Here are some very simple FireFox configuration changes which do seem to speed things up, and more than just a little bit:

1. Type "about:config" into the address bar (no spaces) and hit Return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

--network.http.pipelining
--network.http.proxy.pipelining
--network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request at a time to a Web page. When you enable pipelining, the browser will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. (This tells the browser to make 30 requests at once.)

3. Lastly, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before acting on received information.

The PC Magazine does point out that some think setting your maxrequests to 30 is equivalent to 'server raping'. However, even modest values (like the 5 I'm using) do see some serious improvement in page-loading speed.

(Hat-tip to Babies & Bylines)