Freeware: FireFox

I think I am going to write a few items on my favourite freeware programs. It was hard to choose which one to do first, but I eventually settled on FireFox.
FireFox is an internet browser (like Internet Explorer). It originally was part of the Mozilla internet suite, but then it was decided to split the suite up in its indiviual component. An thus FireFox was born (well it was a little more messy than that, as it was first called Phoenix, and then FireBird (which clashed with another freeware project with the same name) and then eventually FireFox).

FireFox vs. IE

FireFox has some significant strength over Internet Explorer:

1. It is much safer than IE. Many people comment on FireFox that is loads much slower than IE, and this is true. IE is so intergrated in the operating system (MS Windows) that it loads much quicker, however that also means that it is much more vulnerable to attack, and any security holes in the browser are instantly security holes in the operating system.


2. Tabbed Browsing. If you have never used FireFox you might not see why this is such a big deal, but to me it is one of the great plusses of FireFox. Instead of having a new window for every web page you are viewing simultaniously, you get a new tab a the top (at least that is the default) of the window and you get a very good and quick overview of which pages you are viewing. If you have never used tabbed browsing, try it, you'll love it.


3. It is very easy to extend the browsers functionality. There is plugin system called 'extensions', which allow you to add almost any functionality to FireFox. Maybe you wonder why all this new functionality is kept seperate from the main program. Well, basically any bit of functionality adds overhead to the program and not everyone wants all the functionality offered as extensions. So by doing things this way, your browser can be as lean or bloated as you want. If you want speed and little functionality, you can have it, even on a slower computer, however if you are not to bothered about speed, or are lucky enough to own a newish and fast computer, you can add as much functionality as you want. I myself have about 10 extensions loaded, see lower down for some more information on my favourite extensions.


4. Cross Platform Availability: This is not such a big deal if you only every work in MS Windows (poor you), but if like me you are normally running linux (just because it is safer, faster, more powerful and cheaper (free)) it is nice to be able to help someone who (once again) has problems with their MS Windows, and actually get the same look and feel when searching the internet. It also means that I can without any problems use a Mac, a MS Windows Machine, a Linux machine, or whatever platform people are using and I like that idea.


5. There are probably more advantages, but I cannot think of any so quickly, so if you know of anything I have forgotten, please post a comment, I will do the same.

Extensions

There are hunderds of extensions available on the mozilla site, just click 'Tools' -> 'Extensions...' on your FireFox menu and then the 'Get More Extensions' link at the bottom of the extensions window and off you go. Many extension provide functionality I am not interested in, but I have found a number of extensions that are very helpful, so to prevent you having to wade through the jungle of extensions out there, I thought I share with you what I am using. It is very possible that there are other great extensions out there, and if you know about them, please let me know and post a comment. But here are my favourites:

• NoScript
  Even though FireFox is a very safe browser, the internet is a very dangerous place for a computer. There are many website out there trying to do all kind of bad, naughty or annoying things with your computer and in order to do so they use scripts (JavaScript, etc.). What this extension does is disabling scripting altogether, except for sites you specifically allow. This way you can choose, very easily, who can run scripts on your computer and who can't.
• Fasterfox
  FireFox is quite a fast browser, but with the Fasterfox extension installed it can be even faster.
  There is a option under Fasterfox that will need specific mentioning: pre-fetching. This means that all links on a page will be loaded into the cache, before you even click on them. If you often follow links on pages and use pages that don't normally contain a lot of links, this options is good and will really speed things up. Personally I have not switched it on because for me it made very little difference, but your milage might vary.
• Tab Mix Plus
  I earlier mentioned that Tabbed Browsing is one to the advantages of FireFox. Well with this extension installed it becomes even better. By default it does a number of things, like loading links to other sites in new tabs and highlighting unread tabs, adding 'duplicate tab' and 'undo close tab' options to the tab right click menu. There are lots of other options and all of them you can switch on or off, but I think that defaults are pretty sensible. If you like Tabbed Browsing I guarantee it will be even better with this execelent extension.
• Adblock and Adblock Filterset.G Updater
  These are two extension to use together. Adblock improves FireFox's advertisement blocking functionality and Adblock Filterset.G Updater automatically updates Adblock's list of things to block every few days. By using these extensions you will find that you don't get so many annoying advertisements on your web pages and because all those images don't even get loaded it speeds up your browsing as well.
• Add Bookmark Here
  If you like your bookmarks properly organised, this extension is helpful. It adds a 'Add Bookmark Here' option to every bookmark folder and allows you to very quickly put new bookmarks where you want them.
• Forecastfox
  Last but not least. If you are interested in the weather forcast, Forecastfox adds a forecast summary to any of the bars of your browser. You can choose yourself how that forecast looks and where in the world you want the forecast to relate to. Personally I have a 5 day advanced forecast on my bookmark toolbar, by default it shows me the local forecast, but with one click I can change that to forecast at my parents place or at two or three other places around the world. I agree that this is not a necessity, like most of the other extensions, but it is a nice feature and I like it.

Well that is all I can think of for now. I hope I have convinced you to start using FireFox, as I belief it would make the internet a safer (and hopefully better) place.

Any thoughts, questions or comments, please post a comment, after all that is what blogging is all about.