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Filed under: Mozilla, Browser Tips, How-Tos, Browsers

Speed up Firefox by cleaning out your SQLite databases

A while back, Jason mentioned giving your Firefox performance a boost by limiting the length of time items are saved in history.
At Mozilla Links, they've shared another handy tip from Mozilla developer Jeremy Orem.

His advice: take a vacuum to your SQLite databases. Here's how to do it:
  1. Open the Firefox tools menu and click on error console.
  2. Paste the following command into the code box as a single line (as pictured):
    Components.classes["@mozilla.org/browser/nav-history-service;1"].getService(Components.interfaces.nsPIPlacesDatabase).DBConnection.executeSimpleSQL("VACUUM");
  3. Hit [enter] or click the evaluate button.
After a momentary hang, you'll be able to close the console and return to your main Firefox window to enjoy your leaner, meaner browser!

[via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Troubleshooting

Use Xtra Windows Stability to make Windows more stable

Wouldn't it be nice if our operating systems made New Year's resolutions? If that were the case, more than a few of them would make the resolution to "be more stable."

Xtra Windows Stability
is one piece of software that claims to help the stability of the Windows OS. By forcing important subsystems of Windows into separate processes (Desktop, Explorer, and Internet Explorer), you have a higher chance of recovering the system if one of those subsystems fail.

If you haven't heard of the program before, and that makes you suspicious, settle yourself in the fact that Shell Extension City (one of the top sites for freeware on the net) put Xtra Windows Stability 17th on their list of top 25 programs, tips, and tweaks for 2007.

[Via gHacks.net]

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Microsoft

10 tips and tweaks for Windows Vista

Vista tips and tweaksAre you rocking Windows Vista RC2? Ready to start tweaking it (or tweak it a little more, as they case may be)? Take a look at these 10 expert tips and tweaks for Windows Vista from ZDNet's Ed Bott. Bott shows us how to add an extended shortcut menu, take quick screenshots with the Snipping Tool, get a quick system checkup, ditch Security Center nagging, and more. These are tips for power users, but if you weren't a power user you wouldn't be using Vista RC2 anyway, would you?

Filed under: Mozilla

6 handy Firefox 2 tweaks

Firefox 2Step 1: Download Firefox 2.
Step 2: Bend it to your will.

Lifehacker has printed a nice set of tweaks for Firefox 2 to make your browsing experience happer. There's six tweaks, including changing the tab scrolling behavior, modifying prefetching settings, and limiting its RAM usage. None of them are mind-blowing, especially to Firefox power-users, but there's few things that make me happier than undocumented tweakage. If you have your own Firefox 2 tips and tweaks, please post them in the comments or send them via our tips form.

In related news, Microsoft's Internet Explorer team reportedly sent the Firefox developers a cake to congratulate them on the release of the new browser. "No, it was not poisoned," says Mozilla Corp.'s Fred Wenzel.

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft

Ed Bott's 10 tweaks for Vista

VistaThis is my third time downloading a Vista build, and admittedly, I had some qualms with Vista because of my slower hardware. Was it Vista's fault? No, it was mine. We had words, Vista promptly crashed again, and I retorted by wiping it out and installing XP once again. Sure I fiddled with Vista a bit when we were together, but it is vast and largely untamed, so I ended up with a molasses-slow machine, which of course is unacceptable. Ed Bott has written a great list of 10 ways to tweak Vista and make it run the way you want it to. These tweaks will help when using your newly installed Vista RC1, so enjoy.

Filed under: Linux, Open Source

Top 10 Ubuntu apps and tips for Linux switchers

Top 10 Ubuntu apps and tweaksI've long been meaning to give Ubuntu a more serious look, and Adam Pash's Top 10 Ubuntu apps and tweaks over at Lifehacker is all the more motivation. Pash identifies ten ways you can improve your Ubuntu experience, including Automatix (application installation automator), Beagle (desktop search), Gnome Deskbar Applet ("a great app launcher and then some"), VLC (video player), Firefox (web browser), amaroK (audio player), and CheckGmail (email notifier for Gmail). As usual, the comments following the article are a great trove of further tips.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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