Posts tagged Software

Although the performance of Firefox 3.5 is supposed to be fast, the startup is somewhat slow, in older computers this is more prominent. The reason for slow startup is said to be because of a change in how Firefox 3.5 gets the randomness it needs for security purposes on Windows. The procedure involves scanning some temporary folders looking for bits normally added by OS and other applications operations. Firefox 3.5 looks for more files and deeper (more subfolders) for increased randomness, but it has led to unexpected results for users with too many temporary folders or files resulting in slow startups. This is a known bug (501605) and should be corrected when Firefox 3.5.1 comes out in the next couple months.

Some things you can do to increase the startup speed is -

1. Do a clean install. This gets you a clean profile.

2. Clear temporary files. There are some ways to do this (which is not mentioned in other sites)

a) Use CCleaner

CCleaner optimizes your PC by removing various kinds of system detritus, such as temp files, old Registry entries, and invalid shortcuts. It also helps promote privacy by deleting your browser’s URL history, cookies, and so on.

b) Manually delete all the files in these folders (some may be in use and therefore can not be removed) -

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\

Vista & Windows 7 users can use Disk Cleanup -

or open Run (Windows key + R) and type %temp% –> click OK and delete everything in the temp window.

You can also manually clear IE’s browsing history -

These are some of the safer ways to speed up your Firefox startup. Try it and tell me if it works for you.