Firefox: Secret Features

In this practical tip we will introduce you to the secret functions of Firefox. With these features, you are guaranteed to get even more out of your browser and surf even more comfortably. In the video above you can also see the practical add-on Firefox Side View, which you can use to open a browser tab as a second, integrated window in the Firefox window.

Secret Firefox function: Automatically complete addresses with .de

If you enter a website in the address bar of your Firefox, the .com is often added. This should reach the desired page even faster. Instead of .com, you can have the German extension .de completed by the following steps:

1. Enter "about: config" in the address bar of your Firefox browser.
2. Search for "browser.fixup.alternate.suffix". Right-click> Edit to replace the ".com" extension with ".de".

Tab preview in Windows taskbar

With this setting you get the practical preview in the Windows task bar not only for the opened tab. If you switch the option, you can scroll in the Windows task bar between the preview of the opened tabs of Firefox.

1. Open the advanced settings by typing "about: config" in the address bar.
2. Search for "browser.taskbar.previews.enable" and change the value with a right click to "true".

Surf faster thanks to secret settings in Firefox

With this expert method you can get even more speed out of your Firefox browser. By default, this option is disabled by Firefox.

1. Open "about: config" again and enter "network.http.pipelining" in the search field. Make this entry with a right click> switch to true.
2. Then also set the entry "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to true.
3. With the setting "network.http.pipelining.max-optimistic.requests" you increase the value from 4 to 8.
4. If a server does not support this function, deactivate the above settings again.

Prevent preloading of websites in the browser

Preloading a website can be quite useful. If you still want to switch off the feature, you have to edit the following entries in "about: config":

1. Enter "network.prefetch-next" in the filter line to display this value.
2. By default, "network.prefetch-next" is set to "true".
3. To prevent preloading, double-click the value. So it is set to "false".

Paste copied text using the mouse wheel

By default, copied text can be pasted using the right mouse button and the command "Paste" or the key combination "Ctrl + V". With "about: config", the process can be easily transferred to the mouse wheel:

1. Switch the entry "middlemouse.paste" from "false" to "true".

Memory optimization in Firefox

Firefox can consume a lot of memory, depending on the tabs and websites that are open. With a trick you can improve the memory management with "about: config". As a result, Firefox, provided the browser is minimized, has less memory available:

1. Add a new entry by right-clicking on the list. In the context menu, go to "New" and then to "Boolean".
2. Enter the property name "config.trim_on_minimize".
3. Select the value "true" for the new property.

Statistics at a glance

If you like to have an overview, you can find statistics about statistics with this setting.

• If you enter "about: healthreport" in the address line, you can not only read out the version number and release channel. Here you will find how many sessions you have had with the Firefox browser and how long you have been using it. Crashes are recorded as well as addons.
• "About: crashes" shows you the crash reports. If you are interested in telemetry data, you can get it with "about: telemetry". The collected information about performance, hardware, usage and changes made by the user is then displayed - all of which are sent to Mozilla, by the way.
• If you are interested in memory usage, you can find the exciting details with "about: memory".

Start without addons and clean up Firefox

If Firefox is not running smoothly, simply test here whether the addons are to blame.

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• If you enter "about: support" in the address bar, you can try Firefox in safe mode in the event of a browser problem. To do this, click on "Restart with deactivated add-ons".
• If the problem is not solved in safe mode, you can reset the browser under "about: support" with "Clean up Firefox". Then not only will all addons be removed, the default settings will also be restored.

In the next practical tip, we will show you other ways to speed up your Firefox.