Firefox Tweak Guide
[Page 3] The Basics
Why Firefox?
It may seem odd to have this question here, but given all the hype surrounding Firefox, let's sort out the facts first up.
Mozilla Firefox - simply called 'Firefox' for short - is basically a free Internet browser, the same in many ways as the Internet Explorer or Opera browsers for example. These browsers are all vying for a greater slice of market share in the increasingly competitive browser market, and the resulting competition has meant that they have all improved greatly in the past few years; the latest version of each browser now provides a solid set of features, good security, and sufficient speed. What Firefox supporters claim as being a key benefit of Firefox above all the other browsers is the fact that it is highly customizable, both in terms of its appearance and more importantly its functionality, through a large range of free add-ons. Firefox also has several unique features which you may find very useful, perhaps indispensable, and which are covered in the next two sections of this guide.
You can download and use Firefox alongside all your other browsers and web-based applications - even Internet Explorer - without any problems whatsoever. It doesn't take over your system or install dozens of useless background programs which clutter your PC. If you choose to uninstall Firefox, it doesn't leave a mess behind either - it is quite light and totally safe to install and use. At the end of the day I recommend that you do yourself a favor, step out of your comfort zone for a moment, and put in maybe 30 minutes to download, install and play around with Firefox. If you're still not interested, then that's fine; I have a detailed chapter on tweaking the latest version of Internet Explorer in the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion which you can use instead.
The History of Firefox
If you're interested in how Firefox came about, and how its feature set has developed, you might want to read about Firefox's interesting history in this Wikipedia Article. The article also provides a listing of all the various Firefox versions past, present and future, and the major changes they involve. For a more specific look at the Firefox browser and its features, read this Wikipedia Article.
Firefox 3.5
Firefox 3.5 is a major release, but not as significant as Firefox 3.0. The optimizations and new features in Firefox 3.0 were all detailed here. Firefox 3.5 is an evolutionary improvement on Firefox 3.0, adding several features which just missed out in making it to 3.0, as well as further improving the speed and stability of Firefox. In brief, the most noticeable new features of Firefox 3.5 include:
If you're running any older versions of Firefox it is strongly recommended that you download and install Firefox 3.5 as soon as possible, if only for the speed improvements if nothing else.
Importantly: I strongly recommend that anyone who has an older Firefox version does a full uninstall and cleanout of all traces of their previous Firefox version (as detailed further below) before installing Firefox 3.5, especially if upgrading from a version prior to Firefox 3.0.XX. This will ensure that all features work correctly and that the browser performs optimally.
Downloading and Installing Firefox
The Firefox browser is a completely free download, and quite a small package at around 8MB. The system requirements for Firefox are listed here, but basically the browser can be installed on virtually any computer using a recent version of Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X. To download Firefox, click the button below:
Note: I don't receive any income or benefit from referring you to Firefox throughout
this guide. I am not affiliated in any way with the Mozilla Foundation.
Non-English International Users: To download the correct version for your operating system and language, go here and click on the relevant link. This is recommended in particular for features like the built-in spell checker which are region-specific.
Release Notes: If you're running an earlier version of Firefox, you can check the Firefox Release Notes to see the specific differences in each version of Firefox under various platforms up to and including the current version.
Once you've downloaded the installation package, installing Firefox is simple - just run the package. If you've downloaded a special build of Firefox which comes as a .zip archive and has no installer, simply create a new Firefox folder under your \Program Files directory and extract its contents there. You can then start Firefox by running the Firefox.exe file.
Note that during the initial installation of Firefox, you will be asked whether you want to import your current bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history etc. from Internet Explorer. I recommend that you select Yes to this option, as it will make the transition to using Firefox much easier. However if you say No at this point, you can still choose to import any of your IE settings later on, as well as being able to import or export your bookmarks, so it is not critical that you do so now.
Using Firefox for the First Time
If you're not familiar with Firefox, that's not a problem. Firefox is virtually identical to Internet Explorer in its core functionality and interface, so using it is fairly intuitive. Most everything works the way you would expect it to. The most noticeable differences are: a slightly different - and highly customizable - appearance; the lack of a 'click' sound when you click on hyperlinks; and the ability to use various Add-Ons called Extensions (which customize functionality) and Themes (which customize appearance). Of course Firefox has a lot more features and benefits than just these, but these are the more obvious things you may notice at first over Internet Explorer.
Since Internet Explorer is still the most popular Internet browser in the world, Firefox is designed to quickly and automatically adopt your existing Internet Explorer settings. You may have already imported a range of settings from Internet Explorer as part of the Firefox installation process. However if you haven't yet done this, or if you want to update these again at any time, go to the File menu in Firefox and select the Import item. Select the browser you want to import settings from, and click Next. On the next screen select the components you wish to import and follow the prompts after that.
One of the major advantages of Firefox is the fact that its appearance and functionality can be altered to suit your tastes in many more ways than Internet Explorer can, and it has a range of features you may have never seen before. Once you have a handle on the basic settings, make absolutely sure you read the Firefox Settings and Features, Tips and Trick sections carefully. Then once you've experimented with those, you might like to try the Advanced Tweaking section to really customize and optimize Firefox. If you're not sure where to go or what to try first, just keep reading along and see what interests you.
Uninstalling Firefox
If you have a previous version of Firefox before Version 3.5, I strongly recommend that you completely uninstall it, do a thorough cleanout of any traces of it as covered below, and then install the full 3.5 package or newer. This will prevent a wide range of problems down the track, particularly as settings and customizations from previous Firefox versions may conflict with, hide or remove certain new Firefox features or benefits. If you're experiencing strange issues in any version of Firefox, even the latest version, then doing a complete uninstall and cleanout as covered below is also recommended to resolve this.
In any case, to completely remove all traces of Firefox from your system follow these steps:
1. Backup your bookmarks as a Bookmarks.html file. In Firefox 2 go to the Bookmarks menu, select 'Organize Bookmarks', then select File>Export. In Firefox 3, go to the Bookmarks menu, select 'Organize Bookmarks', then select 'Import and Backup'>'Export HTML'. Alternatively you can export bookmarks in .JSON format by selecting 'Import and Backup'>Backup. The difference between .HTML and .JSON Bookmark files is explained in more detail at the beginning of the Advanced Tweaking section of the guide.
2. Go to Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs in Windows XP; or Control Panel>Programs & Features in Windows Vista, and if a 'Mozilla Firefox' entry (or similar) exists, select it and click Change/Remove and uninstall it. During uninstallation, tick the 'Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations' box as well - note that this will delete all of your bookmarks and saved settings, so make sure you've backed up your bookmarks as covered in step 1, and also note down any passwords which you might otherwise forget.
3. Go to your \Program Files\Mozilla Firefox directory and delete it and all of its contents if it still exists.
4. Delete the following directories if they still exist:
In Windows XP -
\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Mozilla
\Documents and Settings\[Username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla
In Windows Vista -
\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Mozilla
\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\
5. Find and remove all Firefox/Mozilla-related entries in the Windows Registry. Using the Windows Registry Editor (Start>Run>Regedit), delete any of the following keys if they exist - that is, right click on their name in the left pane of Registry Editor and select Delete:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxHTML]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxURL\]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\firefox.exe]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mozilla]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MozillaPlugins]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\mozilla.org]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\FirefoxHTML]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\FirefoxURL]
Note: If you also have Mozilla Thunderbird or any other Mozilla products installed, make sure to only delete entries under the keys above which specifically relate directly to Firefox by name.
If you are not confident with using the Registry Editor, see the Windows Registry chapter of the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion for more detailed instructions and other registry cleaning alternatives.
The steps above will remove all the major Firefox-related settings and traces which can cause problems with newer or even existing installations. In most cases you should only have to undertake Steps 1 and 2 of the above list. However again I must stress that if you are updating to Firefox 3.5 or newer from an older version of Firefox such as Firefox 1, 2 or even Firefox 3.0, or having strange problems with Firefox and nothing else in this guide works to resolve it, then I strongly suggest you follow all the steps above so you can remove all traces of Firefox. On the other hand keep in mind that you do not need to uninstall Firefox when updating for minor incremental versions of Firefox, just use the built-in updater to install the latest version instead.
On the next page we start looking at how to correctly configure Firefox's in-browser options - this is very important and should not be skipped.
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