Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
I don’t like Firefox constantly updating the version or the Add-ons all by itself without my knowledge. I like to disable this. You can enable or disable this feature with these steps.
1. Click Tools > Options.
2. Click on the Advanced option along the top.
3. Click on the Update tab.
4. Uncheck the boxes under Automatically check for updates to: to disable the automatic updates. Check them if you wish for them to be enabled.
Alternately you may choose to select the Ask me what I want to do option under the When updates to Firefox are found: section.
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
How to start Firefox in Safe Mode.
If you are having problems with Firefox due to an add-on or modification, you can correct the problem in Safe Mode.
By default an icon is installed called Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode) that you can use.
If this icon is not available, you can do the following:
In Windows go to Start > Run and type firefox -safe-mode
In Mac OS X open Applications > Utilities > Terminal > Run (for Firefox): and type /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -safe-mode
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
How to make Firefox save certain file extensions instead of opening them automatically.
By default, Firefox opens many file types such as DOC and WMV files instead of prompting you to save them in a location. You can change this behavior by following these steps:
1. Go to Tools > Options
2. Click the Contents tab then click Manage.
3. You can then double-click file types and change the behavior of Firefox when you click on a link to a file.
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
Have you wanted the ability to play Windows Media Player files within Firefox? You can.
There is a cool plugin available here that will allow you to view a Windows Media Player video within Firefox.
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
Enable or disable the spell checking feature that checks your spelling in web forms.
1. Type about:config in the address bar.
2. In the filter field type spell
3. Find the entry for layout.spellcheckDefault and double-click it.
4. Set the integer to 1 to enable the spell checker.
Set the integer to 0 to disable the spell checker.
You can also go to Tools >Options>Advanced and select Check my spelling as I type under the General tab.
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
Enable the ability to find text on a web page without having to use CTRL+F.
I am constantly using CTRL+F or EDIT–>FIND IN THIS PAGE to find text in a web page. This handy setting eliminates the extra step. Now I can simply start typing and it will start finding the text I type.
1. Type about:config in the address bar and press ENTER.
2. Locate and double-click the entry for
accessibility.typeaheadfind
3. Set it to true to enable this feature.
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
Set how Firefox handles links to files that open in external programs.
1. Type about:config in the address bar and press ENTER.
2. Locate and double-click the entry for
Browser.link.open_external
3. Set it to one of the following:
1 - Open links from external programs within the current Firefox window.
2 - Open links from external programs in new windows.
3 - Open links from external programs in new tabs in an existing window.
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
Speed up the performance of Firefox with this tweak.
1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the address bar.
Change each of these settings:
content.interrupt.parsing - true
content.max.tokenizing.time - 2250000
content.notify.interval - 750000
content.notify.ontimer - true
content.switch.threshold - 750000
nglayout.initialpaint.delay - 0
network.http.max-connections - 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server - 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy - 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server - 8
browser.cache.memory.capacity - 65536
Check out the Firefox Tweak Guide for more information on how to tweak Firefox.
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
You are unable to resize any popup windows in Firefox.
1. Type about:config in the address bar and press ENTER.
2. Find the value dom.disable_window_open_feature.resizable
3. Double-click the value and change it to true.
You should not be able to resize any popup windows created in Firefox.
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
Change where the close button is located for each Firefox tab.
1. Type about:config in the address bar and press ENTER.
2. Locate and double-click the entry for Browser.tabs.closeButtons
3. Set it to one of the following:
0: Display a close button on the active tab only
1: (default) Display a close button on each tab
2: Don’t display any close buttons
3: Display a close button at the end of the entire tab bar (Firefox 1.x setting)
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
Enable the ability to continue your browsing session when Firefox 2 crashes.
1. Type about:config in the address bar and press ENTER.
2. Right-click in the browser window and select New, then Boolean.
3. Enter the preference name of browser.sessionstore.resume_session. Click OK.
4. Select True for the Boolean value. Click OK.
5. Click Tools and select Options.
6. Under Main in the Startup area, for the option When Firefox starts, and select Show my windows and tabs from last time. Click OK.
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
Disable the Firefox 2 feature that automatically resizes images to fit in the browser window.
1. Open Firefox
2. In the address bar enter: about:config
3. Find the setting that says:
browser.enable_automatic_image_resizing
4. Double click the preference to change the value from true to false
Posted on Nov 19, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
It’s kind of sad that Firefox is so much more secure than Internet Explorer in so many ways, but the feature that saves passwords leaves access to your data wide open.
If you are an administrator or you have direct access to a Firefox users’ PC, you can grab their passwords and transfer them over to your computer very easily. The file holding all the data is the SIGNONS.TXT file. This holds all saved usernames and passwords for each firefox profile. You can find the file at:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\Profile Folder
The file is encrypted, but if you also take the KEY3.DB file from the same directory and put it on your computer you can use the Firefox browser on your computer to access all of the sites of the hacked user. Just place the files in the same location (be sure to backup your copies first).
You can also view the passwords in Firefox at:
TOOLS–>OPTIONS–>PRIVACY and click on the VIEW SAVED PASSWORS button. Then choose SHOW PASSWORDS.
Protect yourself from this vulnerability:
Set a master password on Firefox.
Always lock your screen.
Disable the Saved Passwords feature in Firefox
This article applies to Mozilla Firefox 1.5x
Posted on Nov 18, 2007 under Windows Tips |
If you can’t connect to certain web sites, there could be several reasons why.
Symptom: In Firefox you get “Firefox can’t establish a connection to the server at website” or in Internet Explorer you get “Page cannot be displayed” error.
This article assumes you have troubleshot the basics such as the URL is typed correctly, cache files have been cleared and you have a working internet connection. The following may be to blame:
Read more… »
Posted on Nov 18, 2007 under Firefox Tips |
SSL is required for a secure connection to a web site such as a bank. There are several things to check if you are a Firefox, Mozilla Suite, or Thunderbird user and you get the error “You cannot connect to website because SSL is disabled” when trying to connect to a web site.
Check your SSL settings in “Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Security” (Firefox) or “Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> SSL” (Mozilla Suite). “Use SSL 2.0″, “Use SSL 3.0″, and “Use TLS 1.0″ should all be checked.
Select “Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Verification -> Do not use OCSP for certificate validation” (Firefox) or “Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Validation -> Do not use OCSP for certificate validation” (Mozilla Suite).
If you’re using a manual proxy, make sure “Use this proxy for all protocols” and “SSL proxy” in “Tools -> Options -> General -> Connection Settings” (Firefox) are set to the correct values.
If you received the message “Could not initialize the browser’s security component.” The most likely cause is problems with files in your browser’s profile directory. Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard disk is not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the browser and fix the problem. If you continue to use this browser session, you might see incorrect browser behavior when accessing security features….
- Check your hard drive’s remaining capacity and the file permissions on the files in your profile folder.
- Delete the cert8.db file in your profile folder and try again.
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