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Being in web development – nothing irks me more than slow web browsers. I typically use Google Chrome (because of its rendering speed and the javascript engine which is written into the browser) but during any web development the “IE Clan” of browsers still accounts for some 70% of the market and therefore development and testing on it is a must. When I upgraded my browser sometime ago to the latest IE8 – I was astounded by the sheer lag of the browser on Vista Ultimate when loading pages, new tabs and even just in starting. Because I don’t really use the browser regularly – it has never really bothered me – but more recently I have been doing some testing on it, and the slow response time is just so painful.

Luckily, I have discovered a solution that improves IE8 Speeds hugely on my PC – regsvr32 actxprxy.dll - from the command prompt. This command re-registers the ActiveX Interface Marshaling Library – which controls ActiveX/COM object interfaces – or in normal English translation – allows your PC  to load IE faster. This results in seriously increased performance and therefore with some other minor tweaks – allows you to have a smoother IE8 experience. To get it all happening simply follow these steps in Vista:

1. Press the Start Button and type into the Search Bar – cmd.

2. It will appear under the Programs list, and you can right click on it and Run as Administrator.

3. A new black window will appear with the command line window on c:\Windows\system32>.

4. Type into this window regsvr32 actxprxy.dll

5. A prompt should appear with DllRegisterServer in actxprxy.dll succeeded. Click OK & Restart your PC.

6. You can stop here – but if you don’t notice any improvements continue.

7. Once restarted open IE8, go to Tools –> Internet Options –> Advanced –> Reset (this will reset browser to default settings)

8. Close & Restart the Browser and you will go through the Welcome to IE8 screens again – here is where you need to adjust things:

• Select Suggested Sites – No
• Select Custom Settings
• Set your Default Search Engine (Google, Yahoo or Bing)
• Select Yes to Updates
• Select Turn Off Accelerators
• Select Smart Screen On
• Select Compatibility View Off

9. Once this is done, you should see some serious improvements in your browsing and rendering experience :)

Drop a note in the comments if this has worked for you!

If you are into Social Media and the Internet – the Facebook.com/Vanity-URL experience is – or speaking in past-tense was - a must  for you. On the 13th June 2009 at approximately 2PM Melbourne, Australia (GMT+10) – Facebook opened their service to include Vanity Urls – that is, instead of the old “facebook.com/profile.php?id=123456789” – you could now have “facebook.com/YourName“. If you still haven’t done this, you need to goto www.facebook.com/username/.

The response was unbelievable – more than 500,000 names were registered within the first 10 minutes. Lucky for me, I was able to secure the exact name I wanted – which makes things much easier now to tell everyone where to find me on Facebook. Unfortunately, for the millions of users who did not login when the process began – most, if not all, of the common English name associations would be taken inferring – much like emails – that you will have to have a combination of letters and numbers and wont be able to secure the name you want.

My name is common with more more than 1000 other people around the world – so having to be quick off the mark was pretty essential. Luckily – the exact name I wanted was not one of the “suggested” names or combinations – so I had to select more “Choose your Own Name”. My trick was that I had previously setup “Copy/Paste” for my name, so I was able to quickly hit Ctrl+V on this field and then select the “Set Username” – meaning that I was luckily enough to get in immediately – while more than likely, another Tim Davis around the world was typing the exact name. I was in all likelihood – only milliseconds ahead.

Now you may be reading this post thinking “you are such a nerd” – but for me – having an easy-to-remember facebook URL makes life so much simplier. I can tell friends, family, colleagues and business associates where they can find me on Facebook without forcing them to remember combinations of letters and numbers – which often get lost, can’t be remembered and could result in lost opportunities. Considering that once a name is set – it can never be changed - I don’t necessarily think it was such a bad thing to be online for and secure a little piece of Facebook real-estate.

If you secured the name you wanted, drop a note in the comments :)