Firefox 3 RC 2 Released

Comments · June 5, 2008 at 6:02 am · Firefox News

We are getting closer to a final release for Firefox 3 and that is the sort of thing that just makes me all happy inside.  Not much is really known about the Firefox 3 RC2 release as far as what has been improved.  In a general nutshell it is said they fixed some reliability and performance issues.  For me?  It is just as awesome as Firefox 3 RC1 was, so thank goodness for little things.

You can download the Firefox 3 - RC2 at the Mozilla web site if your feeling like you want to do a little testing.  If you have RC1 and you want to move to RC2, just go up to “Help” in the menu bar, then “Check for Updates”.

Check out the release notes for yourself and then download if your ready to take the leap.  Once again, must say this isn’t the final version just yet, so unless your just overly curious like some of us - might want to wait before downloading.

Firefox 3 Solves the Memory Problems?

Comments off · March 18, 2008 at 7:05 am · Firefox News

This is a ‘bit of news that might have been missed by some. It looks like Firefox 3 continues to gain praise for having a significant reduction in the amount of memory it uses over Firefox 2.

Over at Ars Technica this is what they are saying:

During intensive browsing with approximately 50 tabs, I have found that Firefox 3 generally consumes less than half of the memory used by Firefox 2.0.0.12. Firefox 3 is also snappier and more responsive when switching between tabs and performing other operations that typically lag in Firefox 2.0.0.12 when the browser is experiencing heavy load.

This is great news for any Firefox fans out there. Over the recent years the memory problems seem to be the big sticking point for a lot of people. Has this mountain of an issue finally been solved?

+ Firefox 3 Goes on a Diet, Eats Less Memory than IE and Opera

Firefox 3 is Faster Finally?

Comments (1) · March 5, 2008 at 5:00 am · Firefox News

Firefox 3 has a lot of nice new features, the design is slick and it promises to be yet another Mozilla home run! Now a lot of people could really care less about those three facts because much of the Web is much more considered with how fast Firefox 3 is going to be. Well thanks to Ryan over at CybernetNews.com we have some numbers for you.

Using the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark test for each of the browsers, here are the results from best to worst on who was the fastest around:

1. Firefox 3 Nightly (PGO Optimized): 7263.8ms
2. Firefox 3 Nightly (02/25/2008 build): 8219.4ms
3. Opera 9.5.9807 Beta: 10824.0ms
4. Firefox 3 Beta 3: 16080.6ms
5. Safari 3.0.4 Beta: 18012.6ms
6. Firefox 2.0.0.12: 29376.4ms
7. Internet Explorer 7: 72375.0ms

Now before I get somebody mad because this is only a test of JavaScript, let me explain that this test is very relevant because there are tons of sites (thanks to Web 2.0) that heavily reply on it. To get more information on the research and information you can get from this study be sure to check it out over at CybernetNews.com.

Firefox Tabs vs Firefox Windows

Comments off · February 14, 2007 at 5:00 am · Firefox Usability

Which one gives you a better performance? Is it better to have multiple tabs open in one window or just have multiple Windows open? The Firefox Guru did all of the scientific work on this one, and has found out the results for us.

Over on Go Firefox!, an interesting question was posted: Which uses less system resources (memory)?

My theory is using tabs would use less resources then having the same sites opened in separate windows. My reasoning is each window has to load the entire browser interface, not just the page content. So, I did a little experiment. First using Firefox 2.0.0.1 with a clean profile (no extensions, no plug-ins and default theme) and imported my bookmarks from another profile.

+ Want to See the Results? Check Out the Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog!

Speed up Firefox

Comments (1) · November 2, 2006 at 4:55 am · Firefox Settings

Am I the only person out there that has not ever really noticed a big speed increase when using Fasterfox? The newest version of the extension is out, and it now works with Firefox 2. If you can, leave me a comment if you have really noticed a difference using this extension - because I am confused why I have not.

Fasterfox allows you to tweak many network and rendering settings such as simultaneous connections, pipelining, cache, DNS cache, and initial paint delay.

Dynamic speed increases can be obtained with the unique prefetching mechanism, which recycles idle bandwidth by silently loading and caching all of the links on the page you are browsing.

+ Learn More About and Download the Fasterfox Extension!

Optimizing Firefox

Comments off · April 5, 2006 at 5:00 am · General Posts

The folks over at Download.com have a good guide when it comes to optimizing performance in the Firefox browser. Some of the recommendations are common sense, such as clearing out your downloads. Others might be something you haven’t thought of before, such as deleting extensions you don’t use too often. If your browser seems to be lagging a little here lately, then this guide is worth a look.

[Get Firefox Up to Speed Again!]