Stop Security Checks to Speed Up Downloads in Firefox


One of the most important features that Mozilla Firefox has focused on is the security aspect of the browser. After every download that you trigger using Firefox, there is a security check that runs an anti-virus utility to ensure the security of the data on your computer . This, in some cases, causes the speed of file downloads to reduce considerably since every download has an independent virus check done on it. If you need to download many files then this may act as a hindrance since you will have to approve every individual download.

  • Click on the address bar and type in ‘about:config’.
  • There are chances that you might  be redirected to a page that will ask you to confirm your actions. On the warning that appears,
  • Click on ‘I’ll be careful, I promise!’.and you will see a list of preferences.
  • Narrow down your search by typing ‘browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone’ in the filter bar.
  • A single value is displayed in the ‘Preference Name’ column.
  • Double click on ‘browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone’ preference to make the ‘Value’ change to ‘False’.
  • The changed value is reflected in bold text.

Henceforth, these security checks will stop bothering you every time you download a file. However this is not recommended these days as there is a possibility that the file downloaded may contain malicious code and this can force you to compromise on the security of the data saved on your computer.

Filed under: Firefox
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May 15, 2009 by: Prasanth Chandra

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