Tweaking browser configuration increases its efficiency and further enhances one’s browsing experience. There are lots of tricks that you can do with browsers using its about:config editor. Here is a set of tricks and tweaks which I am sure most of you don’t know.
A general note: To perform the below tricks, you need to login to the preference editor of your browser. To do this, in the address bar, type “about:config” without quotes. Firefox will show you a warning message. Ignore it and click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button. Now, you are in the preference editor. Follow the instructions to perform each trick.
1) Remove Favicons From Tabs
You might have seen small icons on the tabs and the address bar in Firefox. These are known as Favicons. They were first introduced in IE 5, which was soon adopted by Firefox. They usually represent a site’s logo.
These favicons, even though small, consumes memory sometimes. Here is a tweak that can help you to disable those favicons in your browser. In the “Filter” option, enter the keyword “favicons”. You will get a list of preferences. Among those, search for this: browser.chrome.favicons. Double-click on it to change the value from “true” to “false”. Restart Firefox.
Now, instead of seeing the site’s favicon you will see the “document” icon on the tabs and address bar.
2) Remove Or Tweak The Position Of Close Button In Firefox
Firefox 2.0 had many new features added to it. Among them, one was “Close” button on every tab. As you have seen there is a close button on tab that you select. You can tweak the behaviour of this tab button using the following tweak. In the “Filter” option enter the keyword “tabs”. Select browser.tabs.closeButtons from the list of preferences.
Now, this preference is a boolean and has many values. The default is set to 0. Here are the valid values and their functions.
- 0 – This is the default. The Close Button will be on the active tab.
- 1 – This value places the close button on all the tabs.
- 2 – Hides the close button from all the tabs.
- 3 – Displays the close button at the end of the tab strip.
3) AutoCopy To ClipBoard
If you are a linux user, then you might be knowing that selecting the text simply, copies the text into the clipboard. Here is a Firefox tweak to make it work like that. In the “Filter”option type “clipboard” without quotes. You will see a preference saying clipboard.autocopy. Double-click on it to change it to “true”. Now select any text and paste it somewhere. You can paste the text without using the “copy” command!
Also Read: Opera 10 Tips and Tricks
4) Change Your Toolbar Style To Make It More “RAM-Friendly” 
This is a very good tweak, if you are low on memory but still want to use Firefox. It tweaks the toolbar. It is also a boolean and ahs many values. The valid values and its functions are given below:
- 0 – Displays toolbar buttons with icons only.
- 1 – Displays toolbar buttons with text only, no icons.
- 2 – Displays toolbar buttons with both icons and text. [Default]
This will help you to lessen the memory consumption by choosing alternate styles.
Also Read: Change The Tab Size In Firefox
5) Get Another Firefox Window Inside A Tab!
Well, this sounds amazing, right? Yes, you can get another usable firefox window inside a tab. To make this possible, enter the following URL in the address bar: 
chrome://browser/content/browser.xul. [See the pic below.]
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