PC World Philippines » Mozilla Firefox

Quick Tips for Speeding Up Mozilla Firefox

Fei — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:00:00 +0000

By Rick Broida
December 16, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – For the last couple weeks I’ve been focusing on Windows basics (“Windows Explorer Explained: Tips for Newbies” and “Windows Explorer Tips: Select Files Fast, Show Extensions, Rename Setup Files“). This week let’s move on to a new topic: getting Mozilla Firefox to run more efficiently. Read on if you’ve ever been frustrated by slow performance in Firefox.

Improve Firefox Performance by Clearing the Downloads List

Recently I noticed that whenever I downloaded a file in Firefox, the program turned into molasses–especially just after the download finished. The browser would literally freeze up for seconds at a time for about a minute after.

On a whim, I opened up the Downloads list (accessible by pressing Ctrl-J). It was pretty lengthy; I hadn’t cleared it in as long as I could remember. Admittedly, I just never bothered, as I didn’t think it necessary. Also on a whim, I clicked Clear List, which wiped the slate clean, so to speak. (This doesn’t delete your downloads, but merely Firefox’s record of them.)

You know what? The next time I downloaded a file, Firefox hummed along like its regular speedy self. No hangs, no delays. I’m not sure why this made the difference, but it definitely did. If you’re encountering a similar issue, I recommend trying the same procedure.

Remove Old Versions of the Java Console From Firefox

Java, of course, is the programming language/platform that’s used by various Web sites and apps–you know, the thing that’s constantly nagging you to install updates.

Every time you do so, Firefox inherits a new version of the Java Console (a debugging tool that’s useless to the vast majority of users). Unfortunately, the old ones don’t get deleted. Does that impact Firefox performance? I don’t know for sure, but it can’t help–and I do know I don’t want half a dozen Java Consoles cluttering things up!

If you look at your Firefox Add-ons list (by selecting Tools, Add-ons), you may indeed see several instances of Java Console. However, you’ll also notice that the uninstall button for each one is greyed out. How can you remove the old Consoles?

Simple: Exit Firefox, then run it as an administrator. To do so, right-click your Firefox desktop icon, then choose Run as administrator. Now, when you go back to the Add-ons list, you’ll have the option of uninstalling Java Consoles.

You can probably get rid of them all, though I recommend keeping the one with the highest version number, just in case the Java Runtime Environment needs it for some reason.

Make Firefox Immediately Switch to a Newly Opened Tab

Normally, when you click a link that opens a new tab (or hold down the Ctrl key while clicking a link, which forces a new tab to open), Firefox doesn’t actually switch to that tab. It keeps you where you were. That doesn’t make a ton of sense. After all, why would you open a new tab if you didn’t want to view it right away?

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to change Firefox’s behavior when it comes to new tabs: Click the Tools menu, then Options, and then click Tabs. Enable the last option in the list: When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately. (Pretty straightforward, huh?) Click OK and you’re done.

As Internet Explorer Turns 15, We Take A Look Back

Fei — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:59:34 +0000

By Chris Brandrick
August 19, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft Internet Explorer marks its 15th anniversary this week. The first version of the browser was launched back in the summer of 1995 and since then the browser–now in its eighth rendition–has undergone numerous updates, revisions and versions.

IE went on to become extremely popular, largely thanks to its deep integration as part of Windows. Within just a few short years, Internet Explorer dominated the browser wars, claiming as much as 95% market share, mainly at the expense of competitor Netscape Navigator.

However, IE’s rise did not continue forever. In 2004, Mozilla launched an open-source alternative, Firefox. As the years went by, Firefox slowly chipped away at IE’s market share.

Today, the browser landscape is a very different one, with Chrome, Safari, Opera and many others all competing for a slice of users’ Web time. But despite the range of choices, IE is–like it or not–still the world’s most popular browser holding a combined market share of over 60%.

Let’s look back over the browser’s past, and look ahead at where it’s headed:

Internet Explorer 1

Internet Explorer 1 launched on August 16, 1995. Based on Spyglass Inc.’s Mosaic browser, version one of IE was built by a team of just five or six programmers and came in at just under 1MB. While IE wasn’t initially included in the OEM version of Windows 95, it came bundled with Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95.

Internet Explorer 2

Released just three months after the first version; IE 2 arrived on November 22, 1995, with versions for Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows 3.1. Microsoft released a beta version for PowerPC-based Macs in January of 1996. IE 2 added support for HTML tables and cookies–a quaint notion in today’s HTML5 world.

IE 2′s executable size? A whole 1.1MB.

Internet Explorer 3

Microsoft launched IE 3 in August 1996 for Windows PCs. Version 3 saw the introduction of the blue ‘e’ logo that is now synonymous with Internet Explorer. IE 3 came to the Mac in January 1997; version 3.01 of IE later became the default browser on Macs. It was the first mainstream browser to support cascading style sheets (CSS). IE 2 also included an e-mail client known as Internet Mail & News (which eventually became Outlook Express), and added support for GIF and JPEG images.

It could also play MIDI audio files, marking the birth of websites with annoying auto-playing sound files.

Internet Explorer 4

Microsoft released IE 4 during September of 1997. Bundled with Windows 98; Microsoft marketed it with the tag-line “The web the way you want it,” and added more new features, such as support for favicons. As part of the San Francisco launch event, Microsoft planted a giant blue ‘e’ on Netscape’s front lawn. The browser wars were on!
Internet Explorer also made its debut on Sun Microsystem’s Unix OS Solaris in 1998.

Internet Explorer 5

Microsoft’s fifth version of IE arrived in March of 1999, introducing a selection of new features. Microsoft added Compatibility Mode for testing purposes, and bi-directional text support was also added–an important feature for many international users. New search, history and favorite features were also included.

IE5 carried a download size of 37MB for 32-bit PCs, and as of March 2000, Internet Explorer 5 had a market share of over 50%.

Internet Explorer 6

August 2001 saw the release of IE 6, ready for the debut of Windows XP. By late 2003 Internet Explorer accounted for around 90% of the browser market, thanks in part to IE 6′s success. But despite its success in the market, IE 6 was universally slammed for its poor security features–a reputation Internet Explorer still carries to this day. The browser added a number of new features, and it also gained a pop-up blocker with its second service pack.
Now nearly a decade old, IE 6 still has a market share of nearly 17%.

Internet Explorer 7

After nearly six years since the initial release of IE6, in 2006 Microsoft finally graced users with a new version of their browser–IE7. During this gap between releases, Mozilla had released Firefox, and many features seen in Firefox made their way into IE7.

The browser, which was available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, brought tabbed browsing to IE,and introduced page zooming, a separate search bar, and support for RSS. For this release the browser was renamed, make a subtle change from Microsoft Internet Explorer to Windows Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer 8

Version eight saw a general release in March of 2009, it is the default browser for Windows 7 and is the latest available version, coming with support for up-to 63 different languages.

Microsoft detailed that improvements to CSS and Ajax handling were a priority. The new browser also saw the introduction of a private browsing mode, which makes browsing history hard to find. Other browsers offered a similar feature, Microsoft’s is called InPrivate browsing.

A new feature known as Accelerators also debuted, offering access to additional Web information for any highlighted text.

What’s next….

Microsoft’s next browser, Internet Explorer 9, is due to enter beta next month. IE9 promises to have better support for new web standards, such as CSS3, HTML5 and more.

Opera Gaining Ground from Microsoft Browser Ballot

Fei — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:01:46 +0000

By Tony Bradley
March 24, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Opera, a small Web browser from Norway most well-known for its mobile version widely used on smartphones, is apparently gaining some ground for browser market share. Following the launch of the Microsoft browser ballot in Europe–the result of an agreement between Microsoft and the European Commission to expand browser choice for users and end an antitrust battle–Opera is on the rise.

A press release on the Opera Web site quotes Håkon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera Software, stating “This confirms that when users are given a real choice on how they choose the most important piece of software on their computer, the browser, they will try out alternatives,” adding “A multitude of browsers will make the Web more standardized and easier to browse.”

Microsoft offers a total of 12 options in the browser selection ballot, including Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, Sleipnir, Maxthon, FlashPeak Slim Browser, GreenBrowser, Avant Browser, Flock, and K-Meleon. Of course, most users are only familiar with the first five.
The Opera statement claims that downloads of Opera 10.5 have more than doubled since the introduction of the browser ballot for Windows in Europe. Broken down by country, Opera has actually more than tripled downloads in Poland, Spain, and Italy.

Microsoft has lost some ground since introducing the randomized browser selection ballot–a testament to the effectiveness of the ballot in making users aware of alternate browser options and letting them choose. One thing that is missing from these results is which browser is ultimately used the most.

Users have the choice to select a browser aside from Microsoft Internet Explorer as the default browser in Windows, and that choice may lead to increased initial downloads for alternate browsers. However, after dabbling in alternate browsers, many users may ultimately return to the top three and ultimately rely on Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome for day to day Web surfing.

To be fair–being fifth out of the top five browsers and occupying less than three percent of the overall browser market make it much simpler–and less impressive–to double or triple downloads. Double or triple of next to nothing is still next to nothing.

That said, Opera is a very capable Web browser that many users are not even aware of. Recent tests showed that the most recent version of Opera, Opera 10.5, takes the crown for fastest. Opera blew away the competition, beating Google Chrome–which is designed from the ground up for speed–by 20 percent.

Both Opera and Chrome may see increased adoption in Germany. A few months ago, following the discovery of an Internet Explorer zero-day exploit that was used to launch attacks against Google and other companies in China, the German government recommended everyone abandon IE. Now the German government is strongly recommending everyone drop Mozilla Firefox as well in response to a recent critical security flaw.

I don’t recommend following the guidance from the German government, though. All browsers will have security vulnerabilities, and IT administrators can’t be expected to uninstall and switch browsers in a business environment every other month as a defense against those flaws.

Make Firefox Immediately Switch to a Newly Opened Tab

Fei — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:00:19 +0000

By Rick Broida
March 23, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – After yesterday’s post about tweaking Firefox 3.6 so that it opens new tabs to the far right, just like all previous versions of Firefox, I realized there’s one other tip that goes hand-in-hand with that: tweaking Firefox to immediately switch to the newly opened tab.

That doesn’t make a ton of sense. After all, why would you open a new tab if you didn’t want to view it right away? Fortunately, there’s an easy way to change Firefox’s behavior when it comes to new tabs, and you don’t even have to meddle with the about:config settings (as with yesterday’s tweak).

Instead, click the Tools menu, then Options, and then click Tabs. Enable the last option in the list: When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately. (Pretty straightforward, huh?) Click OK and you’re done.

I’m curious: What’s your preferred method for viewing new tabs? The browser’s default, or “switch to it immediately”? Leave a comment with your thoughts on this very important matter.

Free Explorer App, Firefox Toolbar, Touchpad Tamer

Fei — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:00:58 +0000

By Rick Broida
March 4, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Not long ago I extolled the virtues of using side-by-side Windows Explorer windows to manage files and folders.

I still think that’s a great way to go, but it does require you to manually open two instances of Explorer, then drag one to each side of the screen (or use keyboard shortcuts for faster Aero Snap snapping).

Another option: Windows Double Explorer, a tiny, free utility that provides two Explorer windows–each with a little more oomph than you get from Windows Explorer. (I promise that sentence makes sense. Go back and read it again.)
True to its name, Double Explorer employs a dual-pane interface, which you can view stacked or side by side. Within each pane you can create multiple tabs representing different directories on your hard drive. And you can drag any folders to the Favorites toolbar for easy access to them down the road.

Novice users will find there’s a bit of a learning curve here, as not all the file/folder-management options will make immediate sense. But for seasoned users (and those willing to learn), WDE is definitely worth a look. It’s a compact, installation-free bit of handyware that reminds me of the classic Total Commander.

One important note: Windows Double Explorer works in Windows 7 only. If you have an older version of the OS, the aforementioned Total Commander is a good bet.

Add Extra Rows to Firefox’s Bookmarks Toolbar

Everyone has their preferred method for keeping their favorite sites close at hand. Me, I take advantage of Firefox’s bookmarks toolbar, which provides one-click, at-a-glance access to around 20 favorites.
Just one problem: Any favorites that won’t fit the width of my screen get dumped into a pull-down menu that appears at the far end of the toolbar–rendering them much less easily accessible.

Enter Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, a head-smackingly obvious Firefox extension that lets you add extra rows to the bookmarks toolbar–thus putting more of your favorites close at hand.
You can add as many extra rows as you like, but I was happy enough with just a second one. (More than three and things start to look awfully cluttered.)

What’s more, you can scroll through your remaining bookmarks, instead of having to drill into that pull-down menu (which, in case you’re wondering, no longer appears when MBT is active).

Bottom line: If you rely on the Bookmarks Toolbar, Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar might just be your new favorite Firefox extension. It’s definitely one of mine.

Disable Your Laptop’s Touchpad While You Type

Recently two of my relatives complained of the same maddening problem: They’d be typing along on their laptops when suddenly the cursor would jump, resulting in garbled text or even an unwanted mouse-click.

This is usually the result of your thumb or palm accidentally grazing the touchpad. Fortunately, there are ways to combat this problem, usually by tweaking the Windows mouse/touchpad settings.

If those options aren’t available on your system or you’re still not getting the results you want, try TouchFreeze. This free utility serves one simple purpose: to disable your laptop’s touchpad while you type. Actually, it disables touchpad tapping, which is what causes the aforementioned problems. (It doesn’t matter if your cursor moves while you’re typing, as long as that movement isn’t followed by a tap–the touchpad equivalent of clicking a mouse.)

I tested the utility on two laptops, one running Windows XP, the other, Vista. On both systems it worked as advertised: No amount of tapping while typing would actually register a tap. If you’ve been tearing your hair out due to flaky laptop behavior, this handy freebie may just solve the problem.

Add Extra Rows to Firefox’s Bookmarks Toolbar

Fei — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:39:44 +0000

By Rick Broida
March 1, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Everyone has their preferred method for keeping their favorite sites close at hand. Me, I take advantage of Firefox‘s Bookmarks Toolbar, which provides one-click, at-a-glance access to around 20 favorites.
Just one problem: Any favorites that won’t fit the width of my screen get dumped into a pull-down menu that appears at the far end of the toolbar–rendering them much less easily accessible.

Enter Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, a head-smackingly obvious Firefox extension that lets you add extra rows to the Bookmarks Toolbar–thus putting more of your favorites close at hand.
You can add as many extra rows as you like, but I was happy enough with just a second one. (More than three and things start to look awfully cluttered.)

What’s more, you can scroll through your remaining bookmarks, instead of having to drill into that pull-down menu (which, in case you’re wondering, no longer appears when MBT is active).

Bottom line: If you rely on the Bookmarks Toolbar, Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar might just be your new favorite Firefox extension. It’s definitely one of mine.

TooManyTabs Firefox add-on speeds up browsing

Fei — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:30:33 +0000

By Erik Larkin
December 28, 2009

TooManyTabs (free/donationware) is for the power-browser who likes to keep many Firefox tabs open at once. Instead of keeping all those tabs active, which can eat up your computer’s memory, TMT creates a sort of waiting area where tabs can sit–still visible, but using no memory.

The add-on installs a new toolbar in Firefox above the normal tabs. If you drag-and-drop a tab into the TooManyTabs toolbar, or click a stylized up arrow on the left side of the active tab, it moves up to the TMT toolbar.

A tab in the TooManyTabs toolbar lies dormant, and doesn’t use any computer memory. Instead, the URL for that tab sits in a new bookmark folder tucked away in the Unsorted Bookmarks folder. If you click a TMT tab, the add-on quickly restores the page to the regular tab bar using that saved URL and your browser’s disk cache.

You can use up to six rows to store your background tabs, and can switch between rows in the toolbar or view multiple rows at once. A TooManyTabs tutorial video at the developer Visibo’s site can help you get the most out of using multiple rows. Visibo also developed the useful Incredible Bookmarks add-on.

TooManyTabs offers a nice halfway point between keeping a tab active and using up memory, and filing it away in a bookmark where you might forget about it. If you tend to keep many tabs open at once for quick reference, the handy add-on can help conserve your computer’s resources.

Mozilla offers a sneak peek at new Firefox interface

Jon — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:35:00 +0000

By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld
December 23, 2009

Mozilla yesterday said that its planned overhaul of Firefox‘s interface will be pushed back to Firefox 4.0, the major release now slated to ship before the end of 2010.

Previously, Mozilla said it would revamp the look and feel of its open-source browser in a two-step process , with part of the redesign debuting in Firefox 3.7 — a minor refresh scheduled for late in the first quarter of next year — with the rest following in version 4.0.

Mozilla’s interface plans, particularly those intended for Firefox for Windows, have attracted attention because the company last September said it would “ribbonize” the browser by borrowing graphics concepts from Microsoft ‘s Windows 7 and Office 2007. Users blasted the idea.

Later, Mozilla clarified its intentions , saying that although it was going to eliminate the traditional top-of-the-frame menus in Firefox, it was not going to turn its browser into a graphical doppelganger of Office 2007.

Mozilla’s newest plans for Firefox 4.0 center around a so-called “App Button” that will take the place of the menus long-seen in Windows applications, said Stephen Horlander, a designer and longtime contributor to Firefox’s interface.

In a blog post outlining the single-button approach, Horlander said the App Button would replace the idea of a dual-button concept — one marked “Pages,” the other “Tools” — that Mozilla had previously considered. He acknowledged that the App Button, like the talk of “ribbonizing” Firefox, was borrowed from Microsoft. “[The] App button … is similar to the single menu approach taken by Windows 7 native applications [such as] Paint and WordPad, and by Microsoft Office,” Horlander said.

The App Button, which would appear at the top left of the Firefox window, would take up less space, consolidate all menu commands under one roof, and reduce clutter, he said.

Firefox 4.0 would also give users the option of moving the browser’s tabs to the top of the application’s display, a so-called “tab-on-top” look that other browsers, notably Google‘s Chrome, have adopted.

Mozilla’s browser will not, however, combine the search bar with the address bar — the latter is where the URL is entered or appears — as does Chrome. “With the LocationBar containing an increasing amount of functionality it may be best to retain a clear distinction between the two fields,” said Horlander, referring to Mozilla’s name for the address bar.

Horlander posted numerous screen shots of the Firefox 4.0 interface design ideas on his blog, including a head-to-head comparison between the revamp and the current look and feel in Firefox 3.5.

User reaction, as judged by the nearly 100 comments left on Horlander’s blog since yesterday, were generally positive. Most of the criticism came from users who were disturbed by what they saw as the “Chromifying” of Firefox, that Mozilla’s browser was too anxious to copy the look of Google’s Chrome.

“Firefox should be careful not to just chase Google too much, though,” said a user identified only as “Woody” in a comment added yesterday to Horlander’s post. “Chrome is Chrome, Firefox shouldn’t try to play catch-up … they should stay innovative.”

“Trying to copy ideas from Microsoft Office and Google Chrome must lead to a big fail,” warned another user.

People uncomfortable with the change will be able to restore the more familiar menu bar, Horlander promised.

According to a recently published timetable , Mozilla will ship a public review of Firefox 4.0 in June 2010, and final code in the fourth quarter.

Automatically Copy Selected Text with AutoCopy

Fei — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:49 +0000

By Rick Broida
November 17, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – Most users know how to copy text. Select the text with your mouse, then click Edit, Copy–or, better yet, press Ctrl-C on your keyboard. Easy right?

Well, it’s about to get a little easier. AutoCopy is a Firefox add-on that automatically copies any selected text straight to the Clipboard. (You then paste it like you normally would.)
This probably sounds like no big deal. After all, how hard is it to hit the aforementioned menu or keyboard key?

All I can say is, it’s one less step. And once you start using AutoCopy, you’ll wonder how you got along without it. Indeed, it has long ranked as one of the handful of Firefox extensions I absolutely positively cannot live without. (Others include PermaTabs and Lazarus.)
Give it a try! I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Happy birthday Firefox! Firefox turns 5

Jon — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:56:41 +0000

By Brennon Slattery
November 10, 2009

On November 9, 2004, Mozilla’s Firefox 1.0 debuted and quickly became a serious contender in the ongoing browser wars. At the time, Microsoft‘s Internet Explorer dominated the market with a 99% market share. Five years later, Internet Explorer still reigns at 65%, but Firefox comes in second with an impressive 23%.

The battle is far from over, as the field is bloating with more competition. “With additional entrants, most notably Google and Apple, joining the fray there’s a massive amount of competition in the browser market that is fueling constant innovation and envelope pushing, from speed and features to the development of the mobile browser,” Mozilla wrote in a statement.

Firefox’s philosophy is that the Internet is a public resource and should be as accessible and open as possible. Mozilla spreads the word with wide-open arms to developers, who have beefed up the browser’s capabilities with more than 7000 add-ons.

Firefox currently has 330 million users worldwide, and celebrated its 1 billionth download in July.

Mozilla is making headway in releasing the latest iteration of its browser, Firefox 4.0. In preparation for 4.0′s late 2010 release, Mozilla released the Firefox beta 3.6 last week, bringing with it loads of new features that serve as a hint of what’s to come. Interface mock-ups for 4.0 are sure to set salivary glands into overdrive as it borrows crisp aesthetic cues from Microsoft’s Vista and promises massive increases in speed.

Keeping up with the world’s current obsession with Internet-ready smartphones, Mozilla is also working on Fennec, a mobile browser.

The celebration doesn’t stop with press releases and birthday candles — Mozilla is launching a worldwide campaign called”Light the World with Firefox” that will blast the Firefox logo into the skies of cities across the globe. Mozilla also released an illustrated YouTube video telling its story over the past five years. Check out the Spread Firefox site for Mozilla’s game plan for the next five years.

There’s a lot in store for the little browser that could, and I’m certain millions of people are closely watching its evolution as history unfolds before our eyes.