Firefox, page 2

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Firefox also supports extensions –– add–on programs –– which can be easily installed to provide functions that individual programmers thought would be neat additions. As I’m writing this, there are 138 extensions available through a link on the Firefox home page and 38 different themes that can be used. Again, these are totally optional.

Want to have an Amazon.com search bar? Download the extension. Developing your own websites –– download the Web Developer Toolbar for lots of easy debugging of your HTML and CSS files. Want the Google Toolbar –– download it, or just the Autofill extension. Want to zoom images bigger or smaller, download the Image Zoom extension. Want or need to lie to a website to tell them you’re running I.E.? Download the extension.

Or, don’t do any extensions –– they aren’t necessary and it’s all up to you.

Firefox also has an easy way to add additional functions to the web browser. Called "Extensions," you can find a large number of great (and also trivial) Firefox Extensions by clicking on Tools, Extensions. These are the ones I normally use.

Cost

– FREE! And no built–in advertising. /*

Installing Firefox

• Download Firefox at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox
• Install (and uninstall) are straight forward.

My Recommended Firefox Options (Tools/Options)

• Set your home page to wherever you want
• Downloads –– "Ask me where to save every file"
• Web Features –– enable Java and JavaScript,
• click "Advanced" –– then, change the JavaScript options if needed. I suggest these settings
  
• The defaults of the two "status bar" options are now "off" as they should be. I also suggest disabling the ability of website javascript code to change the right–click popup menu.

Recommended Firefox Extensions

• You can find an extensive, but not complete, list of Firefox Extensions on the Firefox page at Mozilla.org or go directly to their Firefox Extensions page here.
• Scot Finney, of Scot's Newsletter, has an excellent list of recommended Firefox Extensions on his webpage at http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/best_of/firefox.htm
• In Firefox, you can click on Tools / Extensions, and then click the bottom right–hand corner where it says "Get More Extensions." This will send you to the Firefox Extensions page at Mozilla.org.
• You can also find other Firefox extensions by web searching.
• I like these following Firefox Extensions: ImageZoom, PrefBar, PrintIt!, IE View, Tabbrowser Preferences, StumbleUpon and ResizeSearchBar.
• If you do web development (personal or for others), you will find the ColorZilla, Web Developer and SearchStatus extensions very handy.

Issues

• VERY FEW compatibility problems. Usually it means the website didn’t write their code to W3C standards. More probably, it means the site uses the security–challenged ActiveX technology.
• You still have to use I.E. for Windows Updates. ActiveX again.
• Very few public websites actually require IE. Remember that Tech Support at your bank, stock brokers, ISP, etc. only know how to work with IE because the company doesn't want to support multiple browsers. If a site doesn’t work with Firefox, then try IE. Call and solve the problem with IE. Then, once your connection works, you switch back to Firefox again.

OBLIGATORY SECURITY COMMENTS

• Always run a firewall, preferably a two-way firewall (I use and recommend the Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall) even if you use dial–up!
• Always run an anti–virus program (at least the free AVG version from www.grisoft.com). My choice is NOD32
• My anti-spyware program of choice is CounterSpy, which provides real-time, always-running anti-spyware/anti-adware control and provides scheduled, deep system scans.
• Occasionally run Ad–Aware and/or Spybot Search & Destroy to remove spyware.
• Scanning occasionally with a different anti-virus program and a different anti-spyware program is a good idea. BUT, only use the "on-demand scan" function of the second program -- if you try to run two always-running anti-virus programs at the same time, they'll fight each other and slow down your computer. The same thing can happen with anti-spyware programs.
• I also like a neat program called WinPatrol that watches for programs that set themselves up to run automatically, for changes in your Hosts file, and even for changes in your I.E. homepage. Controlling is easy with WinPatrol -- but deciding which you need to control is the problem, no matter how you do it. I recommend spending $30 for WinPagrol Plus, you get online access to their programs database that describes and recommends the action to take on the programs and services. You also get a few more program functions.
• Run an anti-spam program, such as Mailwasher Pro to trap and handle spam -- Mailwasher Pro handles the spam while it is still at your ISP's mailserver, before it ever gets to your Inbox. If you want to download the spam and still handle it pretty much automatically, I use and recommend PopFile (free, http://popfile.sourceforge.net/)

Read more security comments in depth in my Computer Security Software Recommendations.

 

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