Mozilla Firefox Tips

Adjust Text Size

Start Mozilla and select View>> Text Size. Choose to increase or decrease text size repeatedly until the desired size is displayed.

Keyboard shortcuts:

CTRL + (hold the control key and depress the "+" key) increases the text size.
CTRL - (hold the control key and depress the "-" key) decreases the text size.

Mouse Shortcut:
While holding the CTRL key, use your mouse wheel to adjust the text size.

Scrolling up will decrease the text size.
Scrolling down will increase the text size.

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Tabbed Browsing

Mozilla will allow you to have several windows opened as a tab within the same browser window, rather than opening up an entirely new window. Here's how:

Select File>> New Tab

-OR-

Right-click on any Tab and select New Tab

Keyboard Shortcut:

CTRL - T

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About Mozilla Firefox

The Mozilla Firefox browser has already garnered rave reviews and awards for its stability, trustworthiness and innovative features.

Pop-up Blocking - Firefox includes an integrated pop-up blocker that lets users-not websites-decide when they will view pop-ups. Mozilla continues to set the standard in assisting users avoid annoying pop-ups.
Online Fraud Protection - Firefox helps users protect themselves against online fraud such as "phishing" (attempts to trick users into giving away their passwords) and "spoofing" (fraudulent sites masquerading as popular, trusted sites) by clearly displaying the true identity of secure sites.
Faster, Easier, More Accessible Search - Firefox tightly integrates support for leading search services into the toolbar, including Google search, Yahoo!, eBay, Amazon, Dictionary.com, Creative Commons, and more. The new Firefox Start Page also provides access to Firefox information, resources and application tips, coupled with an integrated Google search box.
More Efficient Browsing - Firefox's innovative Tabbed Browsing allows many web pages to load within the same window, improving the speed and utility of web browsing. Firefox also introduces Live Bookmarks, which allows users to easily glance through the latest news and blog headlines.
Extensible with Hundreds of Add-ons - More than 100 extensions are available for Firefox today, including the A9.com, Google, and Yahoo! toolbars, which make Firefox even more customizable and convenient to use.
Easy Migration - With Firefox it's easy to switch from Internet Explorer and other browsers. Firefox imports your existing bookmarks, passwords, cookies, and other data.

Download Mozilla for free here:

http://www.mozilla.org

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Bookmark multiple tabs

Many times when I am browsing for information, I will have several tabs open in the same window. Instead of bookmarking each individually, it is possible to bookmark the whole set of tabs. Here's how:

Select Bookmarks>> Bookmark this page. In the resulting box, select the checkbox titled "Bookmark all tabs in a folder". In the "Name" text box, you can rename this folder to whatever you would like. Now, when you go to your bookmarks, you will see your new folder. When you mouse-over this folder, you will be given an option of opening the whole folder in tabs.

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Removing engines from the search box

All of the searches listed in the toolbar search box are by default all US based. You are given the option to add new search engines to this list. However, you are not given the option of removing items from this list. Below, you will find removal instructions:

Windows: Go to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins (I don't know if Mac will be different).

Each search engine has two files; .src and either .png or .gif. All you have to do is delete the two files (for example google.src and google.gif) and restart Firefox.

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One-click access to favorite pages

If you have a webpage that you visit on a regular basis, you may want to have it displayed in your Firefox Toolbar. This will give you one click access to this web page. here's how:

Open the web page you wish to list in your Firefox Toolbar. Select Bookmarks>> Bookmark this page. In the "Create in" box from the resulting window, click on the drop down arrow and select "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder". You can rename your folder whatever you would like and select OK.

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Speed up load time

Firefox is slow to load initially on Windows XP. You can speed this up a bit by using XP's built in prefetcher. Simply right-click on the Firefox icon you use to start the browser. Select Properties and in the "Target" line, add the text: /Prefetch:1

The whole line should resemble this:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /Prefetch:1

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Google Toolbar for Firefox

Download the Google Toolbar for Mozilla Firefox here:

http://googlebar.mozdev.org/installation.html

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts
CTRL + A	Select all text on a webpage
CTRL + B	Open the Bookmarks sidebar
CTRL + C	Copy the selected text to the Windows clipboard
CTRL + D	Bookmark the current webpage
CTRL + F	Find text within the current webpage
CTRL + G	Find more text within the same webpage
CTRL + H	Opens the webpage History sidebar
CTRL + I	Open the Bookmarks sidebar
CTRL + J	Opens the Download Dialogue Box
CTRL + K	Places the cursor in the Web Search box ready to type your search
CTRL + L	Places the cursor into the URL box ready to type a website address
CTRL + M	Opens your mail program (if you have one) to create a new email message
CTRL + N	Opens a new Firefox window
CTRL + O	Open a local file
CTRL + P	Print the current webpage
CTRL + R	Reloads the current webpage
CTRL + S	Save the current webpage on your PC
CTRL + T	Opens a new Firefox Tab
CTRL + U	View the page source of the current webpage
CTRL + V	Paste the contents of the Windows clipboard
CTRL + W	Closes the current Firefox Tab or Window (if more than one tab is open)
CTRL + X	Cut the selected text
CTRL + Z	Undo the last action
F1	Opens Firefox help
F3	Find more text within the same webpage
F5	Reload the current webpage
F6	Toggles the cursor between the address/URL input box and the current webpage
F7	Toggles Caret Browsing on and off. Used to be able to select text on a webpage with the keyboard
F11	Switch to Full Screen mode

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Clearing the cache

Just like Internet Explorer, and others, Firefox keeps cached files of previously visited web sites so that when they are visitied again, they will load much more quickly. However, over time, you may have quite a buildup of files in the browser cache storage. It is a good idea to delete these files from time to tim to keep your system running smoothly. Here's how:

Open Firefox
Click Tools>> Options
In the Options windows, select the Privacy icon
Click the Cache tab
Select the Clear button

Note: You have the option of changing the amount of disk space that Firefox uses for the cache storage. The default value is 50MB or 50000KB.

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Change the language

Many web site offer their content in many different languages. Firefox allows you to select different languages and displays your choices in order of priority. Here's how:

Open Firefox
Go to Tools>> Options
Click General
Select the Languages button

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Firefox User Profile Problem:

Problem:

Every 10-12 weeks a "Firefox-Choose User Profile" Box Appears. It gives me 3 choices: (1) Create Profile (2) Rename Profile (3) Delete Profile. It seems like no matter which one I choose I am unable to start my Browser. When I type in my name another box appears saying "Firefox cannot use the profile (my name) because it is in use. Please choose another profile or create a new one." I keep typing in all sorts of variations of my name and finally I must hit on one that works because all of a sudden I can start my Browser. But...all of my 41 Bookmarks are gone!

Solution:

The problem is due to a firefox.exe process that continues to run on your system. The solution is to end the process, then restart Firefox, here's how:

1. With all windows closed, press CTRL + ALT + DELETE on your keyboard.

2. In the Windows Task Manager window, select the Processes tab.

3. Click on the entry titled firefox.exe (it should now be highlighted.

4. Click the End Process button.

5. Select Yes at the resulting warning window.

6. Restart Firefox.

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Import other browsers settings

If you are switching browsers, Firefox can import all of your settings such as, bookmarks, passwords and other data from Netscape, Opera and Internet Explorer. Here's how:

When you are first installing Firefox, an Import option will be given at some point during the install process. From there, select the browser that you would like to import from. Next, select which settings you would like to import and Firefox will do the rest. If you already have Firefox and didn't import your old browser settings but you would like to do that now--no problem! Here's how:

Open Firefox
Go up to File
Select Import
The Import wizard will take you through the Import process to capture all of the settings that you require.

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Update the Firefox Browser

Unlike the Internet Explorer browser, you are not able to have Firefox automatically update itself. But, updating Firefox is easy. Here's how:

Once you see the update icon in the right corner at the top of your screen. It is a little red circle with an upward pointing white arrow. Click the icon and it will invoke the update process. Alternately, you can check at anytime via Tools>> Options>> Advanced>> Software Update.

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