem. Turn off hardware acceleration, Run Firefox in safe mode to know if extensions are causing the problem. If you find out the problems are not caused by add-ons, then Switch Firefox to the default theme to find out if there is a change in speed after theme change.
6. Use Windows Update to install a fix from Microsoft
This section only applies to Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
Microsoft has released the recommended KB2505438 update that fixes slow startup performances in Firefox when HW acceleration is enabled. To make sure, you have this update installed:
- In Windows, click
, select All programs, then select Windows Update. The Windows Update window will open. - Click the “Check for updates” link and wait until it is done.
- If no updates are available, you have this KB update installed. Skip to the next section.
- Click “n optional updates are available”. The View available updates panel will appear.
- Click “Optional” and search KB2505438 in the list.
- If you don’t find it, you have this KB update installed. Skip to the next section.
- Check it and click OK to close the View available updates panel.
- Click Install updates.
- Restart your computer.
- Start Firefox and check if it loads faster.
7.Install Start Faster Add-on
This addon uses low-level Windows API to start Firefox faster. Start Faster bypasses the Windows prefetch feature to start Firefox faster after restarting Windows.
8.Turn Off Check for Add-on Updates on Firefox Startup
If you can live with doing manual update checks on your extensions and Firefox, then… Tools > Options > Advanced > Update. Un-tick Add-Ons, Firefox and Search Engines. It will no longer check for updates on startup.
9. Add-ons list that slow down Firefox
Please try to avoid the following Top 10 Add-ons that slow down Firefox Startup Time. Its a popular list of Slow Firefox Add-ons
10. Skip “Save and Exit” Or Reduce Number Of Open Tabs
The one thing that slows Firefox down the most is the amount of pages it has to load on startup. Hence, an easy fix would be to no longer load a saved session or at least have it load less tabs.
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Hi, on point 2, how do I access my live bookmark settings? I’ve seached everywhere, thanks.
In menu Bar – Goto View->Toolbars->Bookmark Toolbars. There you can see Latest headlines…
The RSS list in the latest headlines in Live Bookmarks
Your article is good, Of course it’s under windows box.Can i translate it for IranTux.org magazine? This is a GFDL license for Free Software appl. Can i ?