Firefox 101

[woody]

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

For those who are unaware, Firefox is a FREE browser for your Windows system. It not only runs faster than IE, but has a number of features that can REALLY enhance your online experience, AND make that experience more family-friendly.

Once you have the browser installed and running, click Tools > Extensions ...this popup window will show you those extensions you have installed...if you just loaded Firefox, this will likely be a blank window.

I personally recommend a few:

First and foremost...AdBlock. This is a great little package. It effectively blocks images/ads/etc from being seen...for instance, if the little smilie is offensive to you, you can right click that image, select "AdBlock Image" and "ok" and that image will never show again, throughout the forum. Same goes for avatars you may find offensive, etc. Lots of possibilities here, and very user friendly.

2nd up....Tabbrowser Preferences. Some tweaks and features which allow all your browsing to occur in one window, with tabs for all links. Very slick, cleans up your taskbar nicely.

3rd....IE View. Unfortunately, Firefox occasionally gets issues with some video feeds and some bank-type links and secure pages...with this extension installed, you can right click a link and the last option in the box will be "Open Link Target in IE" Great for those times when a page doesn't appear right in Firefox.

I run a few others too, but these three are the biggies. You can find any of these by clicking the "Get More Extensions" link....most of the ones I run are top-10 recommended.

I've been a long-time IE user, and have regularly run AdAware and Spybot to clean up those tracking files that occur from banner ads and such....since I've made Firefox my normal browser, those programs almost never find any problems with my computer. It's helped keep the system clean and running smoothly.

[hj60]

Been running it for months.
Try to upgrade to latest stable, when I think of it.
hates it, tho.

I don't get popups.
I don't get nearly as much spyware.
And as a former long time Opera user, I dig the tabbed window feature.

[e9999]

switched too.
works fine.
One thing though is bugging me. In IE if I had a page I wanted to keep open, I'd call a new same one (CTRL-N) and that one would stay open so I can view it easily later. With FF that does not work, it does not give me a new page with the same site that can keep. It gives me an empty page or tab... Any way around?

[T Y L E R]

Yeah .. you either have to close all the other windows individually, or have the forsight to right-click-open in new window.


TY

[WALoeIII]

Originally Posted by e9999

switched too.
works fine.
One thing though is bugging me. In IE if I had a page I wanted to keep open, I'd call a new same one (CTRL-N) and that one would stay open so I can view it easily later. With FF that does not work, it does not give me a new page with the same site that can keep. It gives me an empty page or tab... Any way around?

I'm pretty sure thats configurable, I'd install the Tab Browser Extensions, they let you do A LOT more. I have my FF configured so that everything is in one window (this is a big change for somone coming from IE, but I hate non-tabbed browsing now). What you can do is have it so that new tabs load the current page, or your home page, or a blank (my case). This way you find something you want you click it into a new tab (center click or whatever you have it set at) and then keep your flow going, including back button etc and the page you want to keep is in a new tab. Browsing in a new window messes that up.

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

I've been using Firefox on my IBM Thinkpad for a year now and it works awesome!

I only use IE for websites that are not configured for Firefox.

Regards,

Alan
Seattle

[projektdotnet]

FF Works great. Been using it for somewhere around a year now. I tend to lean towards the beta versions though because I like the new stuff.

[my64fj40]

Also a FF user and love it.

The one extension I really like that I didn't see mentioned is called cooliris.

It is a neat little tool that lets you preview links. Just put the cursor over the link and a little icon comes up beside and then when you then go over that it shows a whole preview of the page in the link.

Here is a pic of what the preview would look like when you put the cursor on the link woody has above.

And once you move your cursor off the preview it goes away.


Great for reading entire threads without having to click on them and then go back to the section and then click on another thread, because you never have to leave that section page.

[Larr75fj40]

If you're a computer tech you'll prefer Fire Fox but I woulldn't recommend it for the common user. Had too many issues with mine. It would work great for a year and then it was like someone put sugar in my tank!

[rubirnr]

Also from CoolIris, who brought you the Preview extension

PicLens | Immersive Slideshows Across the Web

This is an amazing photo viewer that works with compatible web sites, such as Google Image search and Flickr.

It really changes everything.

Best regards

[1loudLX]

Originally Posted by rubirnr

Also from CoolIris, who brought you the Preview extension

PicLens | Immersive Slideshows Across the Web

This is an amazing photo viewer that works with compatible web sites, such as Google Image search and Flickr.

It really changes everything.

Best regards

I couldnt have described it better. thanks for this link, I love doing google image searches...you just made me 100x more efficient!