Sunday 25 December 2011

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How To Fix Website Loading Time and Speed Up Firefox

Everyone wants web sites and web pages to load faster, there really isn’t anything more time wasting then waiting for a web site to load up, it really comes down to three main factors, your web browser, your internet connection and the server the website your trying to load. Obviously if you’ve got a crappy web browser, like IE6, then it’s going to take longer to load then say you were using Firefox, if you have a better internet connection, then you’ll be able to load websites better and if the website is hosted on a decent server, it’ll load faster.

Now I’ve always found Firefox is be pretty quick, but then I learnt you were able to modify some of the settings within Firefox to make it load websites even faster and in this how to, I’m going to show you exactly how you can boost the speed Firefox loads web pages at, plus explain what we’re changing and why, so instead of just following simple instructions, your learning what your changing and how it’s going to effect your website loading times.
If you really want too, you can use Addons for Firefox, which tell you how long it takes websites to load, one which I’m a fan of, is called Extended Statusbar, if you really want to work out how much you’ve increased your website loading times, you can use this sweet Firefox Addon to do so, so lets get started. But they won’t fix website loading time, but only show you info on this.
First off, we’re going to need to open up the config within Firefox, this is super easy to do, just open a new tab and type in the address bar, about:config – It’s that simple, you’ll then see some warning message because playing with the config settings can screw up your browser, so read carefully! Click “I’ll be careful, I promise” and lets get started!
At the top of the config, you’ll see a “Filter” bar, we’re going to be using this to find the fields we need to edit, which is going to save us a lot of time, the first thing we’re going to change, search for network.http.pipelining, it’ll be set to disabled by default, so change this to enabled. What pipelining is, in simple terms, it means you can send multiple requests to a server, before it has replied, not every server supports pipelining, but this is a decent way to speed up the load times on the websites which do support it, now find network.http.pipelining.maxrequests and set this to 8, this is the maximum number of pipelining requests Firefox will make, we’re also going to need to find network.http.proxy.pipelining and enable that too.



Now by default, if something was to pop up on your Firefox, it stops loading the webpage in the background, we are going to change this, so if a UI event does happen, the page will still load in the background, by default Firefox doesn’t have this one in the config, so right click (Anywhere white in the config) and click “New” and then “Boolean”, enter content.interrupt.parsing and set it to “True”, we’ve already made some changes to improve your speed, but there are still more we can make! If you’ve come this far, everything else is really simple to do.
For the rest of the tweaks, we’re going to need to add new data to our config, so instead of carrying on in a article format, I’ll leave it in a easier format for you to follow/read, there is a lot of copy/pasting involved as well, so this’ll make your life easier while following this article.

Create a new integer, name it content.max.tokenizing.time with a value of 2250000.
Create a new integer, name it content.switch.threshold with a value of 750000.
Create a new integer, name it content.notify.interval with a value of 750000.
Create a new integer, name it content.notify.backoffcount with a value of 5.
Create a new integer, name it nglayout.initialpaint.delay with a value of 0.
Create a new boolean, name it content.notify.ontimer and then set it to True.
 
Once you’ve done all of this, restart your Firefox (Close all Firefox windows, like you’ve just added a new add-on/updated your Firefox) and you’ll hopefully notice a huge increase in load times, I sure did!
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Thursday 22 December 2011

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Fix Common Google Chrome Errors


“Resolving Proxy” Error Message
If you’ve received the error message “Resolving Proxy” after attempting to conduct a search, you may need to make some changes to Chrome’s proxy settings by doing the following:
Go to the “Tools” menu, choose “Options” from the drop down list, access the “Under the Hood” tab, click on “Change Proxy Settings,” select “LAN settings,” and finally, ensure that the “Automatically Detect” checkbox is unchecked. Once you’re sure the proxy settings for the Chrome browser are not set to automatically detect, restart your computer and the issue should be resolved.







Can’t Play YouTube Videos
This problem usually occurs in Chrome because an antivirus software like Kaspersky or AVG is not allowing the browser to stream video to your computer. To fix this you either need to lower the level of protection of your antivirus software, or specifically add an exception for “www.YouTube.com” within the allowed connections section of your antivirus software. The following steps reveal how to fix the problem in Kaspersky antivirus:
1.Open Kaspersky
2.Select the “Protection Center” tab
3.Click “Online Security”
4.Click on “Use Streaming Scan,” or set an exception for www.YouTube.com
5.Restart Google Chrome
Your antivirus should now allow Google Chrome to stream video from YouTube.




Wrong Language Version Installed
Fortunately, if Google Chrome did not initially install the proper language version, you can change it after the installation following by doing the following:
First, go to the “Tools” menu, click on “Options,” select the “Minor Tweaks” tab, and click the “Change Font and Language Settings” button within the “Web Content” section. Then, open the “Languages” tab and choose your preferred language. Finally, click OK and restart Google Chrome.





“Aw, Snap” Errors on Every Page

Although an “Aw, Snap” error simply indicates that a webpage has suddenly crashed, if this error is appearing for every page you may be able to fix this problem by troubleshooting through the following three solutions:
Scan for Malicious Software – First you’ll need to rule out the possibility that some type of malware could be blocking your browser from accessing webpages. To do this you’ll need to use a powerful antivirus software – a great free solution is Malwarebytes.
Check Antivirus/Firewall Settings – While an antivirus software can help you fix this problem by getting rid of malicious software, it can also cause the problem by creating conflicts. To find out which antivirus software or firewall is conflicting with Google Chrome, simply disable each one individually, checking to see if Chrome is still returning “Aw, Snap” errors between disabling/enabling each program. Once you’ve used logical deduction to figure out which program is causing the conflict you can either add an exception for Google Chrome, or start using a different software. Some antivirus and firewall software that have been known to conflict with Chrome are: Comodo Firewall, McAfee Enterprise, McAfee Virus, Scan Spyware Doctor, and Symantec Endpoint Protection.
Create A New Profile – If scanning or changing settings in one of your antivirus/firewall software does not work, you may need to resort to creating a new user profile in Chrome:
1. Make sure Chrome is not in use.
2. Locate Chrome’s default folder on your computer. (The picture below shows the default locations for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux)

3.Rename the default folder as “Backup Folder”
4.Restart the browser.

Do you still have problems? It's recommended to run the best fix tool to repair and speed your PC!




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How to Block Website

Fall is my favourite topic and for some reason it brings in the most reader questions. This year is no different except that there was one dominant question that was asked in many ways. It has to do with how to block websites. The interesting part is that no age group or gender was excluded. I’ve got four solutions that don’t require you part with any funds. Most of us would agree that the Internet has its share of scary places. Some are rabbit holes I don’t want anyone to venture down. Aside from security, another factor is time. Many sites can be addicting and don’t add to our productivity. Some examples people mentioned with their questions were:

  • Social networking sites
  • Auctions sites
  • Political sites
  • YouTube
  • Adult sites
  • Finance sites
  • News sites

The suggestions below are a variety of solutions that are easily available. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

OpenDNS to Block Site Categories or Domains

OpenDNS is a company that provides free DNS servers rather than using your internet service provider (ISP). I’ve been using the service for years, but didn’t realize all the features they offered until recently. One feature is the ability to block domains or category of domains.

The service appeals to me for two reasons. The first is that it’s the fastest DNS service I’ve used. They were also immune to the latest DNS security issues that took place this summer. Second, the service is free.
If you create an account with the service you can gain access to more features. If you need to restrict access, OpenDNS has over 50 category filters covering the usual suspects. Moreover, you can also choose to block specific websites on a domain basis. There are a couple of exceptions and these are Overture.com and Yahoo.com, which are part of the company’s business model. The company does show text ads if the URL you type in a browser doesn’t exist or is down.
To block a domain, you did need to enable your account to use the “typo correction” feature. This feature is handy and fixes common mistakes. The second requirement to restricting website access is to use their web proxy. The company does have a page addressing privacy concerns.

When a browser goes to a blocked domain, such as the myspace.com example, an error message like the one below displays.

open-dns-block-site

Assign the Router Policy to Block Sites

Another way to block websites is with your router. A router is hardware that directs traffic between your network and the internet. Most popular routers offer some sort of “parental control” or “internet access policy”. The key for many people may be remembering how to access that administrative panel. Usually, you can find this information from the manufacturer’s website.


The screen snap above represents the configuration panel on my LinkSys router. In this case, I’m allowing one PC to access the internet all the time except for the eBay domain that I’ve blocked. These options differ between manufacturers, but may offer you the best option as the changes can apply throughout your network or to a specific PC or MAC address. (We did a short MAC address tutorial if you need find these numbers.)


Some of these systems also allow you to regulate Internet access based on the day of week or hour.

Microsoft Windows SteadyState to Limit Access

This is a new program by Microsoft for Windows XP and Vista users that allows you to define features by user profiles. As you might guess, you need to have different user accounts and assign privileges. These privileges range from being able to save data to the hard drive or gaining access to the Internet. Microsoft describes the product as allowing you to,

Defend shared computers from unauthorised changes to their hard disks

Restrict users from accessing system settings and data

Enhance the user experience on shared computers

Windows SteadyState is free and powerful. It’s one people might consider when they get a new computer. There are a couple caveats. The first is the program works using an Internet whitelist, not blacklist. In other words, you can tell SteadyState to allow a specific profile access to a web site, but you couldn’t list a site as an exclusion.
Another caveat is that it comes with a learning curve which makes sense given its capabilities. There is a fairly active community where you can pose questions but I would suggest reading the documentation before you start. Currently the program does not work with Vista 64 bit versions.

Windows Hosts File

This approach can be as easy or complicated as you like. We wrote an article about hosts files several years ago, but a more detailed write-up was done by the MVPS.ORG. The idea is that you redirect your web browser to go to another IP address, such as your local machine, rather than the intended site. In most cases, the fix requires you add a line to the Hosts file using a text editor.
127.0.0.1 www.example.com
In the example above, if I tried to connect to that site with Firefox 3, I get a “Failed to Connect” message. With IE 8, I get a message “Internet Explorer cannot display the page”. I also have a button to Diagnose Connection Problems.
While using the hosts file is easy, there are limitations:

  1. You need to have administrative rights to the Hosts file.
  2. You may need to put multiple lines in to represent other pages being accessed in the domain. As example, if someone wants to reach a specific profile page or sub domain, you’ll want to add these blocks as well. You can’t assume people will always start at the home page for a site. Some sites also have canonicalization issues and can be reached using “www.” or without.
  3. The block will only work for this one computer.
The above suggestions aren’t the only options for restricting internet viewing or access. There are commercial software packages that limit internet viewing. You may find another option is to use a service like RescueTime which quantifies viewing habits and program usage. It may reveal something about your own behavior. The point to remember about all these measures is people will try to get around them. This isn’t surprising if someone thinks a site is that valuable.

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Tuesday 20 December 2011

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Import your Firfox Bookmarks as a Backup

Bookmarks is an easy way of remembering website we visit often. There are chances that Firefox may crash because of a new add-on installation, theme installation or any other reasons. It is always good to have a back up of data especially the bookmarks in Firefox. Taking a back up of bookmarks is pretty simple process and basically there are two methods to back up your Firefox bookmarks;
Method-1:
Go to Bookmarks->Organize Bookmarks in the main menu.
Bookmarks
This will open up the Bookmarks Manager window. In this window you can see all the bookmarks saved. Go to File->Export and save the file in the preferred location. The file will contain all your bookmarks and will be an .html file. Whenever you install Firefox in another PC or re-install in your PC, you can import all the bookmarks through File->Import and select the option From File in the Bookmarks Manager.
Bookmarks Manager
Method-2:
Second method is directly taking a back up of the bookmarks.html file from the profile folder of the Firefox application. To do this navigate to this folder-
C:\Documents and Settings\<your profile name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ati9z0wb.default
In this folder you can find a HTML file by name bookmarks.html. Take a copy of this file and paste it in the desired location. Thats it, next time if you install Firefox, import this file using the steps mentioned above.

Update: The folder ati9z0wb.default may be different for different profile as pointed out by Benedict.
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