tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133118005487757012024-03-14T07:20:27.579-07:00computer online tips & trickssarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13185213852587504132noreply@blogger.comBlogger442125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-58168125499358707272010-09-01T06:22:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:25:50.625-07:00How To View The Contents In Firefox Cache LocationsDo you know how many cache locations Firefox uses to store web pages and images?<br /><br />It turns out there are three locations, known as device’s that makes up the cache used by Firefox. They are Memory cache device, Disk cache device and Offline cache device.<br /><br />In case you are unfamiliar with the “cache”, it is a location that Firefox uses to store web pages, images, etc, that’s used to speed up loading and displaying web pages. So instead of downloading a page from a web site server, if the page has not changed, Firefox will check it’s cache and load the page if it exist.<br /><br />Now, you may not care much about what’s in the cache, but if you are having problems and need to check the content of the cache, Firefox provides a command that will display all locations.<br /><br />All you need to do is type the following command in the location bar (address bar) and press enter.<br /><br /> about:cache<br /><br />You will then see the following page with information about the three cache locations and how much space is in use.<br /><br />What’s useful about this information is that it shows you how much is in use and the maximum allowed storage, in addition to listed the directory location of the each cache (except for the Memory cache device). You will notice Firefox reports the size as KiB which stands for Kilobytes.<br /><br />To view the contents of a cache, click on the List Cache Entries link.<br /><br />To see more information about a link, click on it’s URL. (To view the link actual web page or image click on the link on the second page.)<br /><br />You will notice for the Memory cache, that images and your profile images (chrome) are stored, while the Disk cache is a mixed of pages, images, etc.<br /><br />You can separately clear the Disk and Offline caches by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+DEL and selected which items you want to delete.<br /><br />But you can’t clear the Memory cache. To do that you need to close Firefox and re-open it.<br /><br />Instead of doing that, if you are troubleshooting a problem you can force Firefox to bypass the cache and reload the page by pressing CTRL and F5 or press the SHIFT key and click on the Reload button on the navigation toolbar.<br /><br />While Fireox’s cache is not glamourous, knowing how to view it’s information can sometimes resolve strange problems with displaying web pages and keep you surfing the Net trouble free.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-58079445299002200062010-09-01T06:21:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:25:14.203-07:00How to using tabbed bookmarks in Safari and FirefoxA friend of mine was commenting today on a common scenario that a lot of us run into. When you’re actively working on a project, you often times have several tabs open in your browser solely related to that work: some API documentation, a couple versions of a site you are working on, a google spreadsheet, a project resource/status page, and things of that sort.<br /><br />When you change gears to work on something else, you might have another entirely different set of pages that you keep open all the time. If you juggle several projects at the same time, it can be a nuisance (not to mention a waste of time) to constantly be closing and opening all those windows throughout the day.<br /><br />This isn’t new news, but Firefox and Safari both have a really convenient and often overooked–feature built into their tabbed browsing and bookmarking functionality that makes managing groups of commonly viewed documents really simple.<br /><br />In Safari, just create and fill a folder in your bookmarks menu for each group of sites. When you open the bookmarks menu, in your project subfolder there will be a link titled Open in Tabs. Clicking that will open the entire folder’s bookmarks at once, each in a tab of the active window.<br /><br />Firefox makes it even easier. Just set up your tabs the way you normally would, then click on Bookmarks->Bookmark All Tabs. Firefox will create a new folder in your bookmarks menu and automatically import all of your current tabs to the folder. When you open the bookmarks menu, in your project subfolder there will be a link titled Open All in Tabs. This works just as you would expect, conveniently loading all of the documents in the bookmark subfolder.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-47130274858626432452010-09-01T06:19:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:24:46.006-07:00How to Use ISO Files in Windows XPIf you are running Windows XP, there is no standard support for ISO files. These files however are quite common as an alternative to installation CDs<br />or DVDs. An ISO file is basically an image of a CD or DVD. You can use CD Burning software to create a CD from the ISO file.<br /><br />But in many cases you might not want to write a CD-ROM or DVD from the ISO file, you simply want to access the contents while the ISO file resides on your hard disk. There are software solutions available for this, which create a virtual CD or DVD drive. You can then mount the ISO file as a drive and access the contents of the ISO file.<br /><br />Most of these software solutions however are commercial software, which means you need to pay for them. If you do not need the fancy user interface, you can also use a virtual cd-rom tool created by Microsoft. It is called the Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel, and can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.<br /><br />The downloaded file (60KB) is an installer, which you need to execute to extract the actual software. It will simply ask for a location to extract to, so select a path and click the Unzip button. Once done, click Close.<br /><br />extract files 300x187 How to Use ISO Files in Windows XP<br /><br />In the folder you selected for the extracted files, you will find 3 new files, a TXT file, a SYS file and an EXE file. Basically you now follow the instructions in the TXT file. We have outlined them here with some screenshots.<br /><br />1. Copy the VCdRom.sys file to your C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder (change the C: to the drive where Windows XP is installed).<br /><br />2. Next, double-click the VCdControlTool.exe file. This will bring up the control panel window.<br /><br />3. Click the Driver Control button.<br /><br />4. Click the Install Driver button. Now browse to the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder and select the VCdRom.sys file.<br /><br />install virtual cdrom driver 300x218 How to Use ISO Files in Windows XP<br /><br />5. Click the Open button.<br /><br />6. Next, click the Start button, and then click the OK button.<br /><br />7. Click the Add Drive button to create a virtual CD-Rom drive.<br /><br />8. Next, click the new drive so it is selected, and then click the Mount button. This will bring up a file selection dialog box.<br /><br />mount iso file How to Use ISO Files in Windows XP<br /><br />9. Locate and select the ISO file you want to access, and then click the Open button.<br /><br />The ISO file is mounted and you can access the content through the selected drive letter using the Windows explorer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-39870402569747018912010-09-01T06:18:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:23:47.054-07:00How to Switch From Internet Explorer to Mozilla FirefoxIf you’re tired of the slow downs and errors of Internet Explorer, then maybe it’s time to try something new, perhaps safer and more efficient. It’s a free web browser called Mozilla Firefox. It’s a good idea to have more than one web browser anyway; so why not give this one a try?<br /><br />Necessary Things: Computer with Internet access, Brief downloading knowledge, Access to Mozilla Firefox’s website<br /><br />1. Go to the website listed below in the Resources section (http://www.mozilla.com).<br /><br />2. Once there, click the large button on the screen labeled “download Firefox–free.” Then wait for the download to begin. A dialog box then appears that asks “would you like to save this file?” Click the “save file” button on the left.<br /><br />3. Once the file is downloaded, click install and follow the on screen step by step prompts. Your browser will restart with Google.com as your home page. If you would like to change this, go to “tools” on the top menu and select the “main” tab.<br /><br />4. Type in your new home page web address and click the OK button on the bottom of the screen to save this new address. The next time you open Mozilla, the page should automatically default to this.<br /><br />5. You won’t notice many differences in using Mozilla but you may not be able to access some websites that are not well-matched with Mozilla; so keep Internet Explorer around. The buttons may be a bit different, but you can still have all the tool bars on the top of it, such as yahoo and Google.<br /><br />6. your “favorites” are now known as “Bookmarks” and can be located under the Bookmarks menu. To save a favorite page, click “bookmarks,” and “bookmarks this page. You can also organize by placing it into a folder, alike to the process in Internet Explorer.<br /><br />7. HELP! Don’t worry, menus are virtually alike in this web browser as to Internet Explorer, but if do you get stuck, click the help menu and explore the choices beneath it. You can also search by topic if you are looking for something specific.<br /><br />8. Firefox also has a neat feature called “Foxmarks” where you can install an add-on, save a user name and password and then right of admission your favorites on any computer with Firefox by entering your username and password. This is an invaluable feature and built right in to the browser.<br /><br />9. MOST OFTEN USED FEATURES: If you would like to make the text size bigger, simply click the “view” menu on the top of your screen and then select “text size.” If you would like to go back to your starting page, just click the house on the top of the page. If you would like to cool down the page, hit the F5 key. The back and forward button functions stay the same. History is also the same. You can set the number of days, etc. and customize it to your needs. You can still save passwords inside the browser if that is something you prefer to do.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-56846543229628505912010-09-01T06:15:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:23:17.221-07:00How to Surf the Web AnonymouslyIf you wish to conceal your identity in real life, you need only to shove a paper bag over your head and alter your voice. Voilà, instant anonymity! But it’s not as easy to lurk in the shadows online a savvy surfer can dig up all kinds of information about you, from your name and address to your social security number. And it doesn’t take a sophisticated stalker to track you down; chances are, you’ve left behind a trail even a first year Boy Scout could follow.<br /><br />What You Need<br /><br />* Internet Connection<br />* XeroBank Browser<br />* Proxy IP Address<br /><br />1. Surf with an Anonymizer<br /><br />In the online world, a web proxy acts as your Internet agent and requests information from websites on your behalf. The website in turn communicates with the proxy, which then passes the information back to you. Meanwhile, your IP address stays concealed and the website has no idea how to get in contact with you directly.<br /><br />The easiest way to run with a proxy is through one of the many free websites offering anonymous web surfing. There’s no setup involved, and they all run right from your browser. But be warned: This convenience comes at the expense of speed, and not all websites play nice with proxies. Plus, if you choose a proxy at random, you could fall prey to a site designed to steal your information, not protect it. All proxy sites carry this risk, but Proxify (free, http://proxify.com/) has a good reputation, and its registration information matches a Whois lookup, providing a level of reassurance.<br /><br />Head over to Proxify and simply enter the web address of the site you want to view in the text box. Proxify also lets you select from three preconfigured options tailored toward maximum speed, security, or compatibility. If you think you can do better yourself, you can manually tweak the settings, opting to remove cookies, ads, scripts, and referrer information, or select any combination that best suits your surfing habits. You can verify that the proxy’s working its cloaking mojo by visiting www.whatismyipaddress.com and making sure it’s not broadcasting your real IP address.<br /><br />2. Manually Configure a Proxy<br /><br />Using a free online anonymizer can be a boon when you want to surf stealthily without any setup hassles, but you sacrifice speed and functionality. Some services impose a steady stream of advertising, and almost all of them throttle your connection speed or refuse to work during peak usage. Subscriptions are available, but why pay a fee when you can manually configure your browser to hide your identity for free?<br /><br />To get a list of available proxies, navigate to http://tinyurl.com/p0pj. Here, you can sort proxies by various criteria, but pay special attention to the IP details, which include information about HTTPS (SSL) support and uptime percentages. It’s possible for a hacker to set up a proxy as a trap, so treat these IPs as anonymous connections—not secure ones on which you’d enter bank account or other personal information.<br /><br />With the IP address and port in hand, Internet Explorer users should click Tools and select Internet Options. In the Connections tab, click the LAN settings button. Check both boxes under the Proxy server heading, input the IP address and port you just recorded, and save your settings.<br /><br />Proxy_Setup<br /><br />Both Firefox and IE7 make it easy to configure yourbrowser to use a proxy, but you may need to periodically change the IP address if the server goes offline.<br /><br />If you’re running Firefox, click Tools and select Options. Click the Advanced icon, select the Network tab, and click Settings. Highlight the Manual Proxy Configuration radio button and input the IP address and port. Before exiting, be sure to check the box that reads “Use this proxy server for all protocols.”Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-14649488602510709262010-09-01T06:14:00.001-07:002010-09-01T06:22:45.012-07:00How to Setup firefox for kmailFirefox with its default configuration does not integrate well with kde . Now you will see how to setup firefox as default client in the following two cases<br /><br />1 ) Clicking on a email link in a webpage should create a new email with kmail.<br /><br />Start firefox and type the following in the url bar: about:config<br /><br />A big table with configuration options will appear in the main browser window.<br />Look for the item network.protocol-handler.external.mailto and make sure its value is set to true. The value is the right most piece of text in the row for that item. Right-click on that line and select “toggle” in the pop-up menu to toggle if necessary.<br /><br />Now, do a right-click again and select New -> String. A window will appear, asking you to set the name of the new config item, set it to network.protocol-handler.app.mailto and and click OK to confirm. A second window will appear to ask for the value of the config item. Type kmail into its text field and confirm again.<br /><br />Now, if you click on an email link on a webpage (in the status bar, that is the bar at the lower end of the firefox window, you will see something like mailto:test@test.com) kmail should fire up with a new email to that address.<br /><br />2 ) Clicking on a weblink in kmail (and other kde apps) should open and load the link into firefox.<br /><br />This can be configured by changing one kde setting. Depending on the kde version you have there may be different ways to get to that kde settings window we need.<br /><br />For kde 3.4.2, click on the System button in the control panel, it is the one right next to the blue K button in the control panel.<br /><br />A pop-up menu appears, select Settings. A new konqueror window will appear showing the contents of the settings:/ directory. Select KDE components -> Component Selection. This will open the kde control center module we need, appearing in a new window.<br /><br />There is a list at the left site of that window, select Web browser and click on the lower button in the main section of the window, named in following browser. The text input field below the button will become active, type mozilla-firefox and click the OK button to confirm the setting.<br /><br />From now on, links in emails etc. should be opened in firefox.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-87508512940347615912010-09-01T06:14:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:22:14.105-07:00How to run Microsoft Update using FirefoxThe IE Tab extension lets you switch between Firefox and IE rendering. Once installed, I had no trouble using the IE Tab add-on to run Microsoft Update. According to Mozilla’s Web site, the IE Tab works with Firefox versions 1.5 through 3.0a5. I used it with 2.0.0.6.<br /><br />To install the IE Tab, go to the add-ons site using the above link. Choose Install Now. The installer will restart Firefox when finished or prompt you to do so before the changes will take effect.<br /><br />To add the IE Tab button to your Firefox Toolbar, right-click the toolbar and choose Customize. Drag the IE Tab icon and drop it where you want it. When clicked, the IE Tab button will swap rendering engines.<br /><br />Once you’ve done this, you can use Firefox with Scheduled Tasks in XP; however, keep in mind that only administrators can install updates. The scheduling steps are slightly different from the ones provided in the last issue:<br /><br />Step 1: Choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scheduled Tasks.<br /><br />Step 2: In the Scheduled Tasks window, double-click Add Scheduled Task.<br /><br />Step 3: In the Scheduled Task Wizard, click Next. Then click Browse.<br /><br />Step 4: Select Mozilla Firefox from the list. If you don’t see it, use the Browse button to locate Firefox.exe and click Open.<br /><br />Step 5: In the next step of the wizard, select Monthly and click Next.<br /><br />Step 6: Specify a start time. Select the second radio button and specify the second Tuesday. Leave all months checked. Click Next.<br /><br />Step 7: Enter your account name and password for an administrator account. Click Next.<br /><br />Step 8: Check the box for opening advanced properties and click Finish.<br /><br />Step 9: When the Firefox Properties dialog box opens, click at the end of the line in the Run box. Type a space followed by the URLs for each tab you want to open, separated by spaces. For example, when you’re done, the finished command should read something like this:<br /><br />“C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” www.update.microsoft.com secunia.com/software_inspector<br /><br />Step 10: Click OK. Enter your account name and password again, if prompted. Click OK.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-72009737275202032922010-09-01T06:13:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:21:39.732-07:00How To Reduce Firefox Memory UsageFor most users, Firefox doesn’t use an abnormally large amount of memory. For others, however, Firefox’s memory consumption is a major problem. Typical Firefox memory usage reported by Windows is around 50-100 MB, with virtual memory usage at 100-150 MB. These numbers will vary because Firefox is configured by default to use more memory on systems that have more memory available and less on systems with less.<br /><br />1. System Extensions<br /><br />WindowBlinds can dramatically increase memory use. To continue using WindowBlinds and Firefox without memory issues, add Firefox to WindowBlind’s exclusion list.<br /><br />2. Download History<br /><br />Firefox can slow down or hang if the download history is allowed to accumulate. Clear the download history (you may need to exit Firefox and delete the file “downloads.rdf” from the profile folder in some cases) and change this setting to solve the problem:<br /><br />Tools -> Options -> Privacy and uncheck “Remember what I’ve downloaded”<br /><br />3. Restarting Firefox<br /><br />If you find that Firefox’s memory usage continues to grow after long periods of being open, you may want to consider periodically restarting Firefox to bring the memory usage back to reasonable levels. The Session Manager extension allows you to close Firefox while maintaining the pages you have open.<br /><br />4. Firefox Memory Cache<br /><br />By default, Firefox does not use a fixed size memory cache – it uses a percentage of system memory. Setting a fixed size memory cache can often reduce memory usage – 4 or 8MB is sufficient in most instances.<br /><br />a. In your Firefox address bar, enter the following text: about:config<br /><br />b. Scroll down to the entry titled browser.cache.memory.enable and make sure the Value is set to true. If it’s not, double-click anywhere in the browser.cache.memory.enable line and the status will change to True<br /><br />c. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu<br /><br />d. Enter browser.cache.memory.capacity in the New integer value pop-up box<br /><br />e. You’ll need to enter a number in the Enter integer value, but that number depends on how much memory you have (specifically, how much you want to “give” Firefox). If you have 256MB or less RAM, enter 4096 as the value. If you have 512MB of RAM, enter 6144 or 8192. If you have 128MB or less RAM, you may want to consider upgrading – memory is getting very inexpensive.<br /><br />f. Confirm that the new entry has been created and the integer value is correct<br /><br />g. If for any reason you wish to restore the default settings, change the browser.cache.memory.capacity integer value to -1 (that’s minus one).<br /><br />5. Memory Usage Upon Minimize<br /><br />This is how to reduce the memory usage when you minimize your Firefox.<br /><br />a. Type about:config in Firefox address bar and press Enter<br /><br />b. Right click in the page and select New > Boolean<br /><br />c. Type config.trim_on_minimize in the box that pops up. Press Enter<br /><br />d. Select True and then press Enter<br /><br />e. Restart Firefox.<br /><br />What it will do is, when each time you minimize your Firefox, the memory usage will dramatically drop down to 10Mb but then it will slowly increase up to 50Mb. When you maximize it back, it will stay on 50Mb or maybe 70Mb.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-5299671938762047382010-09-01T06:12:00.001-07:002010-09-01T06:21:08.219-07:00How to Really reduce the memory usage in FirefoxAfter the release of Firefox 2.0, the memory leak has become an even more notorious problem than before. On average, Firefox should take up no more than 80MB of RAM. Any more than that and you can consider yourself a victim of Firefox’s memory leak. I’m sure you’ve probably already seen a ton of guides on how to fix the memory leak problem in Firefox already. The reason why I’m writing another one on Vista Rewired is because none of those have worked very well for me. This one will be a little different because I’ve added a few of my ingredients in.<br /><br />Just to give you a heads-up, this guide is going to be quite long but it’ll cover everything you need to know.<br /><br />Before we do anything, make sure you have the newest version of Firefox. If you don’t have the latest version, you can<br /><br />1) Check your extensions and themes:<br />The most common cause for high memory usage for Firefox usually lies in the extensions and themes. If you overloaded your Firefox with extensions, you can expect high memory usage. Uninstall the ones you don’t need, and update all the ones you will be using. After that, you’ll first want to consult this list of problematic extensions that could be causing the problem. Make sure none of the extensions you are running are on that list.<br /><br />After comparing with that list, if you still have the problem, it could be the result of a newly installed theme or extension. Experiment with shutting down suspicious extensions or switching themes.<br /><br />2) Start Firefox in Safe Mode<br /><br />If one of your extensions is not in that list, boot Firefox into Safe Mode to disable all extensions and themes. You can do this by going to Start > Run, and entering:<br /><br />firefox -safe-mode<br /><br />A box similar to the one below should appear.<br /><br />Check Disable all add-ons, then select Continue in Safe Mode. Now, compare the RAM usage of when Firefox had it’s add-ons enabled and when they were disabled.<br />You can expect a difference of a couple megabytes since the extensions have been disabled. But if you notice a large difference in RAM usage, this may suggest a problem within your extensions or theme.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-14465853487931831162010-09-01T06:12:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:20:51.812-07:00How to open multiple home pages at startup in Mozilla firefoxIf you are frequent web browser ,a blogger or a freelancer if you are in any web related profession then you must be spending around at least about 1-2 hours on web.<br /><br />Why open multiple pages at start in mozilla firefox ?<br /><br />Now every minute of your’s is important so it’s you to decide how you can optimise and speed up your repeated browser activity in order to make the most efficient use of your time .<br /><br />Lets assume that you have a medium speed internet connection and you use firefox every time so, if you have to open intial web sites every time before you start work like open email , dash board of your wordpress blog, google reader etc<br /><br />So if you want to open multiple pages at the start up..<br /><br />1. File menu>>tools>>options<br /><br />2. click on the Main tab.<br /><br />3. In the Home Page TextBox, Type For Example www.gmail.com |<br /><br />4. click okUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-48008311419682530492010-09-01T06:11:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:19:32.920-07:00How to make Firefox look and feel like IE, Safari, or OperaOne of the biggest complaints a Firefox evangelist encounters is “it doesn’t act or feel like browser X.” Internet Explorer users complain that Firefox doesn’t look like what they’re used to. Opera, Safari, and Netscape users complain that it’s missing many of their favorite features. And the social networking gurus point to the powerful social networking features Flock boasts and Firefox lacks. However, all these users overlook one of the most powerful features of Firefox: support for third-party add-ons, which can make emulating the features of other browsers extremely simple.<br /><br />Making Firefox look and feel like Internet Explorer 6<br /><br />One of the most popular browsers (and the most popular browser for non-techies) is Internet Explorer (IE) 6. When you’re converting relatives to Firefox, IE 6 will most likely be what they’re used to.<br /><br />If you want to make an inexperienced Windows users comfortable with Firefox, you’ll first want to make Firefox look exactly like IE. To do this, install the Looks Familiar theme. It will change the toolbars, icons, address bar, search bar, tab bar, and throbber to look exactly as they do (or in the case of the search bar, would do) in Internet Explorer 6. If you’re extra picky (or like a good joke), install the Firesomething extension to change the browser’s title to “Microsoft Internet Explorer” (or “Mozilla Internet Explorer” or “Microsoft Firefox”).<br /><br />Once you have everything looking just right, you can give Firefox the features of Internet Explorer 6. First, make Firefox mask as Internet Explorer 6. Install the User Agent Switcher and then configure it by going to Tools -> Options -> Add-Ons and clicking the Preferences button for User Agent Switcher. Go to the User Agents tab, click Add…, make the User Agent Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1), the App Name Microsoft Internet Explorer, the Version 4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1), and the Platform Win32.<br /><br />Making Firefox look and feel like Internet Explorer 7<br /><br />If your wannabe geek claims that Internet Explorer 7 fixed all the Internet Explorer 6 vulnerabilities (he must not have been around when the first vulnerability was found six days after the launch), you can save him from himself by installing Firefox with a few add-ons.<br /><br />One of the main upgrades found in Internet Explorer 7 is the skin. Personally, I think it’s atrocious unless you’re running it under Vista, but for those who like it, the myFireFox skin will give a basic Internet Explorer 7 feel.<br /><br />Next, add some IE7 functionality to Firefox. The first step is to install the Firefox Showcase extension, which will display thumbnails of all your open tabs in one page. It will even work with the showcase button in the myFireFox skin. Additionally, you’ll want to use the aforementioned User Agent Switcher to change your user agent to Internet Explorer 7. The setting is built into the add-on; just select it from the drop-down menu.<br /><br />The only other tool that IE7 adds is a nice RSS reader, but Firefox’s Sage RSS reader is even nicer. It boasts RSS and Atom support, style sheets, bookmarks integration, and tons of languages.<br /><br />Making Firefox look and feel like Opera<br /><br />The first step is to make Firefox look like Opera. Kagematuri has a wonderful theme for this purpose, hosted at Im Suden’s blog.<br /><br />One of the newest features in Opera 9 is Speed Dial, which lets users add up to nine pages to a quick loading launcher. Envious Firefox users can stop drooling and download the Speed Dial extension. Once it’s installed, users can access their favorite sites from the provided portal or with a keyboard shortcut.<br /><br />One thing I hate in Firefox is that it has a really weak zoom. Unlike Opera (or even Internet Explorer 7), it only zooms text, not images or any other media. That’s where PageZoom comes into play. It will zoom images, Flash videos, and more.<br /><br />Quite possibly the most touted feature in Opera is the sidebar. Firefox users can get similar capabilities with the All-in-One Sidebar, which lets you view pages, source code, downloads, add-ons, page info, an error console, and as many toolbar buttons as you could wish for.<br /><br />One of the most useful Opera security tools is the wand, which when clicked automatically enters the username, password, and other form data. To do that in Firefox, try Secure Login.<br /><br />A real timesaver in Opera is that browser’s use of mouse gestures, which work like hotkeys for your mouse. Luckily, a Firefox user came up with a similar tool called Mouse Gestures (Firefox users can be so uncreative). You can go backwards and forwards in your browsing history, close tabs, make new tabs, and do much more just by moving your mouse.<br /><br />With Opera 9 and above, you can have your browser read a Web page using text-to-speech conversion. If you miss that feature, try out Fire Vox. It requires quite a few non-Firefox programs to run (see the guide for more information), but it does a great job.<br /><br />Another nice little feature that Opera had is a widget engine. Frankly, I find it useless; I think widgets should be on the desktop as opposed to in a browser. But if you like widgets, try out Firefoxit, which allows you to run drawing pads, sticky notes, Gmail notifiers, and other little applications within Firefox.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-74892575019925610872010-09-01T06:08:00.008-07:002010-09-01T06:19:12.819-07:00How to make Firefox load pages fasterHere are a few steps to making your firefox browser a little faster. Firefox comes preset for dial-up users, but can be optimized for better performance if you have a faster connection. This is for users with at least a broadband connection.<br /><br />Things You’ll Need:<br /><br />* Firefox browser<br />* High speed connection (not dial-up)<br /><br />Step 1:<br /><br />Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return.<br /><br />Step 2:<br /><br />Scroll down and look for the following entries: network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests<br /><br />Step 3:<br /><br />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 means it will make 30 requests at once.<br /><br />Step 4:<br /><br />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 it acts on information it recieves.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-40225684991229443772010-09-01T06:08:00.007-07:002010-09-01T06:15:37.601-07:00How to Double Firefox SpeedFirefox is in my opinion the best browser ever made until now. It includes:<br />-improved tabbed browsing<br />-pop up blocking<br />-integrated Goggle search<br />-enhanced privacy controls<br />-built-in phishing protection<br />-online spell checking<br />-lots of themes, interfaces, and extensions/addons<br /><br />Mozilla Firefox officially supports:<br />-Microsoft Windows<br />-Linux<br />-Mac OS X<br /><br />Unofficial Support:<br />-Free BSD<br />-OS/2<br />-Solaris<br />-SkyOS<br />-BeOS<br />-XP Professional x64 Edition<br /><br />Now here are some Tips&Tricks that can help you double the speed of Firefox.<br /><br />1. Type about:config in the address bar and then press Enter.<br /><br />2. In the filter search bar type network.http.pipelining. Be sure the value field is set true,if not double-click to set true.<br /><br />HTTP is the application-layer protocol that most web pages are transferred with. In HTTP 1.1, multiple requests can be sent before any responses are received. This is known as pipelining. Pipelining reduces page loading times, but not all servers support it.<br /><br />3. Go back to the filter search bar and type network.http.pipelining.maxrequests. Double-click this option and set its value to 8.<br /><br />4. In the filter search bar and type network.http.proxy.pipelining. Once opened double-click on it and set it to true.<br /><br /><br />5. In IPv6-capable DNS servers, an IPv4 address may be returned when an IPv6 address is requested. It is possible for Mozilla to recover from this misinformation, but a significant delay is introduced.<br />Type network.dns.disableIPv6 in the filter search bar and set this option to true by double clicking on it.<br /><br />6. CONTENT INTERRUPT PARSING<br />This preference controls if the application will interrupt parsing a page to respond to UI events. It does not exist by default.<br />Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Boolean from the pop-up menu. Then:<br /><br />A. Enter content.interrupt.parsing in the New boolean value pop-up window and click OK<br /><br />B. When prompted to choose the value for the new boolean, select true and click OK.<br /><br />7. Rather than wait until a page has completely downloaded to display it to the user, Mozilla applications will regularly render what has been received to that point. This option controls the maximum amount of time the application will be unresponsive while rendering pages.<br /><br />Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.<br /><br />A. Enter content.max.tokenizing.time in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK<br /><br />B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 2250000 and click OK.<br /><br />8. CONTENT NOTIFY INTERVAL<br /><br />This option sets the minimum amount of time to wait between reflows. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.<br /><br />A. Type content.notify.interval in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.<br /><br />B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 750000 and click OK.<br /><br />9. CONTENT NOTIFY ONTIMER<br /><br />A. This option sets if to reflow pages at an interval any higher than that specified by content.notify.interval. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Boolean from the pop-up menu.<br /><br />B. Type content.notify.ontimer in the New boolean value pop-up window and click OK.<br /><br />C. You will be prompted to choose the value for the new boolean. Select true and click OK.<br /><br />10. Notify Backoffcount<br />This option controls the maximum number of times the content will do timer-based reflows. After this number has been reached, the page will only reflow once it is finished downloading. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.<br /><br />A. Enter content.notify.backoffcount in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.<br /><br />B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 5 and click OK.<br /><br />11. CONTENT SWITCH THRESHOLD<br />You can interact with a loading page when content.interrupt.parsing is set to true. When a page is loading, the application has two modes: a high frequency interrupt mode and a low frequency interrupt mode. The first one interrupts the parser more frequently to allow for greater UI responsiveness during page load.<br /><br />The low frequency interrupt mode interrupts the parser less frequently to allow for quicker page load. The application enters high frequency interrupt mode when you move the mouse or type on the keyboard and switch back to low frequency mode when you had no activity for a certain amount of time. This preference controls that amount of time. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.<br /><br />A. Enter content.switch.threshold in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.<br /><br />B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 750000 and click OK.<br /><br /><br />12. NGLAYOUT INITIALPAINT DELAY<br />Mozilla applications render web pages incrementally, they display what’s been received of a page before the entire page has been downloaded. Since the start of a web page normally doesn’t have much useful information to display, Mozilla applications will wait a short interval before first rendering a page. This preference controls that interval. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.<br /><br />A. Enter nglayout.initialpaint.delay in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.<br /><br />B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 0 and click OK.<br /><br />Thanks ubuntugeek.comUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-10777905407747163352010-09-01T06:08:00.006-07:002010-09-01T06:14:59.686-07:00How to Disable Smart Location Bar in Firefox 3After days of tweaking my new Firefox 3.0, I found out that one so-called top new features of Firefox is not so pleasing Smart Location Bar or the Awesome Bar.<br /><br />The Smart Location Bar is just too “smart” to an extent that it saves my viewed browsing history without my knowledge! The auto complete feature is fine with me but I would still prefer the old Firefox 2.0 way in handling my addresses. I tried to disable this “smart” option via the Option menu but there is no direct way to do it. So, I have to do it the indirect way via about:config or with a help of an extension.<br /><br />OK, here is how:<br /><br />Remove only bookmarks results from the list<br /><br />To to this, you can just use Hide Unvisited extension to get the job done. What Hide Unvisited does is hide bookmarks that you haven’t visited from showing in the Awesome Bar.<br /><br />Completely disable the Smart Location Bar (Disable auto complete list)<br /><br />You need to do it via about:config. This is how I do it:<br /><br />1. Go to the about:config page via the location bar by typing about:config and hit enter. You will get a warning message like the one below, just untick “Show this warning next time” and click “I’ll be careful, I promise!” to proceed.<br /><br />2. Search for browser.url (using the Filter) and you will see these two preferences browser.urlbar.matchBehavior and browser.urlbar.maxRichResults. Set both preferences value to -1 by double clicking on it.<br /><br />3. You are done!<br /><br />Now exit and restart your Firefox and you’ll get back you old address bar!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-63567397414095297522010-09-01T06:08:00.005-07:002010-09-01T06:14:33.500-07:00How To Clear Your Private Data In Firefox For WindowsOpen Your Firefox Browser<br />There are many things that Internet users want to keep private, ranging from what sites they visit to what information they enter into online forms. The reasons for this can vary, and in many cases they may be for a personal motive, for security, or something else entirely. Regardless of what drives the need, it is nice to be able to clear your tracks, so to speak, when you are done browsing.<br /><br />Firefox for Windows makes this very easy, allowing you to clear the private data of your choosing in a few quick and easy steps.<br /><br />First, open your Firefox browser.<br /><br />Select “Clear Private Data” From the Tools Menu<br /><br />Click on Tools in your Firefox menu located at the top of your browser. When the drop-down menu appears, scroll down and click on the Clear Private Data choice.<br /><br />Please note that you can use the following shortcut keys in lieu of clicking the menu choice: Ctrl+Shift+Delete<br /><br />Clear Private Data Dialog<br /><br />At this point, you will see the “Clear Private Data” dialog box overlaying your browser window. The user is given several options at this point regarding what types of data he or she would like to delete. If the box next to a menu option is checked, that particular data type will be cleared upon clicking the Clear Private Data Now button.<br /><br />It is imperative that you are aware of what each one of these choices means prior to doing anything here, or you may wind up erasing something important. The list in the following step gives a clear explanation of each item shown.<br /><br />- Browsing History: Browsing history keeps a record of all web sites that you have visited. You can view this record by choosing History from the Firefox menu.<br /><br />- Saved Form Information: Anytime you enter information into a form on a website, Firefox stores some of that data. For example, you may have noticed when filling out your name in a form that after typing the first letter or two your entire name becomes populated in the field. This is because Firefox has stored your name from entry in a previous form. Although this can be very convenient, it can also become an obvious privacy issue.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-83171192213501602932010-09-01T06:08:00.004-07:002010-09-01T06:13:36.046-07:00How To Avoid Hacker Attacks On FirefoxSecurity problems with Microsoft’s dominant Internet Explorer browser<br />helped pave the way for Mozilla Firefox to emerge as a perfect alternative for Web surfers.<br /><br />However, Firefox users should be aware that hackers can exploit software flaws and design features to launch drive-by attacks.<br /><br />Following are steps to disable various features in Mozilla Firefox. Note that some menu options may change between versions or may appear in different locations depending on the host operating system. You should adapt the steps below as appropriate.<br /><br />The following configuration changes, can disable various features and set up the browser to run in a secure state, limiting the damage from malware attacks.<br /><br />To get started, select Tools, then Options.<br /><br />firefox<br /><br />You will then see an Options window that has a row of categories along the top. The first category of interest is the General category. Under this section, for instance, you can set Firefox as your default browser.<br /><br />firefox<br /><br />Under the Privacy category, you can select the Cookies subcategory. Here you can disable cookies or change your preferences for how the browser handles them. In general, we recommend enabling cookies for the original site only. Additionally, by enabling the option unless I have removed cookies set by the site, a web site can be “blacklisted” from setting cookies when its cookies are removed manually.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-30916995401471729892010-09-01T06:08:00.003-07:002010-09-01T06:12:52.860-07:00Hidden Browser in Windows XPEver been on PC where Internet Explorer was blocked? One solution would be to use a portable version of Firefox on a USB drive, or you can access a hidden browser in Microsoft HTML Help program if removable media is not an option. This was tested on Windows XP SP2 with Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7.<br /><br />1. Open calculator. You can do this quickly with Windows button+R on your keyboard, type calc in the run box, click OK.<br /><br />2. In Microsoft Calculator go to Help -> Help Topics.<br /><br />3. Now right click on the left hand side of the title bar and click on Jump To URL...<br /><br />4. Type in the URL including the ‘http://’ and off you go. Repeat to visit other sites.<br /><br />Essentially this is Internet Explorer embedded inside of the HTML Help application. Adobe Flash isn’t working in my hidden browser, but a quick visit to Adobe took care of it. Take care and look for my post in the near future on how to block Internet Explorer from running on your Windows PC.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-52451515429278730422010-09-01T06:08:00.002-07:002010-09-01T06:12:28.841-07:00Google Extensions for FirefoxFirefox is one of the most popular browsers on the Internet because it was the first application that provided tab browsing, being regarded as the most powerful rival for the classic Internet Explorer. As you probably know, Firefox is a well developed browser that provides support for themes and extensions, tiny tools able to increase the functionality of the application. Some time ago, Google released Toolbar for Firefox, an interesting add-on for Mozilla’s browser meant to add a popup blocker for the program as well as quick access to Google’s services.<br /><br />If you didn’t know, Google owns a separate page to present the most interesting extensions selected by the company’s employees and able to enhance the performance of the products developed by the search giant. Although at this time there are only 4 Firefox extensions available, the search giant really wants to promote the add-ons to access the Google services faster.<br /><br />“Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions,” Google says in the description of the Google Browser Sync extension.<br /><br />In the past, Google also tried to create an optimized version of the Microsoft browser and bundle it with the products developed by the company. At that time, the search giant designed a separate page for Internet Explorer optimized for Google that was very similar with the one published by Yahoo for its own version of the browser. The giant portal Yahoo criticized Google for its lack of inspiration, sustaining the website was built by the company’s employees so it’s not possible that Google used a template.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-65113356764178123272010-09-01T06:08:00.001-07:002010-09-01T06:11:46.171-07:00Go Faster FirefoxFirefox has been our browser of choice since it first appeared, and very good it is too, especially when it comes to security, it’s also pretty fast when first installed but it does have one big failing, and that’s a gradual slow down in boot up and page load over time It’s all down to your user profile databases becoming fragmented, it happens and there’s usually not a lot you can do about, or is there?<br /><br />If your copy of Firefox has become sluggish try this little utility, called SpeedyFox. Click the Speed Up My Firefox button and in less than two shakes it gives all of your profile folders a thorough shake up and spring clean.<br /><br />Startup can be up to three times faster, your browsing History will appear in the blink of an eye, and behind the scenes web pages that rely on cookies should load lickety-split.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-15658694260204037552010-09-01T06:08:00.000-07:002010-09-01T06:10:48.932-07:00You Are Here: Home » Firefox » Give Firefox an Adrenalin Shot with Preloader Give Firefox an Adrenalin Shot with PreloaderFirefox may be my browser of choice but there are times when it is REALLY slow, so slow in fact that I am sorely tempted to defect to Opera or even gasp Safari!<br /><br />It’s sometimes even worse when you’re opening up Firefox. You click on that little Fox icon and it sits there thinking “hmmm….he wants me to start up…will I or won’t I? Let’s think about it for a few minutes”. Meanwhile you’re sitting there gnashing your teeth and flirting with the idea of walking on the wild side with Flock.<br /><br />But you don’t have to wail and despair any more! During a little stroll through SourceForge, I found an interesting program called Firefox Preloader which was short on technical details but long on prospects. It claims to be able to “improve Firefox’s start-up time”.<br /><br />Now at this point, you’re probably very cynical about anything that claims to be able to speed up Firefox. After all, a quick Google search on “optimizing Firefox” or “speed up Firefox” brings back countless hits (some of them totally useless) and often, messing around with the “about:config” section of Firefox can harm the browser more than it can help it. So I didn’t immediately fall head over heels in love with Firefox Preloader. I too had my healthy dose of scepticism. However, overwhelming curiosity won the day and I decided to see if it really did work.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-21603358657088956172010-08-28T03:33:00.000-07:002010-08-28T03:39:51.762-07:00Forgot Your Favorite Web Site Password<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioom-_7CbE_BFpm8MOH3slXILUAExT_HQy64UibmH9CxS-RYrNpNPBF72j-tJ-ObOl76GB-egexu0tWXzp08mc3Ji8So1zYURaNRgXcN-bgClfvN9oThqvc5gG27ezKVsuEp-oz5LWoTV2/s1600/ffpassmgr-300x204.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 204px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioom-_7CbE_BFpm8MOH3slXILUAExT_HQy64UibmH9CxS-RYrNpNPBF72j-tJ-ObOl76GB-egexu0tWXzp08mc3Ji8So1zYURaNRgXcN-bgClfvN9oThqvc5gG27ezKVsuEp-oz5LWoTV2/s400/ffpassmgr-300x204.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510408436469958354" border="0" /></a><br /><br />How many times has this occurred? You find a great web site, but it requires an account before you can access the site. So you create the account, password and secret question and let FireFox remember the account information. Time goes by and your at work or on another computer, and decide that you want to visit that great site, but can’t remember the password.<br /><br />Sure you can have the site email your password, but it also wants you to answer the secret question. Now what? Time to dig into FireFox Password Manager….<br /><br />Just go to Tools, Options and click on the Security Tab then click on Show Passwords (version 2.0 shown below) or View Saved Passwords (version 1.5 not shown) button.<br /><br /><br />You will see two columns, one for the Site and another for your Username. To view your passwords, click on the Show Passwords button and answer Yes to show your passwords.<br /><br />The third column will list all passwords that have been saved…including the web site that you forgot!<br /><br />Password Manager is a handy tool to use, but keep in mind, there are some potential security issues you should be aware of:<br /><br />* Never let anyone access your computer un-attended. Doing so, will give them access to your account info as shown above.<br /><br />* Make sure you are running the latest stable version of Firefox included any security updates.<br /><br />* If you keep backups of your Firefox profile, keep it secure since Password Manager stores the data in a file. Although it is difficult to read, it’s not impossible to crack.<br /><br />* Don’t use Password Manager for personal or banking/credit card sites (some banking/credit card sites by default don’t give you the option).<br /><br />* Use “Password Never Saved” setting in Password Manager for sites you don’t trust or do not want to save passwords.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-58362012524365218232010-08-28T03:30:00.000-07:002010-08-28T03:33:09.072-07:00Five Firefox TipsThe thing I like best about Firefox is that just when you think you know everything there is to know about the browser, something new comes along and surprises you.<br /><br />I discovered five new Firefox tips today. Maybe these are old hat and you know them already. Or maybe like me, you had no idea these could be done.<br /><br />1. Quick search – without going to a search engine first.<br /><br />Are you reading a website and you subsequently discover a word or phrase that you want to put into a search engine? Up until now, I would just open a new tab, type in the URL for Google and manually type the word or phrase in. But it seems there is a faster easier way.<br /><br />Just highlight the word or phrase with your mouse’s left-click button. Then drag the highlighted text into the address bar in the browser. Then press “enter”. Firefox will now perform a “Are you feeling lucky?” Google search for you.<br /><br />2. Delete visited URL’s<br /><br />When you drop down the box underneath the address bar, you can see your recent browsing history. But what if you want to remove one URL from that list? Maybe you’ve been looking at a naughty site and you don’t want your girfriend to know? Or maybe you’ve been shopping for your loved one online and you want to keep it a secret?<br /><br />Just drop down the URL box, highlight the URL you want to zap then press the “delete” button on your keyboard. The URL will then be removed from the list.<br /><br />3. Navigate to browser tabs using the keyboard<br /><br />Instead of using the mouse to click on a tab, why not use the keyboard instead? Pressing CTRL + TAB together will bounce you from tab to tab, starting from the one in the far left and working its way along. Or if you want to go to a specifc tab straight away, you can do that too. CTRL + 2 will take you directly to the second tab from the left. CTRL + 5 will take you to the fifth tab from the left.<br /><br />4. Start downloads instantly<br /><br />Instead of right-clicking on a download link, choosing “save to target” and pressing enter, just drag the download link to the “downloads icon” in the toolbar. The download will start automatically.<br /><br />5. Grab files off webpages, even protected webpages<br /><br />Have you ever wanted a picture, file or video off a webpage but you can’t, because it’s been protected? Just right-click on the page, choose “View Page Info” then the “media” tab. Find the file you’re looking for from the list and click on “save”. (note : this doesn’t work for everything but I have still had a pretty high success rate nonetheless).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-8188548131272088502010-08-28T03:29:00.001-07:002010-08-28T03:32:49.560-07:00Firefox, now on TVIt’s remarkable enough that the Internet has come so far that an ad about a browser isn’t out of the ordinary, but it’s even more remarkable that these ads were made by Firefox fans off their own back, and paid to air by the same.<br /><br />It all started last year when the Mozilla foundation started the Firefox Flicks campaign, in an effort to drive grass-roots support and generate short, fan-made, 30 second clips. Naturally, these could be shared across the Net and drive awareness for the browser.<br /><br />The program was so successful over 200 entries were submitted, and while there are plenty that wouldn’t have a hope of seeing the light of day, some are actually quite well made and genuinely entertaining.<br /><br />The full list of entrants starts here and includes funny and humorous entries including this one that actually cracked me up. You’ll also find the bizarre, ninjas (can’t go wrong there), the clubby, the crazy, the animated, and I swear I know people like this. There’s even an Aussie themed entry. Take a coffee break now and watch these, I guarantee you’ll they’ll make you smile.<br /><br />Recently, the foundation also asked for support to actually pay for four of these to be screened on prime time TV, including on MTV and the ESPN sports channel, with a $10US donation and the chance to have your name up in lights by being included in each ad if you got in quick. And quick they came, filling the named positions and securing the money to air the most popular ads, which you can find on the Firefox Flicks Backstage page. The ads are expected to air some 20,000 times over the next six weeks.<br /><br />This isn’t the first time Mozilla has galvanised the community to get involved. At the release of Firefox 1.0, adverts in the New York Times were paid for by 10,000 Firefox fans, who each got their named included in the advert. You can see the results in this PDF of the advert here.<br /><br />Entertainment aside the Firefox Flicks are interesting on other levels — that users can be inspired to participate in the marketing of a (free) product, that the browser war is (like most things) fought more in the minds of users than their PCs, and that all these considerations aside I just can’t get it out of my head that anyone would ever be inspired to do the same for IE. And it’s not about if it’s a better or worse browser, it’s simply that Microsoft isn’t cool.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-80401911706378583132010-08-28T03:29:00.000-07:002010-08-28T03:32:27.561-07:00Firefox Tips you May Not Know AboutEvery day I find new Firefox tips and tricks that I didn’t know about and then I find out that other people didn’t know about them either. So here’s what I discovered recently to make you more of a Firefox power-user. Some of them are useful keyboard shortcuts to keep your hand away from that mouse, and others are just regular tips to optimize and improve your use of Firefox.<br /><br />KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS<br /><br />firefoxsearchenginebar.pngCTRL and K – moves your cursor up to the search engine plug-in box. Once you’re there, CTRL and the up / down arrows on your keyboard will jump from search engine to search engine.<br /><br />CTRL + SHIFT + T – re-opens the last closed tab.<br /><br />SPACEBAR : scrolls down the webpage you’re on.<br /><br />SHIFT and the SPACEBAR : scrolls up the webpage you’re on.<br /><br />F11 – removes the browser bars and makes the webpage full screen. Press F11 again to go back to normal.<br /><br />CTRL + T – Opens a new tab window.<br /><br />REGULAR TIPS<br /><br />viewmenufirefox.pngRemove toolbars from the browser without uninstalling them : sometimes you need a toolbar to disappear as it takes up too much space on your browser. But at the same time, you will need that toolbar at some point and so you don’t want to uninstall it. Well, you can temporarily hide it by doing the following :<br /><br />Go to View then Toolbars. Untick the toolbar you want to disappear and then it will be gone. To bring it back again, go back to View, Toolbars and re-tick it. The toolbar will then re-appear.<br /><br />ffcalc.pngUse your Google search plug-in as a calculator : you can do this already on the normal Google page and you can also do it in the Firefox search plug-in. Just enter your numbers and mathematical symbols from your keyboard number-pad and the result will be shown in the search suggestions box. Of course you will already have the Windows calculator installed on your computer but if you have Firefox already open, you may find this facility a little more convenient.<br /><br />firefoxpassword.pngReveal saved passwords in Firefox : I don’t use the saved passwords function in Firefox as I am totally paranoid about online security but there is apparently a javascript code you can enter into the Firefox address bar to reveal a saved password in Firefox. Having the browser save your passwords is all well and good but this can make you forget the actual password eventually since you are not typing it in every day. So if you need the actual password for any reason, just input the following code into the address bar and the password will be revealed in a pop-up boxUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-813311800548775701.post-82858935274795438642010-08-28T03:28:00.001-07:002010-08-28T03:31:59.711-07:00Firefox Split into Multiple ProcessesFirefox 3.5 was shipped to the general public on June 30th, 2009, and now Mozilla is turning its attention to the next iteration of the open-source browser. Upcoming versions of Firefox will share a feature with rivals Chrome and Internet Explorer 8. Essentially Mozilla is looking to implement an enhancement designed to effectively split the browser into multiple processes. In this regard, the Electrolysis project has already kicked off, as Mozilla’s Benjamin Smedberg revealed in mid-June, 2009. If all goes according to plan, displaying web pages will be a task split between multiple processes, in future versions of Firefox. At the same time it’s not just about the web content; the graphical user interface of the browser and the plugins that expand Firefox will also be getting their own separate processes.<br /><br />“There are several possible benefits of using multiple processes: Increased stability: if a plugin or webpage tries to use all the processor, memory, or even crashes, a process can isolate that bad behavior from the rest of the browser. Performance: By splitting work up among multiple processes, the browser can make use of multiple processor cores available on modern desktop computers and the next generation of mobile processors. The user interface can also be more responsive because it doesn’t need to block on long-running web page activities. Security: If the operating system can run a process with lower privileges, the browser can isolate web pages from the rest of the computer, making it harder for attackers to infect a computer,” Smedberg explained.<br /><br />Electrolysis is already up and running. In fact Mozilla’s Chris Jones revealed that the phase 1 browser was almost complete in June. Jones even posted a video showing just how a flavor of Firefox with multiple processes would function. The video in question is available for download and viewing. But users can already get a good idea as to what this feature does by running Google Chrome or Internet Explorer 8. Both browsers separate web content by processes. In this regard, each page opened in a browser tab runs in its own process, meaning that it can be controlled independently from the others and from the browser itself. In this regard, Mozilla is trailing behind rivals Google and Microsoft.<br /><br />Still, while Chrome and IE8 might have a head start, fact is that Mozilla has a shortcut available to try and catch up. Mozilla developers “have borrowed the IPC message-passing and setup code from Chromium. We even have some very simple plugins loading across the process boundary. For the moment we’re focusing on Windows and Linux, because the team is most familiar and comfortable on these environments,” Smedberg added.<br /><br />Mozilla is looking to wrap up phase 1 of Electrolysis by 15 July and phase 2 by November 2009. Phase 3 will be synonymous with shipping, but a deadline was not offered for it at this time.<br />Firefox 3.5 Final for Windows is available for <a href="http://download.softpedia.com/dl/7adf5eb02914cbec3f2a8d035d39b347/4a55c848/100005787/software/internet/browser/Firefox%20Setup%203.5.exe"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">download here</span></a>.<br />Firefox 3.5 Final for Linux is available for <a href="ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/3.5/linux-i686/en-US/firefox-3.5.tar.bz2"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">download here</span></a>.<br />Firefox 3.5 Final for Mac OS X is available for <a href="http://download2us.softpedia.com/dl/5df38ddeb475cd74610fa79ed793c7f3/4a55c8aa/400003007/mac/Internet-Utilities/Firefox%203.0.11.dmg"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">download here</span></a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0