Tumblr 101: Tips And Tricks To Get Started
Sebastian Thrun: Google's Driverless Car
Speed up Firefox with Firetune...
... if you use Windows and don't mind installing a third-party, standalone application.
FireTune is not a Firefox extension. It's a downloadable app - for Windows only - that "tunes" Firefox depending on your computer's speed and internet connection. You give FireTune some information about your setup, and it adjusts the browser's settings accordingly.
The big question for me, though, is why anyone would go to the trouble of installing FireTune, when the extension Fasterfox includes the same functionality and more. I have yet to uncover any features in FireTune that aren't present in Fasterfox; and Fasterfox includes other perks in addition to speed, such as blocking Flash-initiated pop-up windows. So far, the only benefit I can see to FireTune is that it apparently supports Firefox 2.0 - which, of course, still hasn't been officially released.
FireTune is not a Firefox extension. It's a downloadable app - for Windows only - that "tunes" Firefox depending on your computer's speed and internet connection. You give FireTune some information about your setup, and it adjusts the browser's settings accordingly.
The big question for me, though, is why anyone would go to the trouble of installing FireTune, when the extension Fasterfox includes the same functionality and more. I have yet to uncover any features in FireTune that aren't present in Fasterfox; and Fasterfox includes other perks in addition to speed, such as blocking Flash-initiated pop-up windows. So far, the only benefit I can see to FireTune is that it apparently supports Firefox 2.0 - which, of course, still hasn't been officially released.
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsChris O'RourkeOct 24th 2006 5:56PM
Interesting application. I got rid of fasterfox due to some instability issues when used with a few other extensions. So far it works about the same but without the stability on FF 2.
Also Firefox 2 is now available for download. Maybe time for an update on this? lol
Amber RheaOct 24th 2006 5:59PM
Nah, no update needed... at the time when I posted this, FF 2.0 was not officially available. Not that I expect people to pay attention to timestamps.
Out of curiosity, what extensions did you experience instability issues with? I have a TON of extensions installed and so far Fasterfox has been okay.
whatevsOct 24th 2006 9:50PM
fasterfox has occasionally been blocked by websites due to the way it prefetched links. annoying. i removed it shortly after that. haven't seen too much of a diff.
Chris O'RourkeOct 24th 2006 9:51PM
When I had fasterfox installed I'd occasionally see hiccups with certain greasemonkey ad-removal scripts, though in that case it could likely be an issue with the scripts themselves.
The worst problem I'd had with fasterfox was with Extended Status bar. I never did much research but with that installed it was really hit or miss if Firefox would stay up longer than 10 minutes. Since I got rid of fasterfox (and incidentally Extended Status Bar) I've had nary a crash.
When a new version of Fasterfox comes out I'll probably give it a try again but until then I can do without it.
Sanjay GoelOct 27th 2006 3:31AM
Firetune was launched much before fasterfox, infact as I remember it was launched before Firefox had hit 1.0.
A pretty useful application back then, but I stopped using it once I installed Fasterfox.