Google Speeds Up Results for Firefox

By Nate Mook | Published March 31, 2005, 11:03 AM

Software engineer Reza Behforooz announced Wednesday on the Google Blog that the company has added "prefetching" to some searches, which instructs the Web browser to automatically start downloading the top result. The feature is only available in Mozilla and Firefox, and can be optionally disabled.

By prefetching the destination site's content, users that click the top search result will find the page loads much faster. Sites that want to block or ignore prefetch requests can do so by configuring their Web server. Google notes that with prefetching, "you may end up with cookies and web pages in your web browser's cache from web sites that you did not click on."

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

just another form of "download accellerator" to me, people have nbo complaints against those so why whine about allowing prefetch?

Score: 0

|

Is this what Mozilla developer do after hired by Google?
I think they better to make better mozilla. so more user use the mozilla first. and then make improvements in google side.
just my 2c

Score: 0

|

Firefox lets you delete the cookies after every use if you are paranoid about that. That is how I set my privacy settings. It is the option "Keep cookies:" and then I select "until I close Firefox", instead of "until they expire."

While this sounds like a great feature for most users, my net connection is 10Mbps+ so the prefetching would go unnoticed anyway. Keep up the good ideas google.

Score: 0

|

I'm not sure if this is such a good idea. Lots of "non-legit" companies cheat the system already by ensuring they have a high page rank - I wouldn't want my browser to start downloading pages automatically! Cookies etc placed on your HDD even though you don't visit the site?

No thank you!

Score: 0

|

you probably have a heavy paranoya or something like that :)

Score: 0

|

I can see this being a semi-good option for users with slow connections and low patience levels, but as far as I'm concerned, I'd just as soon wait the extra 5 seconds for a page to load that to run the chances of having unnecessary files placed on my computer. Then again... I'm very VERY picky about what is placed on my machines.

Score: 0

|

I you don't like it, then disable the function.

Being a dial-up user, I would probably use it. But then again, maybe I won't. I'm still waiting for the page to load either way, so I don't really know what I'd do. Maybe I'll try it out for a few days, then see how it goes.

Score: 0

|

The fact that you have cookies but don't visit a site lessens the actual usefulness of someone using a cookie to track you. Think about it. If you have 100 cookies from visiting one site and you never visited the site, no useful information could be attained from that. It actually helps you mask data mining.

Score: 0

|

Cookies are not dangerous you now. And if you really are paranoid, you can alwayas set the option to delete all cookies when you close the browser.

Score: 0

|

What about if an illegal site is loaded into your browser cache without your knowledge which is brought up in a court case at a later date and you are prosecuted for looking at whatever the illegal stuff is, i.e. dodgy adult material if you know what I mean.

Score: 0

|

Not really. They (the computer guys who would check your computer) would know if you downloaded it on purpose or not. You shouldn't need to worry about them checking you unless you've done something illegal :P

Score: 0

|

Report: Microsoft to randomize Europe's browser screen choices

The fact that "A" is for "Apple" was apparently at the heart of browser vendor objections to Microsoft's alternative to listing IE first.

Acer eclipses Dell for #2 spot in global PC shipments, says iSuppli data

It literally does look like a 360-degree turnaround in Dell's fortunes, as the bells of bad tidings now toll solely for Dell.

Microsoft, don't hang up on Windows Mobile, but do call for help

Only a Manhattan Project can save Microsoft's phone strategy now.

See ya later, WinMo: Microsoft's mobile strategy needs a reboot

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: Hands up if you're considering upgrading to a Windows phone for the holidays...Anybody?

Playing catch-up in 2010: Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Symbian

Microsoft, RIM, and Nokia are each working on improved mobile operating systems. But could these efforts add up to too little, too late?

Will Nokia's plans further alienate American consumers?

A look at Nokia's plans for the coming years does little to shine up the company's increasingly dull image.

Bing bonked by service outage Thursday, Microsoft configured the wrong server

It's always nice to have a backup, but it's even nicer to remember which one is the backup. That's the lesson Bing's admins learned yesterday evening.

Survey reveals there are more women then men, including on social networks

If you think you can market your products and services online as though you're selling car batteries in the middle of halftime, think again. And again.

Android team updates 'Donut' and 'Eclair' SDKs

The Android SDK includes components which optimize app development for each version of the mobile operating system. Today, the 1.6 and 2.0 components got updates.

The Black Screen Syndrome, or, Tech news in search of the apocalypse

Scott Fulton On Point: This is a story about something that should not have been a story, about something that at one time was a story.

Online advertising evolves away from display, toward interactive software

Marketing departments and agencies are increasingly establishing positions for "creative technologists" who can steer designers and developers toward platforms that enable direct connections with consumers.