MadGamer
I have edited your list as to show the readings I get, should I alter what I get to your recommendations?

network.http.max-connections: 48, mine=24

network.http.max-connections-per-server: 24, mine=8

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy: 12, mine=4

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server: 6, mine=2

network.http.pipelining: true, mine=false

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests: 32, mine=4

network.http.proxy.pipelining: true, mine=false

Edit:
I have changed the settings and it is indeed a lot faster.

Here's a nice little piece of kit that will do all of the above for you automatically.

FireTune for Firefox - Reviews and free FireTune for Firefox downloads at Download.com

Here's the script from the Help section of Fire Tune AMD

1.) What is FireTune?

FireTune is a free software application to easily optimize several configuration settings for the Mozilla Firefox webbrowser. FireTune is based on an article on TweakFactor (Tweakfactor.com: - Get your tweak on!), however - similar optimization guides can be found on lots of Firefox related websites. Actually it automates the procedure of optimizing the browsers preferences for faster browsing with the FireFox webbrowser.

System Requirements:

This software has been tested on Windows XP only. However - it should also run on Windows 2000 / 2003.

Since this is a tuning software for Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Firefox is therefore required. On some systems the Microsoft Visual Basic runtime files might also be required. Those files are usally pre-installed on Windows 2000/XP/2003. If you get an error message during startup of FireTune, please download and install these runtime libraries from the Microsoft website - download here.

FireTune versions vs Firefox versions:

From time to time people ask whether the version number of FireTune is somehow related to the version number of Firefox. This is NOT the case. Any version of FireTune will work with any version of Firefox 1.x as long as we do announce that you need to update your version of FireTune for a specific version of Firefox. So: FireTune v1.0.3 for instance is not limited to Firefox v1.0.3. The FireTune version number does not indicate any limited compatibility to a specific version of Firefox.


2.) What does FireTune do?

Instead of changing all relevant preferences of FireFox manually as described in the TweakFactor tweaking guide for FireFox, you can use FireTune to automatically apply all the configuration changes to FireFox.

Known problems:

Some users of FireTune reported, that after running an optimization on Firefox with FireTune, all their extensions were disabled, cookies were cleared etc. We were not able to reproduce this problem on our machines. However - you should always create a backup of your configuration file BEFORE any optimization is applied in case something goes wrong, so that you can restore your settings easily.

3.) How to tell whether Firefox is faster after optimizing it

There's a simple way to tell whether Firefox works faster after optimizing it with FireTune. Just follow these instructions:


· Clear the cache of Firefox from the Firefox settings dialog - this is very important!

· Before you optimize Firefox, navigate to Stopwatch and do a speed test on Firefox web browser | Faster, more secure, & customizable

· The time needed to load the site completely will be displayed to you in the browser window. Write down the time

· Clear the cache of Firefox from the Firefox settings dialog again - this is very important!

· Now, close Firefox, and optimize it with FireTune

· Start Firefox again, and repeat the speed test on Firefox web browser | Faster, more secure, & customizable

· Compare the displayed result with the result from the test before the optimization






On our testmachine we noticed a speed improvement of 1.25 seconds - the loadtime was 3.99 seconds before optimizations, and 2.74 seconds after optimization.

4.) What changes are applied by FireTune?

Performance Settings

One of the limitations of pretty much all computer applications is the need to target for a general audience because of the wide array of computer components and varied network infrastructure. This is where tweaking comes in. Firefox by default is aimed at a general audience too and hopefully we can tune it more to the needs of theindividual. The majority of the information comes from this excellent thread over at the MozillaZine Forum. The first post in particular goes through in great detail what each of the settings do. The thread however gets fairly long and convoluted and we attempt to summarize the contents of this thread along with a couple other sources into something that is easier to digest. As with the settings on the previous page, the contents are copied into the user.js file. We do not go into major detail about the setting as the thread goes into detailed explanations of what the settings mean in the first post. Instead, the configurations are culled from the thread of what people have reported to have worked for them along with some modifications on our end.

Quick and Dirty Settings (part of the tweaks further below)

user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.firstrequest", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);

Pipelining does multiple data requests at once and should speed things up. I believe IE did this before and this was partially attributable to the speed advantage that IE had over older versions of Mozilla/Netscape. Initial Paint Delay actually slows down the rendering of the ENTIRE page but since users tend to start reading before the entire page is rendered, setting this to a low value gives the impression that the page loads faster.

The following configurations are based off of recommendations off of the Mozillazine thread with some editing.

These are the settings that seem to be common to all configuration files regardless of connection speed or computer speed with a couple of additions - plugin paths can be found with aboutlugins and the bookmark menu delay is turned off.

user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("network.http.request.max-start-delay", 0);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("plugin.expose_full_path", true);
user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);

Fast Computer, Fast Connection:

Definitions:
Fast Computer:is a machine with a CPU greater than 1.5Ghz and with memory installed of at least 512MB RAM

Fast Connection: is a DSL, cable or a better connection



According to the above, 'Slower' connections means slower DSL or cable connections as well as double line ISDN connections,

and 'Slow' means all other analog modem connections.


A 'Slow' computer is a computer with a CPU slower than 1.5Ghz, and with less memory than 512MB RAM.



user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

A couple settings of note - Firefox is allocated 4096 KB of memory by default and in this configuration we give it roughly 65MB as denoted by the last line. This can be changed according to what is used.

Fast Computer, Slower Connection:

This configuration is more suited to people without ultra fast connections. We are talking about slower DSL / Cable connections as well as double line ISDN connections.

user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

Fast Computer, Slow Connection:

Slow connection means connections through an analog 57k modem or slower.

user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 8191);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

Slow Computer, Fast Connection:

user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 1000000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 1000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 4095);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 1000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

One of the changes made for this particular configuration is the final line where the status bar is disabled for changing web pages to save processor time.

Slow Computer, Slow Connection:

We have entered the doldrums of the dial-up user

user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 750);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

Some of the options we chose not to include as opposed to suggestions on the Mozillazine threads included the suggestion of catching SSL pages. Regardless of computer speed, one of the common trends is that pipelining is a good thing. Those with faster computers and gobs of memory may want to up the amount of memory available to Firefox while those with slower computers can still increase the default 4MB to something higher. This was not done in our configuration files however. Powerusers are also welcome to disable the status bar to eek out thatextra CPU cycle or two.

5.) Usage instructions

FireTune is very easy to use. The only thing you need to do is to create a backup of your current Firefox configuration file (you can do that easily with FireTune's backup feature), then make your selection from the available tuning options. FireTune will optimize Firefox according to your selections when you click the 'Tune it!' button.


· Close FireFox

· Start FireTune - if you want ot optimize the portable version of Firefox, you will have to show FireTune where the portable version of Firefox is located on your machine

· If you have not created a backup of your configuration file before, you should do that now

· After creating a backup of your configuration file, make your section from the available optimization settings. For details on the different options, please check the section above

· Click the 'Tune it!' button

· FireTune will then optimize the Firefox configuration file accoring to your selections from the option list. Once the optimization is done, you may restart Firefox

· Please note that FireTune does not show what optimizations you have chosen last time you used it. Do also note that you must re-select a user profile before you can change its configuration again using FireTune




Notes:
· if you are upgrading from a previous version of FireTune, then you can just re-apply your optimizations ontop of your current configuration file. You do not have to restore your original settings before working with the latest version of FireTune

· if you want to switch between the portable version of Firefox, and the installed version, you can do that from the 'Settings' menu of FireTune

FireFox:Turn off "Prefetching".

Open FireFox and type in the adress bar about:config then hit the arrow button.

Type in the filter bar type:network.prefetch-next.

In the main window double click network.prefetch-next so it appears false.

Speeds up FireFox and less CPU usage.


Disable Favicons.

Open FireFox and type in the adress bar about:config hit the little seacrh arrow.

Scroll down the list to browser.chrome.favicons and double click so its value changes to false.

Also locate browser.chrome.site_icons and double click so its value is set to false.

Note: Certain ATI video drivers are not compatible with Mozilla and may lead to crashes. If you are experiencing crashes and you use an ATI video driver you may be able to workaround the problem by setting your screen to Thousands of colors rather than Millions. You may also try getting the latest ATI driver :http://mirror.ati.com/support/driver.html



Installing on Mac OS X

To install Mozilla:

Click the Mac OS X disk image link to download the file to your machine.

The disk image expands and mounts itself.

If the disk image doesn't mount automatically, double-click on the .dmg file to mount it. If that fails, and the file does not look like a disk image file, do a Show Info on the file, and, in the Open with application category,choose Disk Copy.

Open the disk image, and drag the Mozilla icon to where you want to install Mozilla. We recommend that you copy it to the Applications folder.

Eject the disk image.

To start Mozilla, open the folder where you installed Mozilla and double click the Mozilla icon.

Java and Plug-ins

Mozilla uses Internet plug-ins and Java already installed on your system. No special work is required.
To see what Internet plug-ins are supported, visit http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/OSX.html .

Java

To run Java applets, you must install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.4.1 or later. If you already have the JRE on your system, the setup program should recognize it. If you need to download the JRE, you can find it at: http://java.sun.com



Uninstalling Mozilla


To uninstall Mozilla,
Remove the application files in /Users/<yourusername>/Library/Mozilla (but leave the Profiles sub-folder).

Remove the file Mozilla Registry from /Users/<yourusername>/Library/Preferences

Remove Mozilla from the installed location. (i.e. /Applications)
Installing on Windows:

It is recommended that you exit all programs before running the setup program. Also, you should temporarily disable virus detection software.
To install Mozilla, follow these steps:

On the download page, click a Windows installer link to download the file to your machine.

Navigate to where you downloaded the file and double click the installer program icon on your machine to begin the Setup program.

Follow the on-screen instructions in the setup program. The program starts automatically the first time.

Quick Launch:

During installation, you have the option of enabling or disabling Quick Launch. If enabled, Quick Launch loads part of Mozilla into memory when your computer starts up (and each time Mozilla first starts up). Quick Launch keeps Mozilla in memory even after you close all Mozilla windows so you can quickly re-open Mozilla as needed. If your computer is low on memory, you may want to disable Quick Launch.
To enable Quick Launch:

Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.

Choose Advanced category.

Select Keep Mozilla in memory to improve startup performance to enable Quick Launch.

Click OK.

To disable Quick Launch, right-click on the Mozilla icon in the system tray and choose "Disable Quick Launch" in the context menu.
To exit Quick Launch and Mozilla completely:

Close all Mozilla windows.

Right-click on the Mozilla icon in the system tray and choose "Exit Mozilla" from the context menu.


Installing on Linux

Note: These instructions use the bash shell. If you're not using bash, adjust the commands accordingly.
To install Mozilla by downloading the Mozilla installer, follow these steps:

Create a directory named mozilla1.x (mkdir mozilla1.x) and change to that directory (cd mozilla1.x).

Download the installer package (called mozilla-i686-pc-linux-gnu-1.x-installer.tar.gz) to the mozilla1.x directory.

Change to where you downloaded the package (cd mozilla1.x) and decompress the archive file with the following command:

gunzip -dc moz*.tar.gz | tar -xvf -

(This places the installer in a sub-directory named mozilla-installer.)

Change to the mozilla-installer directory (cd mozilla-installer) and run the installer with the ./mozilla-installer command.

Follow the instructions in the install wizard for installing Mozilla

To start Mozilla, change to the install directory and run the ./mozilla command.


Note: you must run Mozilla at least once to complete the installation process. If a different user (other than the person who installed the program) runs the program first, a core dump will occur.

Installing RPM builds

The Red Hat RPM builds are created to work with the default Red Hat 7 and Red Hat 8 installations. Using these RPMs on SuSE requires installation of the gdk-pixbuf package.

Multi-user installs

To install Mozilla for multiple users on Linux, perform an installation as described above. Then, create the following script in your Mozilla directory, make it executable (chmod u+x <scriptname>), and run it as root. Do not run this program as su[do] root.
#!/bin/shdist_bin=`dirname $0`MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=$dist_binLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$dis t_binexport MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME LD_LIBRARY_PATH$dist_bin/regxpcom$dist_bin/regchrometouch $dist_bin/chrome/user-skins.rdf $dist_bin/chrome/user-locales.rdf


Starting Mozilla

You can customize how Mozilla starts up, e.g. what profile to use, via command line arguments. See http://www.mozilla.org/docs/command-line-args.html

To hook up Mozilla to the GNOME Panel, follow these steps:

Click the GNOME Main Menu button, open the Panel menu, and then open the Add to Panel sub-menu and choose Launcher.

Right click the icon for Mozilla on the Panel and enter the following command:

<install_directory>/mozilla

Where <install_directory> is the location of your Mozilla installation (e.g. /usr/local/mozilla).

Type in a name for the icon, and type in a comment if you wish.

Click the icon button and type in the following as the icon's location:

<directory_name>/icons/mozicon50.xpm

Java and Plug-ins:

Mozilla searches for plug-ins in the following locations:

The path pointed to by environment variable MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH

Your Mozilla plugins directory, e.g. /usr/local/mozilla/plugins)

~/.mozilla/plugins

If you install a plug-in without root permissions, use ~/.mozilla/plugins instead of the plugins sub-directory of the Mozilla install directory. You may have to create this directory first.

For a list of plug-ins supported by Mozilla and how to install them, visit http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/linux.html
Java

To run Java applets, you must install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.4.1 or later (1.4.2 recommended). To enable Java for Mozilla, put a symlink to java2/plugin/i386/ns610/libjava.oji.so in your plugins directory, e.g.:

ln -s /usr/java/j2re1.4.2/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so

Copying the file (instead of making a symlink) will cause Java to crash.
If you need to download the JRE, you can find it at:

http://java.sun.com

Uninstalling Mozilla

To uninstall Mozilla, removed the directory where you installed Mozilla. Do NOT remove the ~/.mozilla directory, which contains profile information unless you no longer need your profiles.

Plugins,Adobe Reader,Adobe Flash Player,Java and more.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:7