Guide To Firefox

[wm_hunter]

Get Firefox Now - It's Free!

For those of you who have not lived under a rock for the last six months, you have probably heard of FireFox. It is completely free and open-source internet browser that lets anyone make extensions, themes, or add-ons, and Mozilla often work with the extension developers in attempts to always make Firefox better and better.

I will give you a guarantee that it kills Internet Explorer in every aspect. Speed, security, look, add ons, extensions, themes, tabs (have multiple sites open in one Firefox window. Biggest seller for most people). The bottom line: Firefox is the best internet on the browser market today. If you have not tried it, I urge you to do so.

Extensions - Make Firefox Work For You

One of the best features in FireFox is the ability to download or create extensions using simple Javascript, making it easy for web developers who may not be that talanted in C++ to create extensions. You can easily monitor, add and remove extensions from FireFox with a few simple clicks.

There are quite a few extensions on the Mozilla site (which have all been tested by Mozilla), as well as on other sites throughout the web. I would trust Mozilla the most, as there is no chance of getting a bad\bug extension.

I will list some of my favorite that I use. Using extensions you can make your Firefox suit your personal needs better, no one can tell you which extensions to use, it is whatever you need\want the most.

To get to the extensions, visit this page or go to Tools - Extensions and click Get More Extensions.

FasterFox: Works on the same principles as the about:Config editing I have explained later in the guide, but does other things as well to optimize performance. I will mention a program called FireTune later in the guide that works the same way.

NoScript - NoScript adds protection to your security by dis-allowing web-pages to load Javascript, Java or other plug-ins unless you specify that they can. Good tool for fighting hackers.

Ad-Block - Allows the blocking of ads\banner ads by simply right clicking the ad in Firefox adblock on the ad. You can use * to create "wildcards"
(http://*.ads.shizmoo.com), I HIGHLY recommend this extension for anyone using FireFox that does not like seeing banner ads .

AdBlock Plus is better and includes other features. I included AdBlock because the person that developed AdBlock Plus has moved onto the original AdBlock team to improve it, while Plus has been developed by another person for the last month or so.




AdBlock Plus

AdBlock has not really been improved in two years. It has been made compatable for newer version of FireFox, but the desperate changes it needed had not been made.

So, a guy by the name of Michael McDonald worked on this new extension called AdBlock Plus. It works in the way AdBlock does with a lot more features and options. I really suggest you check it out.


Let's Speed It Up!

You may also use the FasterFox extension I mentioned earlier to speed up FireFox, but that does not do it all

Mozilla made it easy to edit values in FireFox through the about:config page. Open up Firefox and type about.config into the browser window and press enter. There are a few values you can change to speed up FireFox even more!

network.http.pipelining
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Changing network.http.pipelining to True will allow FireFox to open up threads according to what the network.http.pipelining.maxrequests is set to. I think that any value higher then eight in hhtp.pipelining.maxrequests just uses a value of eight, but you can test. Both of these work hand-in-hand to greatly improve preformance, test it out and see for youtself.

There is another program called FireTune. Download the setup, install it and then run the program. This program will change nearly every value EXCEPT the two I mentioned above, according to what you tell it. You may want to back up FireFox just in-case, but I have never had any problems. I personally use Fast Internet, Fast Computer and I saw a large increase in preformance. Make sure FireFox is closed before you tell it to edit the values!

Personally, I use both pipelining and FireTune, and my internet flys.

Pimp It Out

If you want to pimp out your FireFox look, you could get a nice Theme. Personally, I use Noia 2.0 (eXtreme) which should still be highest ranked theme. All that a theme does, is change the look much like a skin does in an application. FireFox employes check all themes on the site, so there is no need to worry about any kind of virus/malware. You can switch themes or view which themes you have installed in Tools-Themes.


Noia 2.0 (eXtreme)

The Downside

There is a downside to FireFox. There are some sites that use ActiveX or other types of code which only Internet Exporer uses. These sites are very rare, and you can either use Internet Explorer for the 2\3 sites that you need it for, or you can get an extension called IE Tab that allows you to open up an Internet Explorer tab in Firefox, and have certain sites always open in one. In my opinion, the large pros outweigh the small cons.

I hope that if you already use FireFox, that you try my methods to get a big performance boost, or try extensions and themes if you have not already done so. For those of you still on IE, I hope that you will at least give FireFox a chance. It really is faster, stronger and more secure (reminds me of the million-dollar-man devilish

EDIT:

Found a few typos (July 06)
Added AdBlock Plus (Aug 06)
Small changes, some things misworded (Late Aug 06)


Questions, Comments? Don't be shy to reply!

[Jebus11]

Kick ass thread hunter, keep up the good work!!

[hellsing293]

i vote for a sticky. +rep too(not that you need it lol)

EDIT: woot didn't think i could add 4 thought it would be like 1-2.

[wm_hunter]

Thanks for the +rep, just trying to help out some people as there are a lot of Firefox threads lately.

[wm_hunter]

I will keep this post for editing. Whenever I edit the guide, I will add the edit to here.

EDITED:

May 27, 2006: I had about.config instead of about:config

August 10, 2006: Added AdBlock Plus to guide

[wm_hunter]

I have added an extenssion called AdBlock Plus to the guide. I suggest any fans of AdBlock try it out, it is better.

[Mr Blaine Ng]

Wow this is a very helpful post. I really liked the part where it teaches you how to make firefox faster ^_^

[Esuna]

Very nice, too bad I already know about this

[Tweak293]

FIREFOX RULES!!! ABP is the shiz, it really takes care of those pesky advertisements you see on myspace, yahoo, etc. anyways, just wanted to say to all of you out there still using IE6, your in for a treat with FireFox... Trust me, you will love it.

[UejYi]

Been using firefox awhile myself.

Some things that may have not been mentioned:

if you want to open multiple homepages, just put | between each link
ie: www,bogglers,com | mail,here,com

and Would just like to say, firefox 2.0 sucks. get a 1.# version and update it.
firefox 1.5.0.11 is the version I use. It does not have such an overboard gui, and they moved the tab x in 2.#, so.

but yea, great thread!

[Tweak293]

What theme do you use, if you use one? Right now Im using RedShift V.2
Its great lol... Have you installed the FasterFox yet??

[UejYi]

What theme do you use, if you use one? Right now Im using RedShift V.2
Its great lol... Have you installed the FasterFox yet??

Nah, it works fine like it is. The only thing I would like would be shortcuts for different homepage setups.

Like have one shortcut to check mail, ebay messages, etc
and one for forums.

I asked the people at the mozilla forums awhile back about this, but they did not get what I was asking, so I just never elaborated because of my lamen communication skills on the subject.

you know, like the way we use d2 shortcuts to tie into each of our cdkey1,2,3.mpq files

[Haystizzle]

Does faster fox do everything u said to do manually? Cuz i checked most of them and they were set to how u explained IE. pipeline true / max-8. As for Faster internet / faster computer are those programs u dl?

[wm_hunter]

Does faster fox do everything u said to do manually? Cuz i checked most of them and they were set to how u explained IE. pipeline true / max-8. As for Faster internet / faster computer are those programs u dl?

It also changes other values. I don't run it anymore. I find pipelining and some other things I change myself to be effective enough.

note: I don't go on this forum anymore. I am here because someone asking me for a Diablo II file sparked my interest for a night. I have no plans on updating this guide, but if anyone would like to, feel free.