Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Discussion of general topics about Mozilla Firefox
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chrismani
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Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by chrismani »

Can you help me make Firefox work on an old PC?

Is there any settings that I can turn False?
Platon_
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by Platon_ »

Would be easier to help if you give us more info on what the problem is :)
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LoudNoise
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by LoudNoise »

We need some more information. For starters, what is the operating system?
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chrismani
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by chrismani »

I have another PC with Windows XP SP 3 and 256MB ram but I have heard about many Firefox Tweak to make it use less ram
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dfoulkes
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by dfoulkes »

If I were you I'd add memory to that PC and not worry about tweaking FF. I had an older laptop that came with 256mb and by the time I had updated WinXP with the SP3 my sys. was dragging. I eventually pulled the two 128's out and went up to the max of 1gig (though 1gig is not required but for a small amount of $$ it was worth it) and I was very happy with the results.
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4td8s
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by 4td8s »

LoudNoise wrote:We need some more information. For starters, what is the operating system?


better yet, LoudNoise, let's ask christarzan what brand name computer and what kind of processor he is using also. Has he heard about using the Microsoft System Information tool (msinfo32.exe) or the DirectX Diagnostic tool (dxdiag.exe)? You can get barely full specs of your computer by running either of those utilities.

I'm using Firefox 3.6 on a custom made PC (1Ghz Intel Pentium 3 CPU with 512Mb of RAM - WinXP SP3)
and using Firefox 3.7a2 (Mozilla Developer Preview 3.7 alpha 2) on an old HP Pavilion desktop computer [766Mhz Intel Celeron processor with 320Mb of RAM - also uses WinXP SP3]. My old HP Pavilion PC can hold a maximum of 512Mb of RAM and the custom made PC can have up to 1Gb of RAM.
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LoudNoise
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by LoudNoise »

Why would anyone care what brand of computer he is using? Also, any vaguely reasonably modern processor will work with Firefox.
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by patrickjdempsey »

I agree with dfoulkes, RAM for old machines is pretty cheap (south of $50 for 1GB of SDRAM) and can even be easily scavenged out of "dead" computers that people are getting rid of. XP runs like a dream with 1GB.
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chrismani
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by chrismani »

I already have a top spec PC but I don't want to throw this old PC. It is not SDRAM or DDR2 or DDR3

It is RDRAM and it is not available in this country any more.

But I found a leaner Firefox alternative

K-Meleon 1.6 which is based on Minefield

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/wiki/kmeleon16

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Last edited by chrismani on March 4th, 2010, 5:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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chrismani
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by chrismani »

Once again,

I can extend the life of this old PC by 1 or 2 years
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Grumpus
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by Grumpus »

I have a very old computer with a sub gig processor all I did was add ram.
You should replace the ram in the slots evenly on older systems.
Ex: If you have two 128 MB ram cards installed you'll want to remove them and install to 256MB ram cards or a coupe of 512MB ram cards in the same slots.
Various older computers operate using PC100 ram, these are not so easy to come buy at retailers anymore but on-line may be a better source.
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by patrickjdempsey »

christarzan wrote:But I found a leaner Firefox alternative

K-Meleon 1.6 which is based on Minefield

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/wiki/kmeleon16


Well.... it uses Gecko 1.9.1 which is what Firefox 3.5 uses, not Minefield... Minefield is a moving target that is currently 1.9.3.
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asteko
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Re: Firefox on OLD PC - Config

Post by asteko »

You can use following user.js configuration to try to make it work faster:

// Limit history period to be saved
user_pref("browser.history_expire_days", 3);
user_pref("browser.history_expire_days.mirror", 3);
user_pref("browser.history_expire_days_min", 0);

// Free RAM when minimized
user_pref("config.trim_on_minimize", true);

// Rearch only history, show only 3 results on location bar
user_pref("browser.urlbar.default.behavior", 1);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.maxRichResults", 3);
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