# Firefox

Firefox is the most customizable browser on the planet. Firstly, you can add additional buttons to your toolbars and arrange them as you want by going to 'View', 'Toolbars' and then 'Customise'. Also, to keep things simple, Firefox has been designed to only contain the features that most people use. Users then add the more unusual features that they want through Extensions, small add-ons that add new functionality to Firefox. Below you will find a selection of the best extensions that can be installed from this CD, but there are many more available on Mozilla Update (online). They can add anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature. There are extensions for almost anything imaginable and you are sure to find ones that make the Internet easier and more enjoyable for you. They can seem confusing at first but once you try out a few you will soon find them easy and useful.

### How to install and configure

To install extensions you must be viewing this webpage using Firefox. If you aren't already, double click the Mozilla Firefox icon on your desktop and copy the address of this page into Firefox. Now simply scroll down the page and click the Install button next to the extensions which sound interesting. Note that to activate extensions, you must close and then restart Firefox. If you want to see a list of the extensions you have installed, go to the Tools menu and select Extensions. There you can easily uninstall, disable or change the settings for all of your extensions. Some extensions require you to set them up. If so there is usually an entry for them in the Tools menu.

### Our top selection of Extensions

#### Adblock

Adblock is a content filtering extension that helps you avoid irritating ads on webpages that you visit. When first installed Adblock needs to have filters applied to work. You can create your own but for your convenience we have included a set of filters. If you want to use these just click Tools > Adblock > Preferences and when the window opens click Adblock Options and select Import filters then go to My Computer, select the CD drive, then choose "Filters.txt". This should reduce the most intrusive ads on the internet.

#### All-in-One Mouse Gestures

This powerful and addictive tool can speed up your browsing a lot. After installing simply right click anywhere on the webpage and holding down the mouse button, move it slightly to the left or right then let go. This will take you back to your last page or forward to the next without having to move your cursor up to the buttons. You can use them for other functions such as reload page (Up-Down) or New Tab (Up). Soon you'll be trying to use mouse gestures in all your programs! More detailed instructions available here (online).

#### FoxyTunes

Do you listen to Music while surfing the Web? FoxyTunes allows you to control your favorite music player right from Firefox. All you need to do is tell Firefox what music player you are using. After installing this plugin simply click on the red note button (as in picture) in the status bar of your browser (the line at the bottom of the screen) then choose Player and Select and tell FoxyTunes which player you want it to control.

#### SessionSaver

Ever needed to close Firefox or reboot your computer but didn't want to lose all of the websites you had open? SessionSaver ensures that every time you start Firefox (even after a crash!) you continue browsing from where you were the last time Firefox closed. You can also save the current set of open websites to bring them up again later. Options available under Tools then Sessionsaver.

#### ScrapBook

ScrapBook is an extension which helps you to save web pages and easily manage collections. Very useful in research especially if webpages are changing, you want to look at pages while offline, or you need to produce a bibliography of all the pages you used. You can also do searches. After installing, go to 'View', 'Toolbars' and then 'Customise' and drag the 'Scrapbook' icon into the toolbar then click it. To save a page, right click in it and select Capture Page. More information available here (online).

#### Tabbrowser Preferences

This extension is an enhancement for the basic tab controls provided in Firefox, allowing you to customise tabs more. If you don't know what tabs are, read about them here. It replaces the existing user interface with a new, more visible user interface. You can access the new options in Tools, Options then Tabbed Browsing.

### Also suggested

#### Bug Me Not

Sick of having to register to read articles on websites such as The New York Times? Don't want companies knowing your personal details? With Bug Me Not installed, you just right click in the form where you are meant to enter your username, click BugMeNot, and the program goes to its database of submitted usernames and passwords and uses one of them to log in for you. If it doesn't work first time try again, or create your own false account and submit it at www.bugmenot.com.

#### Context Search

This extension allows you to highlight a word, right click it and then use it to search on any of your stored search engines. This is great for quickly looking something up in the dictionary, or seeing if it's available on Ebay, as in the picture.

####
Download Manager Tweak

The Download Manager Tweak extension streamlines the current Firefox download manager. The extension allows the Firefox download manager to be opened in a separate window, the sidebar, or a tab. The extension also modifies the default appearance of the download manager to make it more concise and intuitive.

#### FlashGot

Useful if you often download a lot of things using an external download manager (such as FlashGet, Free Download Manager, Fresh Download or GetRight). Download managers generally download faster and make sure that you don't have to start the download again if you get disconnected or close Firefox. FlashGot integrates Firefox and most download managers so that they work together perfectly. Note that you must have a download mananger for this extension to work. It also adds a FlashGot All option which is useful if you are tired of pressing "saving as..." one by one for everything you download. This is the most downloaded extension for Firefox and even has its own website where you can get help or find out more here (online).

#### ForecastFox

Forecastfox will display your local weather conditions and a forecast. It can be placed in any location on the screen and you can tell it how many days to forecast. First you need to tell it your location. After installing (and restarting Firefox), a setup windows will appear. If not, go to Tools, Extensions, select ForecastFox then Options. To enter your city click Find Code, type in the name of your city and click the correct option when it appears.

#### Focus Last Selected Tab

If you close a tab, the last tab you were looking at before that will come to the front.

#### FirefoxView

Adds "View in Firefox" menu items to the right click menu in Internet Explorer. Useful when you have started your browsing session in Internet Explorer by mistake ;-)

#### Google Toolbar

A version of the Google Toolbar for Firefox. Access everything Google offers from the toolbar. Once installed, the Google Toolbar will be automatically visible in Firefox.

#### Hotmail Tabs

Because of the way Hotmail (online email service) is set up, it's not normally possible to open your messages in new tabs. That's a big irritation sometimes! After you install this extension, you will be able to right click and select open in New Tab.

#### IEView

Adds the View page in Internet Explorer menu item to the right click menu. Simply right-click on a link and tell Firefox you want to open that particular link in Internet Explorer. Handy for previewing pages in IE or loading up IE-only pages when you run across them, although those are very rare these days.

#### InFormEnter

Useful if you often fill out your name, phone number and address on webpages. InFormEnter adds a small, clickable icon next to every input field in a web form, from where you can select the item to be inserted — no typing required. You must first configure it to display your frequently used information such as name, email, address and whatever else you want to be available from the form menu. After installing and restarting Firefox, click the small blue icon that will appear in the bottom right hand corner of Firefox. Select InFormEnter Options. Replace the words First Name with your first name and City with the city that you live in, etc. Then continue adding entries for all of the other things you normally type into forms. Now, whenever a form comes up, press the blue icon next to the form and select want you want to add.

####

#### Linkification

If you hate copying and pasting links when they are not clickable, this extension is for you. It will turn any non-clickable web addresses into true links. Just click on the web address.

#### Paste and Go

When you paste a web address into the Location Bar, you want to visit it immediately, right? Normally you have to paste in the address then select it and then press enter. With this extension you just select Paste and Go (or Paste and Search) and the page loads straight away.

#### Super Drag and Go

Usually to open a link in a new tab you would just middle-click the link or right-click then Open in New Tab. But if you don't have a middle mouse button, you can use this extension. Simply click on a link and drag it to open it in a new tab. Useful for opening many links at once, for example after a search on Google.

#### StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon lets you "channelsurf" the best-reviewed sites on the web. It is a collaborative surfing tool for browsing, reviewing and sharing great sites with like-minded people. This helps you find interesting webpages you wouldn't think to search for as well as people with similar interests. You need to sign up to use it. More information available at www.stumbleupon.com.

#### Webmail Compose

Makes email links in webpages load in your webmail's (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) compose page and adds a Compose option to the right-click menu so you can choose which email service to open it in.

#### Undo Close Tab

Ever wanted to reopen a tab that you just closed? You could find the page in your History, or by using the Go menu. Alternatively, you can use the 'Tab Bin'! After installing this extension, go to 'View', 'Toolbars' and then 'Customise' and drag the 'Tab Bin' icon into the toolbar. When clicked it lists the last five closed tabs as in the picture. Because it keeps those tabs in 'memory', those hidden tabs can continue playing sounds or music, continue loading pages and may use extra memory. Because of these problems, this extension is still very much 'in development', but we thought we'd include it anyway!

### Free Utilities

Firetune

If you have read all the way to this point hopefully you're feeling adventurous! Firstly, Firetune is not technically an extension. Rather it is a tiny free-ware program that will speed up Firefox's page loading time significantly. When you first install it, Firefox's settings are one-size-fits-all style. This very popular little program tweaks Firefox's settings so that they suit your connection and computer speed and can make pages load in around 20-30% less time. To use it, click install and save the exe file wherever you want. Run that file and follow the instructions to install. Afterwards, start the program (Start, Programs, Firetune for Firefox, Firetune for Firefox). Create a backup of your current settings by pressing "Create Backup of Configuration". Select whether your computer is faster (1.5Ghz+) or slower, and whether your connection is dialup modem or fast broadband. Close Firefox completely . Then press "Tune It!". Hopefully you will notice pages now load faster!

BackupFox
This is also not an extension and is slightly more difficult to use. Your Firefox profile stores all of your settings, bookmarks, saved password, extensions, saved pages and more. Sometimes if your computer breaks or files get corrupted you can lose all of that data and will need to start with a new profile. This is inconvenient, so BackupFox was created. This little program is useful if you use a large number of extensions or want to backup your bookmarks. Click on install, save the .zip file anywhere you want, open it, and extract it to anywhere you want. Once the files are extracted, go to them and run the BackupFox.exe file. Tell BackupFox where you want it to create the single file that backs up all of your data and press next. The file will be created. If ever Firefox breaks or you lose your profile, simply load BackupFox again, select Restore Profile and point it towards that file.