Firefox Tips: Refresh Firefox Webpage Content Without Clearing Cache & Disable Automatic File Scanning after File Download

Mozilla’s Firefox has gained much traction and becomes one of the most famous web browsers that flavored by users due to its easy customization with extensions/themes and around 6000 add-ons available for public. Here I would like to share two simple tips – i. Reload web page without clearing cache and ii. Disable automatic file scanning after file download that intend to make the web browsing a much pleasurable experience in daily life.

Tip 1: Reload web page without clearing cache
Occasionally, you may experience the webpage content doesn’t change even after you have clicked the refresh button. This could be due to the browser trying to retrieve the data kept in local cache instead of getting from server. Instead of closing all open web browser entirely and re-launch it, or clear the cache, you can actually bypass the checking from cache. Press CTRL + F5, Firefox will request the data from server directly. Now you should see the webpage being refreshed with the latest data once after the shortcut key is entered.

Tip 2: Disable automatic file scanning after file download
When you download a file, Firefox will scan the file automatically once the file is completed downloading. This feature is good to protect your PC from virus attack. However, it may take longer time to download the file if the file size is huge. If you have an up-to-date anti-virus installed, probably you can consider disabling this feature to get faster downloading speed. To disable file scanning, type about:config in address bar then press enter. Click “I will be careful, I promise!” button. On filter bar, type browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone, you will see the Boolean value set as true by default. To change the value to false, just double click on the entry.