6 tips and tweaks to speed up Firefox 👉

If Firefox feels slow compared to other web browsers, try these tips to increase its speed and restore its performance. Discover tips and tweaks to speed up Firefox

If you don’t use Chrome, Safari, or Edge, you most likely use Firefox. But sometimes, it seems like the more you use it, the slower Firefox seems to get. So what can you do when Firefox is running slow even when other browsers are still fast?

Let’s see what to do when Firefox is slow so you can get your browser back. These are our 6 tips and tweaks to speed up Firefox

6 tips and tweaks to speed up Firefox

Getting started when Firefox is slow

Before moving on to the 6 tips and tweaks to speed up Firefox, there are a few preliminary points to consider first.

If you haven’t already, check out Some Easy Ways to Speed ​​Up Firefox, which covers general ways to improve Firefox performance. You’ll learn ways to disable unnecessary built-in features, as well as performance-enhancing plugins.

Also, before proceeding, make sure you have updated to the latest version of Firefox by clicking the menu of three lines at the top right of the screen and selecting Help > About Firefox. Running the latest version helps ensure there are no temporary bugs that cause speed issues.

Make sure you have recently restarted Firefox. Letting your browser run for days at a time without closing it and reopening it often will cause performance issues. You must also restart your computer before continuing troubleshooting.

Even after doing the above, you may still have a problem with the performance of the browser compared to other browsers on your system. Let’s see what to do when Firefox is still too slow.

1. Firefox is slow to load

After you have installed Firefox for some time, it may take a long time to start. To make Firefox start faster, click the button menu in the upper right corner of Firefox and select Options . Instead, you can enter about:preferences in the address bar if you want to go there directly.

with tab General selected on the left, uncheck the box Always check if Firefox is your default browser . So Firefox won’t waste precious seconds asking you if you want to change your default browser every time you open it.

Then at the top of this list, uncheck the box Restore previous session . This prevents Firefox from loading the tabs you had open the last time you used it. If you had many tabs open or were browsing a heavy page, restoring your previous session could cause Firefox to start slowly.

Finally, select the tab Start on the left. In New windows and tabs set the top dropdown box to blank page . Instead of a time-consuming page load, this will always open an instant blank tab on startup. can set new tabs so that they also open like blank page to reduce any drag on them as well.

two. Firefox uses too much CPU or RAM

After using Firefox for a while, it may start using a large amount of your computer’s CPU and/or RAM. To find the cause of the slowdown, first try starting Firefox in safe mode. This will cause Firefox to run without plugins or plugins. To use Safe Mode, go to menu Firefox and choose Help > Reboot with plugins disabled .

Firefox will restart and then display two options: Start in safe mode either Update Firefox . choose Start in safe mode . If Firefox is so bad that you can’t do this, hold down the shift key while launching Firefox.

If Firefox runs faster in safe mode, the problem is likely with one of your plugins or add-ons. To test which one it is, you can use Firefox’s built-in task manager. Launch it from the same three-line menu in Help > Task Manager .

Just like Windows Task Manager, it shows all the processes running in Firefox and how much memory they are using. Keep this tab visible as you work, and you should have an idea of ​​which plugins use the most memory.

Then you should try disabling them to see if Firefox works better without them. Open the menu and choose Accessories to see the installed extensions. Disable an extension’s slider to prevent it from running; you need to disable all the extensions and then enable them one by one to determine the culprit.

If you find that a particular extension is a major problem, click on its menu three point and choose Remove to completely remove it from your browser.

While you are in this menu, you should also see the tab Accessories On the left side. The modern web isn’t as reliant on add-ons, but you might still have one installed that’s slowing down Firefox. Click the button three points in a plugin, then choose ask to activate either never activate to prevent it from running on its own.

Finally, in the tab Topics , you need to apply a default Firefox theme from the list. Third-party themes can contribute to performance issues.

In case safe mode didn’t make any difference, Firefox tabs are probably the culprit. For help, you can install the , which will automatically download resources used by an inactive tab.

Try to limit the number of tabs you keep open at once, especially for resource-heavy sites. Instead of leaving tabs open to remember or read later, you can use pocket and browser bookmarks

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3. Firefox is slow even on high-end hardware

Firefox can sometimes run slowly, even on machines with solid hardware. Usually that’s because the browser is being conservative with how it uses its resources to improve performance. But you can open the hood and modify the way the browser uses the computer’s hardware.

From the Firefox menu, go to Options again. in the tab General look for the header Performance . Uncheck the box to Use recommended performance settings which will give you more options.

As long as you have a decent GPU, check the box Use hardware acceleration when available . With this setting, Firefox will use your graphics card, instead of your processor, to render images. Assuming you have the right hardware, this will provide smoother performance for everything from web gaming to watching video.

You can then change the content processing limit . Default is 8 , but if your computer is running low on memory, you can reduce it. The more RAM you have, the higher you should set this value.

If you suspect system resources are still an issue, make sure you’ve cleaned up your computer as well. Lack of RAM due to too many programs running in the background, lack of disk space for your browser to create temporary files, or even malware on your system can also slow down your browser.

4. Change Firefox Settings or Adjust Download Speed

If you dive into the page about:config from Firefox , you can change various parameters to speed up Firefox. We cover some of these in the guide mentioned above.

However, if you’re not comfortable playing around with these settings, a handy extension will do it for you and make sure you don’t break anything. changes some configuration settings, but not all. Once you install the extension, the best options to enable are pre-resolving DNS entries and discarding inactive tabs.

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5. When all else fails, update Firefox

If Firefox is still slow after making the above changes, you should start over with a clean copy of Firefox. But you don’t have to start from scratch again.

Like modern operating systems, Firefox offers a one-click option to return to the factory default state, removing all changes. Specifically, it will remove all plugins and customizations, as well as restore browser settings to their default values.

This is how to restart Firefox:

1. Open the menu at the top right and choose Help > Troubleshooting information.
2. In the top right box labeled Improve Firefox click Update Firefox .
3. When the dialog appears, choose Update Firefox one more time to confirm.

Firefox will close and then restart after a few seconds. While all options and performance settings return to their default values, Firefox saves your personal information. This includes bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, autocomplete information, and your dictionary. So it’s basically like a new Firefox with all your data ready to go.

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6. Remove Third-Party Antivirus Apps

Former Firefox developer Robert O’Callahan has stated that his antivirus could be the reason why Firefox is running slow. In a blog post of his, he recommends disabling all antivirus programs besides Microsoft Defender. The post explains how antivirus apps affect performance and even slow down updates.

Mozilla’s help docs also indicate that antivirus applications can slow Firefox from loading if they block access to files that the browser reads on startup.

We have mentioned before that most third-party antivirus applications are not worth using. Microsoft Defender doesn’t nag you or try to get you to update for a bunch of nonsense you don’t need. And it has had fewer compatibility issues with other software like this.

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When Firefox is too slow, make it fast

Now you know what to do when Firefox is running slow. By tweaking a few settings, tweaking what you’ve installed, and even updating Firefox if necessary, you’ll have a new browser fast before you know it.

There’s more to learn about the technical aspects of why some browsers run faster than others, if you’re curious.

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