Optimized Firefox for Windows

By | November 30, 2010 | 11 Comments

Optimized Firefox for WindowsNow here is something to try for a speed fanatics.

The Pale Moon Project is a highly optimized version of Firefox web browser made specifically for Windows OS.

According to the project authors, it outperforms Mozilla Firefox by up to 25% in the synthetic benchmarks. In addition, it disables ActiveX, ActiveX scripting, accessibility and parental control features. Therefore, if you require such things, The Pale Moon Project is not for you.

As for everyone else, it’s 100% Firefox sourced web browser that uses less memory and is designed for “newer” CPUs.

Please note: if you decide to remove it after initial testing, backup your Firefox settings first. According to some users, it deletes all the data during the uninstallation process, including Firefox.

Alternatively, download the portable version here.


About (Author Profile)


Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism carrier back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

  • mabdul

    “In addition, it disables ActiveX, ActiveX scripting, accessibility and parental control features.”

    o.O Firefox has Active X support? Since then? Vygantas please look first correctly and think about the news you publish or explain them better. Something is def. wrong.

    • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

      There are some extensions that enable ActiveX components and scripts to run in Firefox on Windows, which will, therefore, not run in Pale Moon. This is a security consideration more than a speed consideration.

      :-)

      • mabdul

        OK, then please explain this more than to me: WHAT does this mean? I thought ever that gecko (the layout engine from ff) supported only the NPAPI (netscape application programming interface) and not Active X. So why does FF should have any Active X components on windows integrated (which seemed to be only on windows, or miss I something). What are doing these features in ff? For what needs are they?

        • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

          Honestly, I have no idea. Might want to ask Pale Moon Project authors, as they claimed this :-)

        • http://another.intheuniverse.com.ar/ lolfang

          It’s probably for compatibility, imagine this situation: An X site needs IE’s ActiveX support, stupid devs can’t code for Firefox; so Firefox uses its ActiveX support to be compatible with the site.

          • mabdul

            but then the speed improvements are in contrast to the compatibility, or? This is (in my eyes) not an improvement!

        • http://www.palemoon.org/ Moonchild

          ActiveX support: this is something still part of Firefox that was part of the old Mozilla 1.x browser when actively developed. It provides an interface and scripting capabilities for a Mozilla-based ActiveX plugin as well as interfacing with add-ons that might provide Active-X based embedding.

          Yes, it’s windows-specific, and no, you don’t need it.

          Since it’s archaic, and a potential security hazard, it’s been disabled.

  • daddylo

    Thank you for info, I could definitely give a try :). Tried Lunascape it sucked. I do not mind if a browser use lot of RAM but I do not like if a browser use lot of CPU cycles….. my CPU is old :(.

    • daddylo

      Doesn’t worth it, adobe flash plug-in crashed…. that’s even without any add-on so forget about it …….

      • http://www.palemoon.org/ Moonchild

        You’re blaming the browser for Adobe’s plug-in crashing? :) Pointing a finger at the wrong party, there…

  • Dwight Stegall

    I use SpeedyFox to defrag the places.qlite database in Firefox 3.6.12. Then in the options panel I have it set to load pages from last time. Then I use Bartab addon so it will show all my tabs from last session but only load one of them. This makes Firefox load very quickly.

    I run SpeedyFox every time before opening Firefox.

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