Earlier this morning, James shared FireTune, a free browser optimization application for Firefox users. Nik asked in the comments if there’s a Mac version available, but alas, it’s Windows only. For Nik and other Mac or Linux owners running Firefox 1.5 and up, I highly recommend Fasterfox which I install on all of my machines. Fasterfox is similar to FireTune in functionality, but it’s not a standalone application: it’s a lightweight Firefox extension. There are four "one-touch" button settings ranging from Default, Courteous, Optimized and Turbo Charged. There’s also a fifth option, which is Custom, that allows you to tweak any and all browser settings such as: cache and connection preferences, pipelining for multiple browser requests, and much more.
If you really want to go hog wild and see what Fasterfox is actually tweaking, cautiously type "about:config" in your URL address bar within Firefox to see the myriad of settings that can be tweaked. While that method is great for the true hands-on folks, Fasterfox and FireTune provide access to the settings you need through an easy to use GUI. One thing I do like in FireTune are the tweaks for slower networks like EDGE and 1xRTT; I don’t see the equivalent function in Fasterfox.
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