Speed Up Firefox By Enabling Its New HTTP Cache

Speed Up Firefox By Enabling Its New HTTP Cache

If Firefox has been feeling sluggish for you lately, you might be able to cut down on some of those UI hangs with an about:config tweak.

The Mozilla team is working on a number of performance tweaks for upcoming versions of Firefox, one of which is the use of a new HTTP cache that should fix some UI hang issues. It isn’t enabled by default yet, but will be soon—and you can enable it right now with an about:config tweak. To do so:

  1. Enter about:config into Firefox’s address bar and press Enter.
  2. Search for the browser.cache.use_new_backend flag and double-click on it.
  3. Change its value from 0 to 1 to enable the new cache. (You can flip it back at any time by changing it back to 0).
  4. Close about:config and continue browsing—no need to restart or anything.

I enabled it and while it hasn’t been a silver bullet, it seems to have helped decrease the number of times the browser screeches to a halt. Check out the link below for more info, and while you’re digging around in about:config, check out some of our other favorite tweaks.

Mozilla Firefox New HTTP Cache Is Live! | Mayhemer’s Blog via @tarasglek


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Speed Up Firefox By Enabling Its New HTTP Cache

Make Your Own Tastier and Cheaper Spreadable Butter

Make Your Own Tastier and Cheaper Spreadable Butter

Homemade spreadable butter is surprisingly easy to make. With only a few ingredients and a bit of time, you can save over half the cost of the tub you get at the grocery store—and control the end quality and taste.

All you need are two sticks of butter (salted or unsalted) and 1/2 cup of Canola oil. Live Pretty’s directions say to whisk these with a stand mixer, but you could instead use a food processor, hand blender, or just a regular kitchen utensil and elbow grease.

If you don’t like Canola oil, substitute with real extra virgin olive oil. That’s one of the benefits of homemade: You know exactly what goes into it and can customize the flavors with herbs, special salts, or other ingredients.

You’ll save a few bucks too. $1.10 for the DIY spreadable butter versus $3.79 for the store kind (your mileage may vary).

You might never need to buy spreadable butter again.

Homemade Spreadable Butter | Live Pretty via WonderHowTo


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Make Your Own Tastier and Cheaper Spreadable Butter

Fix a Droopy Door with a Few Hidden Screws

Fix a Droopy Door with a Few Hidden Screws

Droopy doors that rub on the floor can sometimes be fixed just by tightening the screws on the top hinge. If that doesn’t take care of it, Ask The Builder suggests installing hidden screws.

Doors hinges become loose through normal everyday use or poor workmanship. Tightening the screws is the simplest solution, but you can also install 3-inch hidden screws under the top hinge, which will prevent future problems.

These simple steps will solve almost all drooping door issues. The long screws under the top hinge will almost always prevent future problems because they ensure the door jamb will not succumb to gravity.

Hopefully tightening the hinge screws will take care of your droopy door. If it doesn’t, hit the source link for more details on installing the long screws.

How to Fix a Drooping Door | Ask The Builder


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Fix a Droopy Door with a Few Hidden Screws

Hopper Shows the Very Best Time to Fly and Buy a Ticket for Your Route

Hopper Shows the Very Best Time to Fly and Buy a Ticket for Your Route

You’ve probably heard the general advice for the best time to buy a plane ticket (start shopping Tuesday afternoon, for example, about 7-8 weeks ahead), but that’s just that—general advice. For specific guidance on a particular route you’re going to fly, take a look at the data-driven flight reports from Hopper.

Hopper compiles data from billions of airfare price points each day and offers interactive tools based on that data and their algorithms. Their research has shown that travelers can generally save 30% on plane tickets by planning the departure and return flights days, and buy tickets mid-week.

More specifically, though, you can use Hopper’s data tools to find the biggest savings for your particular trip. Maybe the best day to buy a ticket from Buffalo to Phoenix isn’t Tuesday or Wednesday (in fact, Hopper’s research suggest Buffalonians headed to the Valley of the Sun should consider buying on Sunday).

On Hopper’s Research and Data page, you can plug in your start and end cities to get a wealth of buying advice and see historical trends. You can also access an interactive flight map to compare ticket prices now to historically good deals.

Other airfare tools (such as Kayak’s prediction tools) are helpful, but you might get a more accurate complete picture by combining them with Hopper’s customizable tools.

Hopper Research & Data | Hopper via The New York Times


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Hopper Shows the Very Best Time to Fly and Buy a Ticket for Your Route