Re: [9.2.2] Any Mozilla 1.3.1 tweaks?

Hei Eric

Eric P. wrote:
My browser of choice is Mozilla's WaMCom 1.3.1 on my souped-up
G4 Sawtooth machine.

I hope everything is going well with it. - I finally got my two DP processors after a real long wait from GigaDesigns, and am now waiting for a friend to help me installing them.

EP: My attempts to e-mail you to give you an update of the state of my
Mac have been rejected by your server as possible SPAM :( I'm pleased
to learn that you got your machine's new brains, and hope they'll be as
easy to install as the 1.5GHz was for me.

Ah! - I have set my spamfilter as high as 60% safety, so now I've added your address to always be allowed.

I know that modifications can be made by typing "about:config"
in the Navigation toolbar (where you normally enter a URL) and
changing settings.

Aha! - here I learned something new with WaMCom.:-) - I didn't know that it was possible to look into the program in that way...

EP: Indeed. I stumbled upon the "secret" while searching the Web for
information related to Mozilla/WaMCom.

Indeed I find this useful to know, - then you also always can see which settings have been changed from default or not...

I'd like to know if anyone knows (or can direct me to) any
modifications I could make that will improve the browser's speed
and/or performance. I'm not unhappy with it as it is, I just like
to squeeze every last bit out of my sw :)

Yes, I've just optimized my own OS 9.2.2 in each and every way possible. - Though my system is probably much larger than normal user's system is.:-) I went through every controlpanel and extension to see, if any had a possibility of changing anything, - like adding / reallocating more / less memory - according to the type of operations for this or thus. Checked that extensions and plugins all are latest up-to-date versions for the given program....

EP: I think I'm finished doing the same, but every so often I check through everything to be sure. I'm beginning to get a sense for which
things need a lot of memory, and which things need just a little boost.

When I went through all these files, I found a real nasty bug in the 'Kensington Startup' enabler extension. The memory is set totally wrong.

Minimum size is set to apprx. 2500kb, while wanted size is set to only apprx. 1100kb of memory. I turned around these and doubled the size, so min. size now is 2200kb and wanted size is 5000kb.

This has indeed changed the behavior of my Kensington ExpertMouse pro as well as my Kensington BigMouse (ADB+iMate). There have sometimes been problems with the Kensington extensions being able to move quickly on the screen, - it hangs for some seconds before moving. This is now gone.

I don't know if you're using any Kensington product - mouse or trackball, but the Kensington Mouseworks also is compatible with all XLR8 USB mice and trackballs.

Hm, reg. WaMCom, I don't think that there is much to do apart from allocating as much memory as possible - especially when you're using tabbed browsing. I'd give it as much as apprx. 90-10mb in min size and 130-150mb in wanted size - 20-30mb less if tabbed browsing is OFF.

EP: OK, I have adjusted these to your maximum recommendations. I'm
still stubborn about using tabbed browsing, but I'll live with it :)

It's a real shame that the new generation Mozilla all-in-one browser - SeaMonkey - isn't available for classic OS'es. This new one is even better than WaMCom - about 40% faster on OS X 10.3.9. I haven't tried it yet on Tiger...

-Be sure to use the latest versions of Shockwave and Shockwave Flash plugin.

EP: Problem here. Shockwave installer doesn't recognize my browser
at all.

Not even this one 'Macromedia Shockwave Player 10.1.1.016'?
http://tc.versiontracker.com/product/redir/lid/737975/Shockwave_Installer_Slim.sit

I have Shockwave Flash NP-PPC 7.0 r63 in plug-ins, along with
ShockwaveFlash.class and ShockwavePlugin.class files.

This is newest version as far as I know...

-Be sure to use newest version of DIVX plugin/player

EP: I have no knowledge of DIVX whatsoever, and it's not on my computer.

DIVX player will allow you to play DIVX based DVDs/films on your computer. You can read about and download it here.
http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/player/

-Be sure to use the latest SVG viewer plugin.

EP: I have 2.0 x55.

There is a new ver. 3.0 available here:
http://tc.versiontracker.com/product/redir/lid/77215/SVGView.bin
It should also work on OS 9.2.x, since it's a carbon application.

-Disable Acrobat Webcapture plugin, if you don't need to work with PDF files within the browser. Do only use the PDFviewer plugin. The AWC plugin slows really much down performance.

EP: No problem, as this is not present.

OK.

-Be sure that your browser plugins all are located in the 'Internet Plugins' folder directly inside your system folder and not in the WaMCom folder. If they are located in the system folder, WaMCom will only call them when needed, while they are all active, if they are located in the Mozilla -> Plugins folder.

EP: Do I need to place an alias in the Mozilla folder to point to the
one in the System folder, or will Mozilla find it anyway?

No, the browser will call for it, when it's needed.

-Don't install Windows Media Player, if you can avoid it.

EP: Does that include the plugin and plugin.jar files?

Yes...

Is there any other way to view .wma files on the Mac under 9.2.2?

The problem is that there are no alternatives to WMP for the Mac OS 9.x, and as far as i'm aware of, there areno conversion tools either, so it might be necessary for you to keep it. Then be sure that the player ap itself has got a lot of memory allocated - 50mb/80mb in sizes. See also below

-Don't install more or less obscure plugins or themes. - They do more harm than benefits.

EP: Ooh, perhaps I should remove some that I have. There's BeatnikPPC,
iTools Plug-in, LiveAudio, Pulse, and RealPlayerG2 6.0.8.1024. Also
cpPack1.jar, and DRM Plugin (I don't know what those are for). Which
ones should I delete?

BeatnikPPC is good to have, so don't delete this one, neither delete cpPack1.jar, - it's a part of beatnik. - I don't know iTools Plug-in and Pulse... Is iTools plugin meant for use with the classic version of iDisk Utility? LiveAudio is a reminisance from the old Netscape programs (Netscape 3.x and 4.x), and it doesn't work with WaMCom.

RealPlayerG2 6.0.8 isn't that bad, but you should update to the latest version for OS 9.x. Latest ver. is the 8.6.0, which you can get here:
http://tc.versiontracker.com/product/redir/lid/445916/OS%209

RealPlayer 8.x should also be able to handle both WMV and WMA files according to descriptions, but I haven't tried it.

The DRM Plugin is a part of Windows Media player and is needed for playing WMV and WMA files with DRM dcoding.

In prefs settings
-Always use 'resize large images'

EP: I will be stubborn about that, too, and always view full-size. I don't mind.

OK, but resizing will increase WaMCom speed...

-Use at first hand standard fonts, if you like these, - else always use good and polite fonts.

EP: I don't understand what you mean by this.

Ha! sure I understand this. It should of course be _reliable_ and not polite.:-)

I have them set this way:
Proportional - Sans Serif (16)
Serif - Times New Roman

same choice here.

Sans-Serif - Verdana

Verdana is fine, but I prefer the MS Arial 2.65TT font here. Though Verdan also is a MS font, I find that Arial is more compatible, if web pages are made with Frontpage 2.x or newer. Arial has some more accents and diacritics and some more special characters than Verdana. - And to this also is that Arial is 0,5 pixel fatter than Verdan, which is good for my eyes...

Cursive - AlisonsHand

Here I also use Arial - i.e. the same font for both sans serif and corsiva, so the browser shouldn't call for an extra font.

Fantasy - Lucida Blackletter

Here I use Apple Chancery... Again the Chancery fonts have some more accents and diacritics.

Monospace - Monaco (16)

In the beginning I here used Monotype MT 14, because it has more special characters than Monaco as well as more accents and diacritics, but I've now changed to Andale Mono, since Andale is - again - more compatible with MS built pages. I also have tried the Helvetica Fixed TT font, but this was indeed a real 'horror'...

Minimum font size - None

Again due to my bad eyes, I've set this to at least 13p.

And generally I've set the browser to use my fonts as preferable fonts - because of my little sight...

-Disable the 'Go' button in appearance.

EP: I see no setting for that.

Preferences -> Navigator -> Select the buttons you want to see in the toolbars.

In Mail & News settings
-Enable 'Compact folders'
-Disable mail & news Mozilla welcome message
-Disable 'Compose message in HTML'
-If you're using a signature file, make this in the Composer part of the browser and not using an external word processor/editor. Do neither use HTML code in a sig file.

EP: I don't use Mozilla for mail or news.

It is good for both mail and news, - especially if you're using webmail and mailing lists and have to cross between both types. Then it's only one program to work in...

Generally settings
-Set cache size to at least 50mb for images and browser history
-Regularely clean cache files - either manually from the cache files folder inside the Mozilla folder or from the prefs settings.

EP: I use AppDisk 1.7.4 set to create a "virtual disk" of sorts, with
capacity 99.4MB (just over 100MB of RAM allocated to this app).
I point Mozilla to this area for use as a disk cache, with the cache
size set in Mozilla to 99328Kb. The contents of this virtual disk
are lost upon shutdown/restart, but I sometimes manually delete
the Cache folder that Mozilla creates inside it.

OK, seems fine... I don't know much about AppDisk, think I haven't been trying this since System 7.5.x...

system/file maintenace
-Regularely run Norton SpeedDisk 6.x or newer, - normally the mode COM+L for defragmenting files only is necessary. This because the Mozilla files for both web, mail and news files are very easily fragmented.

EP: I don't have any Norton utilities. Only Alsoft's DiskWarrior and
PlusOptimizer, and MicroMat's TechTool Pro. I run these every
Saturday morning, first thing.

Well.:-) that's the 'war' between TTP and NU.:-) - I prefer NU, maybe because I've been using it since the ver. 1.0 and know it as my pocket...

2-3 weeks ago I tried the TTP on my old Beige G3/1133mhz to see if I could rescue a disk without having to reformat it, but with no success. Then I switched to Norton Systemworks 3 and rescued the disk totally without loosing as much as a single byte. - And then of course I also used DiskWarrior to build a new directory. I also tried the TTP on my Gual G4/1,4ghz, which was 'cribbled' neither luck here too, but NS 3 did it - again...

-Never use Virtual Memory in OS 9.x.

EP: I would never dream of it, my friend!

:-)

-If you're prefering TechTool Pro, DONOT use the TTP antivirus protection. The TTP database in OS 9.x will be increasing in size and nearly never will be resized.

EP: Roger that. You taught me about this before, and I was using
FileBuddy to remove these files, which were always over 1MB in
size (sometimes several MB each). FileBuddy no longer works for
me, though, as the trial period has expired, and I can't fool the
app by deleting prefs or by changing the creation or modification
date of the app using ResEdit.

Hm, I think that your copy of FileBuddy has corrupted. Delete everything FB and then download and install the FileBuddy 6.1.8, which will still work on OS 9.x. FB 7 isn't so good for OS 9.x... Get 6.1.8 here:
http://tc.versiontracker.com/product/redir/lid/136418/filebuddy6.18.sit

-Do neither use TTP autoprotection enabled.

EP: I have disabled that function recently.

-For antivirus, do never use Virex 6.2. It has a nasty bug that sometimes will cause crashes in mailboxes. If you wanna use Virex, stay to ver. 6.1.
-Better will be to use Norton Antivirus 7.x or 8.x. (NAV 8.x requires at least OS 9.2.1). Set protection to standard and enable AutoProtect. Disable NAV scheduling hours and run it manually 2-3 times a week, when you first have let it run and build the database for further protection.

I don't use any antivirus sw at all.

Well, I'd not risk not using one, though the risk of getting a Mac virus is very, very small, but you could by unluck get one of those PC vira that is able to place itself inside your mail application address book and then resend itself using your address.

But the risk of getting these resending-vira is low, if you're not using either Outlook Express or Entourage. I have only had _1_ within 4 years now...

cheers, Erik Richard

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