I tested it out on my personal laptop and it worked like a charm. After running SpeedyFox my version, of Firefox definitely loads quicker. However I was unable to assess whether there was any improvement in dealing with browsing history or with cookies - I'm not even sure how I would go about measuring that. But the improvement in loading speed alone more than justifies the use of the product.

I should say that my version of Firefox was an excellent candidate for improvement as my profile was very old. Users with newer profiles are unlikely to see the same sort of improvement I experienced.

Usage of SpeedyFox couldn't be simpler. The program doesn't require installing so all you need do is download and run the executable. You will then see the following screen.

Unless you are using the portable version of Firefox you will normally just accept the default setting for your profile. Then click the " Speed Up My Firefox" button and you're done.

The optimization process is quick; only a few seconds in my case and the improvement is immediate, you’ll notice it the next time you load Firefox.

All up, a pretty useful free utility that provides a genuine benefit to most Firefox users. The degree of benefit will depend on the age and condition of your profile. I suspect some folks will see a significant improvement while others will see almost none. But what the heck, you’ve got nothing to lose, so give it a try.

http://www.crystalidea.com/speedyfox (300KB, Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

Gizmo

Thanks to regular contributor Lex Davidson for the suggestion.

I use FasterFox (http://fasterfox.mozdev.org/), but I'll try this one too, maybe it's better. Thanks merrie!

Ah, I see, it's not about increasing the surf speed, but increasing the browser startup and operations speed...