Improving Firefox Performance

You may or may not have noticed, but since the heady days of late FF2, Firefox has apparently gotten slower on some websites with deeply nested links. I don't know why this is, but it just seems to hang for (sometimes) several seconds on such sites. Friends and work colleagues have complained of exactly the same thing, on exactly the same sites.

This bugs me. There's not much I can do about it (except wait) and I've moved to FF3 now, like most people, so I'm not too enamoured with downgrading. IE7 and 8 are simply awful, Chrome is... I'm not really sure yet, and SeaMonkey, Flock and the rest are not at all bad, but not great.

I suppose what I'm saying is that I'm an add-on junky, and I'm not going to go cold turkey no matter how slow it gets.

FF3 is also woefully slow to start up. So what to do about it?

For the slow startup:

• Add /Prefetch:1 to your the end of your FF3 shortcut target, e.g. right click on the shortcut, click properties, add /Prefetch:1 after the target (put a space between them)

For the general slowness:

Open a new tab, type about:config in the address bar. You can either change the following values (if they exist) or change them:

• Enable pipelining to get pages to load faster - it might not work well for you, so if changing away from the default settings, be sure to take note of them so you can revert to them later if needed:

1. network.http.pipelining : true
2. network.http.proxy.pipelining : true
3. network.http.pipelining.maxrequests : 8

• Change the initial paint delay to get the page to render faster:

1. nglayout.initialpaint.delay : 0

Now, if any of these parameters don't exist, you'll have to create them. Simply right click and select the relevant parameter type, e.g. 'boolean' for a parameter that can have a true or false value, and 'integer' for a parameter that takes a numerical value. Much less common is 'string'.

Finally, I recommend this add-on:

Tweak Network

You'll see FasterFox in the search results too, but I don't really recommend it, since with the manual tweaks and Tweak Network you have it covered, and I thought it messed with FF3 a bit too much, seemingly making things worse on some occasions. Tweak Network also gives you some extra benefits when a page doesn't load, bringing up some diagnostic tools on the offending page. Try it out, it's pretty smart.

Metaplace

Metaplace promises to be different to the other Web 2.0 virtual worlds in that it offers an RPG development platform and can even be hosted outside of metaplace.com, on your own webspace.
Looking like the isometric RPGs we used to play in the 80s and 90s, it's not exactly innovative in that sense, but combining this with features like being able to add your own links and content, which you can place in certain locations in your virtual world, does seem to set it apart from the competition.

It's beta (like everything these days), ad you'll have to get an invite, either at metaplace.com itself, where you'll have to wait in line (can take a few weeks, apparently), or from sites that are probably giving out invites.

Now, this is not new - metaplace has been going for a while now, but the pace of development and publicity has ramped up since they got a big cash injection last December.

When my invite finally arrives, I'll give it a whirl. I tried Second Life and found it unbearably boring. I'm hoping this will be different. Being able to build your own world á la Sim City sounds appealing, rather than having to always wander around a world that somebody else built and building your own mini-game themes and plots, while hosting content and links - this sounds like it might be a bit more worthwhile. Whether it will be successful, and survive despite all the competition is another thing - only time will tell.

Here's a nine-minute demo:

BitNami - Full Stack Infrastructure and Applications

Installing Drupal or Joomla, Wordpress, phpBB or Moodle is not such a big task. However, first you need to have an environment set up on which to install it. Windows or Linux, Apache, MySQL (or PostGre) and PHP (or Ruby or the JDK/JRE). Each one installed one-by-one, each one taking a little bit more of your time to install and configure. Environment variables, hostnames to be set, configuration files to be edited - it might take you a few hours, or even a few working days.

You can speed things up by installing WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP), LAMP (Linux, etc.) or even MAMP or SAMP (Mac, Solaris), as dictated by your OS. XAMPP is another option. This will give you a full stack infrastructure that you can install applications on and will really save you time. But why not download a full stack infrastructure with an application install of your choice thrown in?



Cue http://bitnami.org/, who will give you just that. A slipstreamed installer for an ever increasing number of apps, and the infrastructure of your choice on which to host them.

I was looking for the latest version of Drupal, and BitNami had version 6.9-0, which is pretty impressive, since the latest is 6.10, so it's pretty close. But there's Joomla (which I installed on my painstakingly built stack just 2 weeks ago - before I stumbled upon BitNami), Moodle (eLearning), Wordpress (blogging), JasperServer (portal app), MediaWiki and phpBB (the premiere bulletin board app) all there for you to install and use as you see fit.

Develop, host, and build a production site if you want. You can even install Drupal, Subversion and, say, phpBB on the same native server. Keep the installed app(s) running, and each subsequent application installer checks for ports in use and prompts you to select a free port to listen on. They really have thought of everything.


So you have no excuse. It's easier than ever and you can even install them on Vista. You can even install several on VMware images if you want to spare your native OS. Best of all, it doesn't cost a penny and will cost you very little of your precious time.

Yet another bootdisk...

... Only this one is actually brilliant:

Hiren's BootCD

What is Hiren's BootCD ? It's a all in one Dos Bootable CD which has all these utilities:
—————————————————————————-
Partition Tools
—————————————————————————-
Partition Magic Pro 8.05
Best software to partition hard drive

Acronis Disk Director Suite 9.0.554
Popular disk management functions in a single suite

Paragon Partition Manager 7.0.1274
Universal tool for partitions

Partition Commander 9.01
The safe way to partition your hard drive,with undo feature

Ranish Partition Manager 2.44
a boot manager and hard disk partitioner.

The Partition Resizer 1.3.4
move and resize your partitions in one step and more.

Smart Fdisk 2.05
a simple harddisk partition manager

SPecial Fdisk 2000.03t
SPFDISK a partition tool.

eXtended Fdisk 0.9.3
XFDISK allows easy partition creation and edition

GDisk 1.1.1
Complete replacement for the DOS FDISK utility and more.

Super Fdisk 1.0
Create, delete, format partitions drives without destroying data

Partition Table Editor 8.0
Partition Table and Boot Record Editor
—————————————————————————-
Disk Clone Tools
—————————————————————————-
ImageCenter 5.6 (Drive Image 2002)
Best software to clone hard drive

Norton Ghost 11.5
Similar to Drive Image (with usb/scsi support)

Acronis True Image 8.1.945
Create an exact disk image for complete system backup and disk cloning.

Partition Saving 3.60
A tool to backup/restore partitions. (SavePart.exe)

COPYR.DMA Build013
A Tool for making copies of hard disks with bad sectors
—————————————————————————-
Antivirus Tools
—————————————————————————-
McAfee Antivirus 4.4.50 (3012)
a virus scanner (with ntfs support and easy to use menu)
—————————————————————————-
Recovery Tools
—————————————————————————-
Active Partition Recovery 3.0
To Recover a Deleted partition.

Active Uneraser 3.0
To recover deleted files and folders on FAT and NTFS systems.

Ontrack Easy Recovery Pro 6.10
To Recover data that has been deleted/virus attack

Winternals Disk Commander 1.1
more than just a standard deleted-file recovery utility

TestDisk 6.10
Tool to check and undelete partition.

Lost & Found 1.06
a good old data recovery software.

DiyDataRecovery Diskpatch 2.1.100
An excellent data recovery software.

Prosoft Media Tools 5.0 1.1.2.64
Another excellent data recovery software with many other options.

PhotoRec 6.10
File and pictures recovery Tool.
—————————————————————————-
Testing Tools
—————————————————————————-
System Speed Test 4.78
it tests CPU, harddrive, ect.

PC-Check 6.5
Easy to use hardware tests

Ontrack Data Advisor 5.0
Powerful diagnostic tool for assessing the condition of your computer

The Troubleshooter 7.02
all kind of hardware testing tool

PC Doctor 2004
a benchmarking and information tool

CPU/Video/Disk Performance Test 5.7
a tool to test cpu, video, and disk

Test Hard Disk Drive 1.0
a tool to test Hard Disk Drive
—————————————————————————-
RAM (Memory) Testing Tools
—————————————————————————-
GoldMemory 5.07
RAM Test utility

Memtest86+ 2.11
PC Memory Test
—————————————————————————-
Hard Disk Tools
—————————————————————————-
Hard Disk Diagnostic Utilities
Seagate Seatools Desktop Edition 3.02
Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools
Western Digital Diagnostics (DLGDIAG) 5.04f
Maxtor PowerMax 4.23
Maxtor amset utility 4.0
Maxtor(or any Hdd) Low Level Formatter 1.1
Fujitsu HDD Diagnostic Tool 7.00
Fujitsu IDE Low Level Format 1.0
Samsung HDD Utility(HUTIL) 2.10
Samsung Disk Diagnose (SHDIAG) 1.28
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test 4.11
IBM/Hitachi Feature Tool 2.11
Gateway GwScan 5.12
ExcelStor's ESTest 4.50
MHDD 4.6
WDClear 1.30
Toshiba Hard Disk Diagnostic 2.00b
SeaTools for Dos 1.10

HDD Regenerator 1.51
to recover a bad hard drive

Ontrack Disk Manager 9.57
Disk Test/Format/Maintenance tool.

Norton Disk Doctor 2002
a tool to repair a damaged disk, or to diagnose your hard drive.

Norton Disk Editor 2002
a powerful disk editing, manual data recovery tool.

Hard Disk Sentinel 0.02
Hard Disk health, performance and temperature monitoring tool.

Active Kill Disk 4.1
Securely overwrites and destroys all data on physical drive.

HDAT2 4.53
main function is testing and repair (regenerates) bad sectors for detected devices

SmartUDM 2.00
Hard Disk Drive S.M.A.R.T. Viewer.

Victoria 3.33e and 3.52rus
a freeware program for low-level HDD diagnostics

HDD Erase 4.0
Secure erase using a special feature built into most newer hard drives
—————————————————————————-
System Information Tools
—————————————————————————-
Aida16 2.14
a system information tool, extracts details of all components of the PC

PCI and AGP info Tool (3012)
The PCI System information & Exploration tool.

System Analyser 5.3u
View extensive information about your hardware

Navratil Software System Information 0.60.32
High-end professional system information tool

Astra 5.41
Advanced System info Tool and Reporting Assistant

HWiNFO 5.2.5
a powerful system information utility

PC-Config 9.33
Complete hardware detection of your computer

SysChk 2.46
Find out exactly what is under the hood of your PC

CPU Identification utility 1.15
Detailed information on CPU (CHKCPU.EXE)

CTIA CPU Information 2.7
another CPU information tool
—————————————————————————-
MBR (Master Boot Record) Tools
—————————————————————————-
MBRWork 1.07b
a utility to perform some common and uncommon MBR functions

MBR Tool 2.2.100
backup, verify, restore, edit, refresh, remove, display, re-write…

DiskMan4
all in one tool for cmos, bios, bootrecord and more

BootFix Utility
Run this utility if you get 'Invalid system disk'

MBR SAVE / RESTORE 2.1
BootSave and BootRest tools to save / restore MBR

Boot Partition 2.60
add Partition in the Windows NT/2000/XP Multi-boot loader

Partition Table Doctor 3.5
a tool to repair/modify mbr, bootsector, partition table

Smart Boot Manager 3.7.1
a multi boot manager

Bootmagic 8.0
This tool is for multi boot operating systems

MBRWizard 2.0b
Directly update and modify the MBR (Master Boot Record)
—————————————————————————-
BIOS / CMOS Tools
—————————————————————————-
CMOS 0.93
CMOS Save / Restore Tool

BIOS Cracker 4.8
BIOS password remover (cmospwd)

BIOS Cracker 1.4
BIOS password remover (cmospwc)

BIOS Utility 1.35.0
BIOS Informations, password, beep codes and more.

!BIOS 3.20
a powerfull utility for bios and cmos

DISKMAN4
a powerful all in one utility

UniFlash 1.40
bios flash utility

Kill CMOS
a tiny utility to wipe cmos

Award DMI Configuration Utility 2.43
DMI Configuration utility for modifying/viewing the MIDF contents.
—————————————————————————-
MultiMedia Tools
—————————————————————————-
Picture Viewer 1.94
Picture viewer for dos, supports more then 40 filetypes.

QuickView Pro 2.58
movie viewer for dos, supports many format including divx.

MpxPlay 1.56
a small Music Player for dos
—————————————————————————-
Password Tools
—————————————————————————-
Active Password Changer 3.0.420
To Reset User Password on windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista (FAT/NTFS)

Offline NT/2K/XP Password Changer
utility to reset windows nt/2000/xp administrator/user password.

Registry Viewer 4.2
Registry Viewer/Editor for Win9x/Me/NT/2K/XP

Registry Reanimator 1.02
check and restore structure of the damaged registry files of NT/2K/XP

NTPWD
utility to reset windows nt/2000/xp administrator/user password.

ATAPWD 1.2
Hard Disk Password Utility
—————————————————————————-
NTFS Ext2FS, Ext3FS (FileSystems) Tools
—————————————————————————-
NTFS Dos Pro 5.0
To access ntfs partitions from Dos

NTFS 4 Dos 1.9
To access ntfs partitions from Dos

Paragon Mount Everything 3.0
To access NTFS, Ext2FS, Ext3FS partitions from dos

NTFS Dos 3.02
To access ntfs partitions from Dos

EditBINI 1.01
to Edit boot.ini on NTFS Partition
—————————————————————————-
Dos File Managers
—————————————————————————-
Volkov Commander 4.99
Dos File Manager with LongFileName/ntfs support
(Similar to Norton Commander)

Dos Command Center 5.1
Classic dos-based file manager.

File Wizard 1.35
a file manager - colored files, drag and drop copy, move, delete etc.

File Maven 3.5
an advanced Dos file manager with high speed PC-to-PC file
transfers via serial or parallel cable

FastLynx 2.0
Dos file manager with Pc to Pc file transfer capability

LapLink 5.0
the smart way to transfer files and directories between PCs.

Dos Navigator 6.4.0
Dos File Manager, Norton Commander clone but has much more features

Mini Windows 98
Can run from Ram Drive, with ntfs support,
Added 7-Zip which supports .7z .zip .cab .rar .arj .gzip,
.bzip2 .z .tar .cpio .rpm and .deb
Disk Defragmenter, Notepad / RichText Editor,
Image Viewer, .avi .mpg .divx .xvid Movie Player, etc…
—————————————————————————-
Other Tools
—————————————————————————-
Ghost Walker 11.5
utility that changes the security ID (SID) for Windows NT, 2000 and XP

DosCDroast beta 2
Dos CD Burning Tools

Universal TCP/IP Network 6.2
MSDOS Network Client to connect via TCP/IP to a Microsoft based
network. The network can either be a peer-to-peer or a server based
network, it contains 91 different network card drivers
—————————————————————————-
Dos Tools
—————————————————————————-
USB CD-Rom Driver 1
Standard usb_cd.sys driver for cd drive

Universal USB Driver 2
Panasonic v2.20 ASPI Manager for USB mass storage

SCSI Support
SCSI Drivers for Dos

SATA Support
SATA Driver (gcdrom.sys) and JMicron JMB361 (xcdrom.sys) for Dos

1394 Firewire Support
1394 Firewire Drivers for Dos

Interlnk support at COM1
To access another computer from COM port

Interlnk support at LPT1
To access another computer from LPT port
—————————————————————————-
and too many great dos tools
very good collection of dos utilities
—————————————————————————-
extract.exe pkzip.exe pkunzip.exe unrar.exe rar.exe
ace.exe lha.exe gzip.exe uharcd.exe mouse.com
attrib.com deltree.exe xcopy.exe diskcopy.com imgExtrc.exe
undelete.com edit.com fdisk.exe fdisk2.exe fdisk3.exe
lf.exe delpart.exe wipe.com zap.com format.com
move.exe more.com find.exe hex.exe debug.exe
split.exe mem.exe mi.com sys.com smartdrv.exe
xmsdsk.exe killer.exe share.exe scandisk.exe scanreg.exe
guest.exe doskey.exe duse.exe biosdtct.exe setver.exe
intersvr.exe interlnk.exe loadlin.exe lfndos.exe doslfn.com
—————————————————————————-
Windows Tools
—————————————————————————-
SpaceMonger 1.4
keeping track of the free space on your computer

WinDirStat 1.1.2.80
a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Windows.

Drive Temperature 1.0
Hard Disk Drive temperature meter

Disk Speed 1.0
Hard Disk Drive Speed Testing Tool

MemTest 1.0
a Memory Testing Tool

S&M Stress Test 1.9.1
cpu/hdd/memory benchmarking and information tool, including temperatures/fan speeds/voltages

PageDfrg 2.32
System file Defragmenter For NT/2k/XP

WhitSoft File Splitter 4.5a
a Small File Split-Join Tool

7-Zip 4.62
File Manager/Archiver Supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS formats<

Off By One Browser 3.5d
an independent web browser that runs completely self- contained

Ghost Image Explorer 11.5
to add/remove/extract files from Ghost image file

DriveImage Explorer 5.0
to add/remove/extract files from Drive image file

Drive SnapShot 1.39
creates an exact Disk Image of your system into a file while windows is running.

Active Undelete 5.5
a tool to recover deleted files

Restoration 3.2.13
a tool to recover deleted files

GetDataBack for FAT 2.31
Data recovery software for FAT file systems

GetDataBack for NTFS 2.31
Data recovery software for NTFS file systems

Recuva 1.22.384
Restore deleted files from Hard Drive, Digital Camera Memory Card, usb mp3 player…

Partition Find and Mount 2.3.1
Partition Find and Mount software is designed to find lost or deleted partitions

Unstoppable Copier 3.56
Allows you to copy files from disks with problems such as bad sectors,
scratches or that just give errors when reading data.

HDD Scan 3.1
This is a Low-level HDD diagnostic tool, it scans surface find bad sectors etc.

HDTune 2.55
Hard disk benchmarking and information tool.

Express Burn 4.16
CD/DVD Burner Program to create and record CDs/DVDs, also create/burn .iso and .nrg images

Data Shredder 1.0
A tool to Erase disk and files (also wipe free space) securely

Startup Control Panel 2.8
a tool to edit startup programs

NT Registry Optimizer 1.1j
Registry Optimization for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista

Registry Editor PE 0.9c
Easy editing of remote registry hives and user profiles

DefragNT 1.9
This tool presents the user with many options for disk defragmenting

JkDefrag 3.36
Free disk defragment and optimize utility for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista

Startup Monitor 1.02
it notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup

IB Process Manager 1.04
a little process manager for 9x/2k, shows dll info etc.

Process Explorer 11.31
shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded

Pocket KillBox 2.0.0.978
can be used to get rid of files that stubbornly refuse to allow you to delete them

Unlocker 1.8.7
This tool can delete file/folder when you get this message - Cannot delete file:
Access is denied, The file is in use by another program etc.

HijackThis 2.0.2
a general homepage hijackers detector and remover and more

RootkitRevealer 1.7.1
Rootkit Revealer is an advanced patent-pending root kit detection utility.

Silent Runners Revision 59
A free script that helps detect spyware, malware and adware in the startup process

Autoruns 9.37
Displays All the entries from startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys,
Explorer shell extensions,toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications,
auto-start services, Scheduled Tasks, Winsock, LSA Providers, Remove Drivers
and much more which helps to remove nasty spyware/adware and viruses.

Dial a Fix 0.60.0.24
Fix errors and problems with COM/ActiveX object errors and missing registry entries,
Automatic Updates, SSL, HTTPS, and Cryptography service (signing/verification)
issues, Reinstall internet explorer etc. comes with the policy scanner

CurrPorts 1.55
displays the list of all currently opened TCP and UDP ports on your computer

Unknown Devices 1.2 (3012)
helps you find what those unknown devices in Device Manager really are

PCI 32 Sniffer 1.1 (3012)
device information tool (similar to unknown devices)

NewSID 4.10
utility that changes the security ID (SID) for Windows NT, 2000 and XP

Smart Driver Backup 2.12
Easy backup of your Windows device drivers (also works from PE)

Double Driver 1.0
Driver Backup and Restore tool

DriverBackup! 1.0.3
Another handy tool to backup drivers

CPU-Z 1.49
It gathers information on some of the main devices of your system

CWShredder 2.19
Popular CoolWebSearch Trojan Remover tool

SmitFraudFix 2.387
This removes Some of the popular Desktop Hijack malware

Winsock 2 Fix for 9x
to fix corrupted Winsock2 information by poorly written Internet programs

XP TCP/IP Repair 1.0
Repair your Windows XP Winsock and TCP/IP registry errors

CCleaner 2.15.815
Crap Cleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool

EzPcFix 1.0.0.16
Helpful tool when trying to remove viruses, spyware, and malware

Content Advisor Password Remover 1.0
It Removes Content Advisor Password from Internet Explorer

Password Renew 1.1
Utility to (re)set windows passwords

WindowsGate 1.1
Enables/Disables Windows logon password validation

WinKeyFinder 1.73
Allows you to View and Change Windows XP/2003 Product Keys, backup and restore
activation related files, backup Microsoft Office 97, 2000 SP2, XP/2003 keys etc.

ProduKey 1.35
Recovers lost the product key of your Windows/Office

Wireless Key View 1.20
Recovers all wireless network keys (WEP/WPA) stored in your computer by WZC

Monitor Tester 1.0
Allows you to test CRT/LCD/TFT screens for dead pixels and diffective screens

Shell Extensions Manager (ShellExView) 1.35
An excellent tool to View and Manage all installed Context-menu/Shell extensions

Ultimate Windows Tweaker 1.0
A TweakUI Utility for tweaking and optimizing Windows Vista

TweakUI 2.10
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows Xp

Xp-AntiSpy 3.97
it tweaks some Windows XP functions, and disables some unneeded Windows services quickly

PC Wizard 2008.1.871
Powerful system information/benchmark utility designed especially for detection of hardware.

SIW 2008-12-16
Gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings.

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.6 (3012)
Application to scan for spyware, adware, hijackers and other malicious software.

SpywareBlaster 4.1 (3012)
Prevent the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06 (3012)
find and remove spyware, adware, dialers etc. (a must have tool)

—————————————-
Changes from Hiren's BootCD 9.6 > 9.7
—————————————-
+Mini Windows Xp
+Password Renew 1.1
+WindowsGate 1.1
+Registry Editor PE 0.9c
+Smart Driver Backup 2.12
+Ultimate Windows Tweaker 1.0
+Off By One Browser 3.5
-DocMem
Ghost 11.5.0.2141
Ghost Walker 11.5.0.2141
Ghost Image Explorer 11.5.0.2141
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test 4.11
Memtest86+ 2.11
ExcelStor's ESTest 4.50
Astra 5.41
HWiNFO 5.2.5
CPU Identification utility 1.15
7-Zip 4.62
Recuva 1.22.384
Partition Find and Mount 2.31
Express Burn 4.16
Process Explorer 11.31
RootkitRevealer 1.71
Silent Runners Revision 59
Autoruns 9.37
CurrPorts 1.55
CPU-Z 1.49
SmitFraudFix 2.387
CCleaner 2.15.815
ProduKey 1.35
Wireless Key View 1.20
ShellExView 1.35
Xp-AntiSpy 3.97
PC Wizard 2008.1.871
SIW 2008-12-16
Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.6 (3012)
SpywareBlaster 4.1(3012)
PCI 32 Sniffer 1.4 (3012)
McAfee Antivirus 4.4.50 (3012)
Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06 (3012)
PCI and AGP info Tool (3012)
Unknown Devices 1.2 (3012)

Visit the producer's site to see the latest tools / changes.

Build your very own Cloud OS

We put all our mail, calendaring & scheduling, documents and many other web services in the hands of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay and don't bat an eyelid. It's alright for us, we're just consumers and individual users, but it's always been a worry for small businesses to put the same trust in these "free" services (or even the pay services) offered by the big corporations.
A couple of years back, a free alternative would have been unthinkable, but eyeOS are offering all this with no charge. You don't even need a server farm to run it.

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