Mozilla Firefox

[ls1 nova]

Just downloaded Mozilla and it seems to be lightning fast compared to internet explorer. Anybody know why this is or am I just imagining things?

[zbugger]

That's just how it is. I've been using it for I've lost count of how many years.... It's also safer than IE, and has a bunch of very cool features.

[ls1 nova]

Any input to any of the add on I should install?

[Young Gun]

for some reason when I installed firefox my spyware blockers started finding more adware, still thought it was great!

[1969CamaroRS]

NoScript is a good one, disables all scripting unless you white list the site.

Sage is pretty nice for reading RSS feeds, thou I like google's RSS reader better.

ForecastFox is a pretty cool weather add on.

IEView lets you view a link in IE (case you ever wonder if maybe the site worked in IE)

Adblock Plus is a must have. No more Web ads!

[Sparky67]

NoScript is a good one, disables all scripting unless you white list the site.

Sage is pretty nice for reading RSS feeds, thou I like google's RSS reader better.

ForecastFox is a pretty cool weather add on.

IEView lets you view a link in IE (case you ever wonder if maybe the site worked in IE)

Adblock Plus is a must have. No more Web ads!

Foxmarks Bookmark Sychronizer - If you use Firefox on more than one computer, you'll want Foxmarks. Install Foxmarks on each computer, and it works silently in the background to keep your bookmarks and (optionally) passwords synchronized.

Jeff

[zbugger]

I also use FoxyTunes. It allows you to control your music program through the browser. I control my iTunes through it while I'm browsing the web.

[TonyL]

CustomiseGoogle. It changes the format of results and gives you a preview of the page before opening it.

IEtab for those sites that NEED to run in Internet exporer.

The StumbleUpon toolbar, for if you never want to sleep. Ever again.

Note: if you're a firefox noob, set it "open in a new window" rather than a new tab. You'll find you mean to close the tab you're looking at and close lots of open windows. It always bugged me.

Themes are another FRICKEN sweet thing about firefox. I run AREO Fox. it's a black colored dark browser with shiny buttons. Looks cool.

[wiedemab]

I can barely browse without "All-in-one Gestures" It allows you to right click and drag forward and backward in place of the forward and back arrows.

I'll second Forecast Fox. CoolIris is neat for browsing pics. I also have

IETab
FireFTP - for putting pics on my server for the forums
Better Gmail - just a different look and feel for Gmail
Image Zoom - this one allows you to right click (hold right click) and use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out on any picture.

IE is a "use only when required item"

[Roger M]

Themes are another FRICKEN sweet thing about firefox. I run AREO Fox. it's a black colored dark browser with shiny buttons. Looks cool.

I use that them as well. It would be nice, however, if there were more than just the 2 themes.

[Mathius]

Firefox is great. I've been using it for years, back when it was just Mozilla.

If I have one complaint, it's that it does tend to have a lot of memory leaks between the different versions that can really hog your resources.

The current upgrade seems to be doing quite well and I haven't had issues in a while, but some of the last few were pretty bad.

One way to tell is to hit "Ctrl + Alt + Del" and bring up Task Manager (in Windows XP this works anyways) and take a look at how much memory Firefox is using compared to other processes. Sometimes the difference can be astounding.

Anyways, it's a great browser overall. I have loved the tabs since day one. I understand IE now has them, but Mozilla did it first.

A lot of times I will just middle click and open a new tab instead of following a link, so that I don't get taken somewhere I don't want, or have trouble finding a page again. I do this in message boards a LOT. I'll open the main forum, but open the individual threads in tabs. I'll read them one by one and close them, but then I can go back to my original thread and be right back in the main forum. Very useful to me, to keep track of which threads I've actually read and which I haven't.

Also if a thread is particularly good, I'll just leave it in a tab, and then if I come back in a day or two, I can look at it and refresh instead of trying to locate the thread or subscribe to it (which some boards won't let you do).

Also, I know all browsers have a history now, but I'm not sure they all have the "recent history" menu that Firefox does. It's great when I accidently close a tab and didn't want to. I just go into that little list and pull it up real quick without opening up my whole history window. The best part is, when you open a "recent history", it keeps track of your forwards and backwards history for that tab as well.

So if you happen to be looking for a page you were at, and close the tab by mistake, you can still open it again, and hit backwards and go back where you were.

Mathius

[WS6]

man I've been using Firefox for years and had no idea I could do custom things and add ons to it. Do you just go to Mozilla for them?

[Roger M]

man I've been using Firefox for years and had no idea I could do custom things and add ons to it. Do you just go to Mozilla for them?

For Add-ons, just click on tools and then add-ons.

[BonzoHansen]

I have spent the day doing a fresh software&OS install. Decided to go with FF. So far so good.

"If I have one complaint, it's that it does tend to have a lot of memory leaks between the different versions that can really hog your resources."

I had that same issue with the last versions of Netscape, which i thought used the same bones. So I guess I'll see.

[Surfer]

IE sucks donkey balls, the worst though is IE Mobile, what a pos. I have Firefox and Netscape even though Netscape was cancelled earlier this year, I still really like the browser. Plus with my business I may have multiple things going on and tabs, and Firefox always seems to bleed memory like a mofo. I know searching online theres a lot of complaints with that. With my biz I may be on the computer the whole day doing things and I've compared it to Netscape, the memory bleed on Firefox was nutz. edit - funny someone just mentioned the memory leak issue, yeh I have a pretty powerful laptop and the only time it will slow down is if I'm doing a bunch of stuff on FF, I can do double the work with different things running on Netscape and nowhere near as bad as a resource hog. But both blow away IE, night and day difference.

I'm surprised you just got FF, I think I've had the versions of FF over the last 4-5 years?

[Mathius]

Wow. I had no idea Netscape was still around.

So far this year I've heard people speak of Opera and the new Google Chrome, but I think it's been 10 years since I've heard anyone speak of Netscape.

Mathius

[BonzoHansen]

Netscape is dead - development was halted this year IIRC

[deadjed]

Firefox rocks. I like the wood-grain browser plugin.

[BA.]

Just to clear the air, I had read that the known memory issues in older versions of Firefox are now FIXED in Firefox 3.

Maximum PC did a thorough test on it.

[BonzoHansen]

Good. I have not had an issue with the new FF for the week or so I've had it installed.