Speed things up A LOT!

[thejeepdude]

Well there are pros and cons to the new forum software, one of my gripes being that the new popdown menus and additional graphics slow things down a bit. Well, I've been using FireFox instead of IE for a while, and it's definitely faster, however here's something even you FireFox users might not know. Check out the FireFox SSE2 Optimized build if you have a P4 system. I just installed it, and no lie, the forum renders what seems about TWICE as fast. Even if you've never used FireFox, give it a shot and let me know what you think. Just download the ZIP file, extract it to your "c:\program files" directory (or wherever you want it), and then run firefox. exe. It will take care of the associations for you.



Here's a link to the latest optimized build: DOWNLOAD



Even if you don't have a P4 and want to try it out, check out http://www.mozilla.org/firefox



Edit: If you already run Firefox, make sure to UNINSTALL and FULLY DELETE any instanced of Forefox that you have installed before trying this version or you may get unpredictable results!

 

[socal_rattler]

This download has issues. I loaded it on top of my existing Firefox installation. It seems to ignore the Home Page setting and it lost all my bookmarks. If you try and go into 'manage bookmarks' it doesn't do anything. When selecting a link from the history page it doesn't go there... it doesn't do anything.



I went back, downloaded and installed the current version (0. 9. 3) from the Firefox pages and things still did not work correctly. I had to uninstall everything, reboot and reinstall 0. 9. 3 to get back to where I was.

 

[thejeepdude]

I had the same problem at first, and it is because you didn't follow the instructions (which I just realized I left out of the first post ) Step 1 - UNINSTALL FIREFOX, whatever version you're running, then delete the whole directory. Don't worry, all your extensions and settings are stored somewhere else and they won't go away. Step 2 - Extract the above file into your c:\progra~1 directory. This will create a "Firefox" directory in there... note- the original directory was "Mozilla Firefox" if you left it default, which should be gone before you extract/create the "Firefox" directory. Once you've expanded the files, find firefox. exe and execute it.



I had the exact same problems as you when I first tried it. After doing this it worked perfectly. I thought just copying over the existing build would work too... it DOES NOT.



Let me know what happens when you try this... so far all of my friends agree it's faster than the normal firefox build, which is a LOT faster than IE...

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

Running Gecko 1. 6 here and love it. One of these days when I'm running under admin priviledges i'll do an upgrade. :-laf

 

[thejeepdude]

Gecko? eww... I'm liking Firefox much better so far. At least you're not using IE tho!!

 

[Chipstien]

What is the reason that you guys are not using Internet Explorer. I once tried Nutscrape and could not stand it. IE is so integrated with Windows it just seems to me that it would have the least problems and operate much more fluidly. Am I missing something?



And don't tell me that it is because Microsoft is a monopoly and you are spreading the wealth... . that is a lame excuse.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

What is the reason that you guys are not using Internet Explorer.

To make my life complicated :{ . Seriously, supporting the more obscure browsers is a MAJOR PITA. Some people that use obscure browsers (Mac's would be included in this because they are not very compatible with what the majority uses) understand that they will have to deal with issues by using something non-standard. Unforetunately many people don't understand that and it's a nightmare to support. I just wish the people who code the more obscure browsers would spend more time making their software compatible with the mainstream so that us webmasters wouldn't have to go through all these hassles.

 

[thejeepdude]

To make my life complicated :{ . Seriously, supporting the more obscure browsers is a MAJOR PITA. Some people that use obscure browsers (Mac's would be included in this because they are not very compatible with what the majority uses) understand that they will have to deal with issues by using something non-standard. Unforetunately many people don't understand that and it's a nightmare to support. I just wish the people who code the more obscure browsers would spend more time making their software compatible with the mainstream so that us webmasters wouldn't have to go through all these hassles.

Um, it's not the "obscure browsers" doing the weird coding, it's MS pushing it's proprietary coding on everyone because the world knows everyone who runs an MS OS has IE, and 99% of them use it. It's MS that won't stick to the standards. Why do I use FireFox? Because it's at least 3 times as fast as IE. It has better features. It blocks popups built-in. It has fewer security holes, partially because hackers focus on IE because they know most people use it. Open source extensions. Customizable! Free! And the list could go on... why does a web browser need to be a piggish 20+ MB? Firefox is only 5MB. I can also get it optimized for my P4, or any CPU. Then there's the cross platform issue... what if you're not running windows? Up until lately IE wasn't even an option, and most people used Netscape. Now they're owned by AOL and instantly their browser became just as sluggish and fat as IE. Firefox is developed open source by the people who made Netscape. It's designed to be a performance browser, not to wash your car, feed the kids, and manage your household. OK so there's just a few reasons...

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I was somewhat kidding. The point was though that each browser has it's little issues. The forums right now for example are working in almost everything. On the Mac it's working fine on Netscape V7 and not working well on everything else. On the PC side though it's working on all the browsers that I'm aware of (noone's said otherwise), on Linux the only problem right now that I'm aware of is on Konqueror (but it works fine on Mozilla & Opera). It's just a nightmare trying to support all the different browsers out there. It's just like trying to develop code for say C and having to make it run on every C compiler out there that there is. That's what we're expected to do with Web documents. It would work great if everyone would subscribe to one standard - but NOONE does .

 

[thejeepdude]

I totally hear ya... and agree 100%!

 

[John - K5AWO]

Why do I use FireFox? Because it's at least 3 times as fast as IE. . .

The JeepDude



Wow!



I had almost forgotten about Mozilla. I was a fully paid user until the day AOL bought them up, and just the mention of AOL made me puke! I deleted it from my PC immediately. Went over to Opera and was happy there until they wanted too much money to keep upgrading that. For the last year I been using IE just for the sake of conformity... . but damn, it has swollen to a monster and the speed is Atrociously slow.



Steve, at the current rate, the forum is loading pages at about 45-50 seconds. I have been moaning and praying for the day when the Search Engine finishes.



Just installed FireFox because TheJeepDude brought me back to my senses.



This thread loaded in 6 seconds flat????? That is going to be totally awesome when vB3. x is thru with the Search Engine.



Thanks TheJeepDude, ya brung me back to my senses Oo.

 

[John - K5AWO]

FireFox Down - Not! It's Warp Speed!!

Well there are pros and cons to the new forum software,

All the graphics is a PITA... The status bar on IE 6. x runs 95% across the bar window in about 6 seconds, and then for the next 50-60 seconds..... nothing.



I have 45 minutes exposure now to FireFox and all I can say is... WOW!



GetDaily Posts - 2 seconds flat.

Get next page - 2 seconds

Retrieve thread - 3-5 seconds!!



I had forgotten what a good browser could do.



Adios IE forever...

 

[thejeepdude]

Heheh... I wasn't lyin' eh? :-laf



I think most of the speed loss in IE isn't due to the graphics, but the javascript menus. IE's javascript engine sucks! Nutscrape was always faster than IE in that regard, even since the 2. x/3. x days. I assume you installed the SSE2 optimized version of Firefix that I put the link to? So not only are you getting a faster browser in general, but it's optimized for your CPU. Firefox was fast, but the SSE2 version was like "daaaayyuuummm that's quick". Just glad I could help another IE user see the light! All my techie friends love it too...



BTW, I would recommend going to www.mozilla.org/firefox and downloading some extensions. There's a couple that I think are neccessary... ieview (open a funky ie specific page in ie by just right-clicking), switchproxy (if you have to use proxies at work on your laptop and no proxy at home, etc), and opendownload (lets you open . exe or any file with default windows assoc)... but there's a lot more cool ones out there too, just check it out.



Oh yeah, and it's this good and it's not even at version 1. 0 yet!! I just hope they don't make a pig out of it in subsequent versions, but just keep their focus on making is FAST and reliable!



... On the quest to free the world for the Micro$oft dictatorship!

 

[thejeepdude]

By the way, if you're the kind of guy that needs to be on the bleeding edge of technology, you might find this interesting: http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/

 

[Winston Wolf]

I It would work great if everyone would subscribe to one standard - but NOONE does .

But Steve, that's the great thing about "standards". There are so many to choose from! :-laf

 

[John - K5AWO]

Anyone else noticed that closing the FireFox web page leaves a window open to "open a program with" ??

 

[thejeepdude]

Anyone else noticed that closing the FireFox web page leaves a window open to "open a program with" ??

Hmmm. . never did that to me.

 

[John - K5AWO]

I just uninstalled Fire Fox and installed 1. 7. 2 and tried that out. problem is gone. must have been a "twitch" version.



signed up for the newsletter that goes out, will upgrade to the latest "twitchy" version as soon as they think it is good enough for beta run.

 

[thejeepdude]

I just uninstalled Fire Fox and installed 1. 7. 2 and tried that out. problem is gone. must have been a "twitch" version.



signed up for the newsletter that goes out, will upgrade to the latest "twitchy" version as soon as they think it is good enough for beta run.

Well, that's cool, but is it as fast? Mozilla 1. 7. 2 isn't the same as Firefox... I wasn't too impressed at all, although it's still better than IE. If you think that version of Firefox was buggy, they have a daily compiled build here, with bugs being fixed every day. Try that kind of development speed and support with any other browser. Just find the link in the bottom of the first message in that forum, as it's updated every day. I'm running the 0812 version and so far the only bug I've found is that for some reason my "autocomplete" cache just pops up in it's own window sometimes for apparently no reason, but it hasn't happened lately. All I know is that I'm happier with the speed so the little bugs don't bother me... and so far no major bugs. As always, everyone has their different priorities, and I'm glad you found something that works for you!

 

[John - K5AWO]

No, 1. 7. 2 is definitely not in the same ballpark for speed.



Tonight when I have time to just do computer things, I will upgrade to the faster version and see if doing it in the "correct" order fixes things.