Extensions Pt. 1 OR Why FireFox is so awesome.

Hello and Welcome! Thanks for checking out BlownCircuits. Today's post is the first part of my Firefox Extensions Series.

As you may remember from my previous post, Extensions are pieces that you can add to the Firefox browser to expand its functionality.

Many of the features that Extensions provide, can be obtained using separate software in Internet Explorer, but the integration with Firefox is what makes this feature unique. For example: Firefox checks for updates to all extensions whenever you upgrade to a newer version. The extensions are always run as a part of the Firefox process (or at least are only invoked through said process). And of course the best part, they are always free(my favorite word)! You should never EVER pay for a Firefox extension. If you do, you are getting ripped off, and there is probably a better free one somewhere out there. Lastly, all Extensions can be found on Mozilla's website, and can be installed instantly.

Third party applications may have their own update managers , however they also require more of your systems resources to run,as they run as separate services, typically add something to your start-up(making you machine start more slowly). Another negative is they could potentially ALWAYS be running, even when you are not using the internet (using up valuable system resources).

OK, now that I have harped on why Firefox and extensions are so great, I will get to the point. Now for a list of 'must-have' extensions. These are the extensions that I feel you cant really live without if you are using Firefox.

I will give a brief description of each and provide links for more info. All of these can be installed by Selecting Tools -> Add-ons in Firefox, clicking the Get Add-ons button on the pop-up and typing the name in the search box. Or you can follow the links below (Click the Name).

• All-in-one Gestures - This add-on is great because it lets you do lots of things without moving your mouse from the middle of the page etc. Gestures are invoked by holding the right mouse button and "drawing" a line on the screen in any combonation of up, down, left, and right. There are literally hundreds of gestures and they keep adding more. For example:

  	Back (Left): Goes back a page in the browsing history.
  	Forward (Right): Goes one page forward in the browsing history.
  	Close Tab/Window (Down-Right): Closes the active tab, or if there is only one tab, the window.
  	New Tab (Up): Opens the link crossed by the gesture in a new tab. If there is no such link, an empty tab is opened.
  	New Window (Down): Opens the link crossed by the gesture in a new browser window. If there is no such link, an empty window is opened.
  	Open links in tabs (end with Right-Up-Left): Making any gesture ending with a straight Right-Up-Left movement opens all crossed links in tabs.

• Down-Them-All - DTA is a download manager/accelerator. It has one click downloading as well as a host of other features (You can open it and say download everything on this page, by file extension)

• PDF Download - This may seem silly, but it is actually a very useful extension. PDF files are being used on more and more sites these days and can be really bulky, causing your browser to hang as it trys to download and display this large file. PDF Download allows you to specify how Firefox handles PDFs. When you click a link that brings you to a pdf, it pops up the following toolbar and you make your choice from there:

• Del.ici.ous plug-in - In my opinion a very important add-on. Del.ici.ous is a website that allows you to store all your favorite places online. If you are like me, you reformat PC's often and don't have the time or the inclination to move your bookmarks back and forth. Or you use a lot of computers and want the ability to call up your websites whenever. Del.ici.ous is great for this and it has a nice Firefox extension! Read more on their site.
  

• I.E. Tab - I reluctantly have to include this because there are still some websites that force you to use I.E. or aren't standards compliant (like Firefox) so they just don't quite work with Firefox. I.E. Tab allows you to open a website using I.E.'s engine in a Firefox tab. It also lets you preset websites to open with I.E. Tab, and you can switch any tab in Firefox on the fly.

The above extensions are what I consider to be essential, if you have any recommendations on ESSENTIAL plug-ins, leave a comment, and I might add it to a future post.

Tune in next time for Part 2 of the extensions series where I recommend some more useful add-ons.

Peace,
~K

Browsers

Today I am going to talk a little bit about the different types of browsers out there and the alternatives you have to using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (Thats right, there ARE alternatives to IE).  It's a long post, so get ready.

There are a number of alternative browsers out there, namely:

• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Opera
• Apple's Safari

There are also lots of other alternatives based on the Mozilla engine (the power behind firefox):

• Seahorse
• Flock
  

There are a few things that all of these browsers have in common, that make them all great alternatives to Internet Explorer.

• Tabbed browsing
• Support for modern web pages with HTML, CSS, SSL, and JavaScript
• Cookies and cookie management
• Plugins and Java
• Ad blocking and/or pop-up blocking (this is a big one.)
• Download Managers
• Integrated Search
• Favorites/Bookmarks and import
• Heightened Security

Microsoft is starting to wisen up to some of these features (IMHO all requirements) like tabbed browsing, etc. But they still have a long way to go...

The most important reason to make the switch to one of these alternative browsers lies in the rampant Virus, Trojan, and Spyware (a.k.a adware, malware, POPUPS) that plague the internet and have infected many websites.   Internet Explorer is inherently insecure and most of these types of malicious software are written specifically to manipulate the security holes of IE.

Ok, now to my Recommendations.  I am going to recommend either Firefox or Chrome as my browsers of choice. 

Firefox

There are a myriad of reasons why I recommend firefox.  It really is a great browser and the one that I use whenever I have the choice.  I have been using firefox since before its official release and must say that this browser has really grown over the years.  The big three things that Firefox proports over IE are speed, security, and extensibility.  

Speed

One of the major problems with Microsofts products are their speed.   This can be attributed to a number of different factors: poor use of memory resources, bad deallocation of said resources, among other things.  Firefox's big selling point in the begginning was its speed over IE.  This is shown in two ways, First the program itself responds faster, and opens faster than IE, Second it actually interprets Websites faster, and begins displaying all the information much more quickly.

A great example of this is the tabbed browsing feature which is available in IE7 and Firefox.  I can have multiple tabs open in Firefox and the speed at which I open new tabs dosent start to diminish until I am well past the hundred tab mark  (yeah, yeah, I know thats a lot of tabs...)  On the contrary, IE starts to SERIOUSLY bog down after about 10 tabs, and will often not open anymore tabs after 30, unless you close a previous tab.

All this being said, there was a significant drop off in speed from Firefox version 1 to 2.  However, with the latest release of Firefox 3.0 a lot of these issues have been rectified. Either way, its always been faster than IE.

Security

Firefox has a lot of built in security features that differentiate it from IE and make it much safer to use.

- No ActiveX:  ActiveX is an interface provided by microsoft to allow direct access to the operating system, its actually a very neat interface but it is also often used to compromise a system.  Firefox doesn't support it at all, considering it too much of a risk.

- No "Run from browser" functionality for executable files. (.exe):  Many viruses, etc are installed from executable files.  Firefox requires you to save to your system (and hopefully scan with your anit-virus) ALL files (not just executables) to prevent this type of system compromise.

- Auto Bad Site blocker:  There are many sites out there that are known to contain viruses and spyware.  Mozilla has a list of those sites and will automatically block them whenever you try to access.  Of course, you can always click through the warning and access the site anyway... but at least you have been warned.

Extensibility

One of the best features firefox is the ability to extend its base functionality with plugins or "extensions" written by users and the Mozilla developers.

Extensions add all sorts of neat features likeBlog managers, Ebay notifiers, E-mail integration, Social Networking (facebook, myspace), Download Managers, and a myriad of other things.  Basically, if you want it, it probably exists.  The best part about these extensions is that they are all fully integrated with Firefox.  Firefox handles the downloading and installation, as well as updates, and it is much sleaker than having to install a third party application and start it seperately, use more memory, etc.

Stay tuned for future posts about my recommended add-ons.

And thats that for Firefox, if you want to download it, click the image below to be redirected to the official download site.

             

Chrome

Chrome is Google's answer to the browser wars.  Release Tuesday, Sept. 2 (yesterday) in beta form, it already has a lot to offer and shares many of the features  that make Firefox great.

As it is only recently released, I haven't had much time to play with it, but here are my observations so far:

• Expanded Address Bar:  The address bar now serves multiple purposes, it accepts website URL's will display related google search options, and also will display related web history.
• New Tab page:  While Firefox allows you to open new tabs, google added a neat feature to every new tab that is loaded.  Instead of loading a blank page for a new tab, it displays your most frequently accessed sites in thumbnail form for quick and easy reference.
• Dynamic Tabs:  Another neat tab feature, and one I have wanted from Firefox for a long time.  This feature lets you Drag tabs out of the current browser and create a new window.  It also lets you do the opposite, drag windows together to make one tabbed window.
• Tab Crash Control: This is actually a really neat feature.  By making each tab seperate, and give Chrome a task manager, you can prevent losing ALL of your tabs when an application crashes in one.  (happens to me all the time...)
• Incognito Mode:  Basically a mode to prevent certain pages from showing up in your history or new tabs.  Kind of a silly feature, but there you have it.  Could be useful if you don't want people to know that you really aren't computer smart, you just get all your info from me!  ( I kid, I kid!)
• Download manager:  Not really that special but it has a couple of simple yet flashy features.

There are still some obvious bugs (hey its beta!), issues with facebook, and editing this blog come quickly to mind, but I think it will be a really good browser in the future.  And really, its Google, so it has to be good.  They continue to be the bull in the china shop when it comes to software development and this is no exception.

If you want to check it out, click the image below for the download page.

     

CHROME

Well, that about wraps it up for my first official post.  I recommend trying these browsers out and giving them a while before you completely switch, or forsake them for the familiarity of IE.   Remember it's always hard to change from the familiar, but it is often rewarding.

-K

First Post:

Ok, Just thought I would get this first post out of the way and explain the purpose of this blog a little to everyone.

First, there are a couple of things I hope to promote on this blog:

• Safe and secure use of the internet
• free and open source software
• tips to speed up your computer and make it work for YOU.
  
• my own weird sense of humor.

I'll Tend to break it down into different sections/themes each week and try to focus on related Items in subsequent posts (but don't hold me to that.) At the very least I will try to post one Item a week, and will take requests if they come in.

I will also probably randomly post unrelated stuff (funny, interesting links, etc.)

Thanks,
K