I tried starting in Safe mode, but that showed surprisingly little difference. Perhaps a second. I killed Kasperksy, and much the same, though I wondered how Kasper was haunting its way back as even getting into the start menus via msconfig, it seemed to re-tick itself while I wasn't looking.
My i7 W7 64bit with 6 gigs is a little faster. A second, perhaps.
I wondered about Google being my FF front end. I don't want anything but that when I start FF, but I'm aware Google is probably trying to seek my great-grandparents details while it loads the front page.
I suddenly realised that I know of no way to have a totally blank lower screen when firing up FireFox.
Oh, by the way, I had one heck of a job getting into Safe Mode. F8 didn't work whenever I pressed it. Not in ten goes. msconfig route seemed the only way.
Alternatives to 'pure' FF? I'm listening, but in all other respects, I'm making good use of that browser. My Bookmarks Toolbar is my window to the world, with for example, PPRuNe's different sub-forums all being listed for direct access under one button.
Like a lot of old fogies, I hate change, but can't tolerate the six second delay any longer.