- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows Vista, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
- Date added: January 14, 2009
- Total Downloads: 14,074
- Downloads last week: 120
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 46 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on March 13, 2009
It hasn't been updated since February 2005, but Firefox Preloader continues to help users who want faster boot times while maintaining a heavy load of tabs and extensions. Weighing in with an installer at 840Kb and using about 30MB of RAM, the program dramatically improved start-up times on Firefox when loaded with tabs and extensions.
How dramatic were the improvements? Without using the Preloader, it took 32.1 seconds for Firefox to open, and 2 minutes, 34.2 seconds to finish loading all the tabs. With the Preloader running, Firefox opened in 7.8 seconds, with another 1 minute, 36.7 seconds to complete all the tabs. Firefox Preloader is not otherwise laden with options. You can set it to run when you turn on your computer, and it installs a convenient system tray icon for accessing it on the fly. From there, you can unload the preloader which clears out the program from the list of active tasks, and you can reload it, which dumps it from the active cache and then reloads it.
The Preloader doesn't play well with certain browser functions, notably when Firefox restarts after installing an extension or theme. It almost certainly adds at least a small amount of time to the computer's boot cycle, since it's one more thing that needs to load before Windows is ready to go. But for users who want to have their cake of extensions and tabs and eat it, too, Firefox Preloader remains a reasonable way to gain back more than a few precious seconds.
Publisher's description
From Matthew Holder :Firefox Preloader is a utility that is designed to load parts of Mozilla Firefox into memory before it is used to improve the its startup time.
CNET Editor's Note: The Download Now link will prompt a local download of the Firefox extension. To install the extension directly, open the file using your Firefox browser.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 2.6 stars out of 46 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 46 user reviewsSee all 46 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: Firefox Preloader 1.0 build 366
Pros: ...................
Cons: ........................
Summary: What are you people talking about 30-60 second load times? I don't think I have ever seen firefox load slower than 4-5 seconds. I am confused......................
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Version: Firefox Preloader 1.0 build 366
Pros: Firefox starts nearly instantly with FF Preloader just as advertised, after tgthe first startup which takes the usual 45 seconds to a full minute
Cons: What they don't tell you is that Preloader caused Firefox to load also and run constantly in the background, using up to 100 megabytes of RAM!
Summary: The exact same result can be realized by starting Firefox, then minimizing it to the taskbar instead of closing it rather than having yet another program running (Preloader) using system resources. If you check the system processes with the FF Pre... read more >>
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Version: Firefox Preloader 1.0 build 366
"GOOD PROGRAM FIREFOX STARTUP FAST"
Pros: instead of taskbar it go into system tray
Cons: hustle to close it when starting a game or something memory hug application
Summary: its good but its ur decision
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Firefox Preloader 1.0 build 366
"A Must Have for Heavy Firefox Users"
Pros: Greatly reduces the start up time for Firefox (starts just as fast a Google Chrome now)
Cons: It does take up some of the memory on your system
Summary: Firefox Preloader is definitely well worth the cost of the extra memory used, and it took away one of the main weaknesses of Firefox, the start-up time.
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Version: Firefox Preloader 1.0 build 366
Pros: This program definitely speeds up Firefox especially if you reopen the browser multiple times within a logon session.
Cons: There seem to be some conflict issues with Session Manager extension as well as Firefox's built-in session manager. Switching to Tab Mix Plus solved th problem - it would not reload the previous Session's windows and tabs.
Summary: It works! And is great for those who use multiple tabs open for most browsing sessions.
- See all 46 user reviews Write review
