Firefox Tip – Search Your Open Tabs

A search is all about finding something. Searching on Firefox is about finding something – faster. Contributor Anthony R. has a great tip to help you find what you’re looking for as quickly as possible.

“Put a percent sign (%) in front of a word in the Awesome Bar (url bar) to search only your open tabs.”

Thanks, Anthony! An awesome tip for the Awesome Bar!

Read more on searching with the Awesome Bar.

Do you have a tip you’d like to share with other Firefox users? Please post it on our Facebook page with #FirefoxTips and tag us, or post on Twitter with #FirefoxTips.

If you found this tip useful, be sure to share it using the Facebook and Twitter buttons below, and help tell the world about Firefox! Or, view the tips archive.

Use Firefox to Stay on Top of the News

Extra extra! Read all about it! Are you a news junkie? Can’t get enough of the latest headlines? Or maybe there’s a blog that you read on a regular basis, and you’d like to know when it’s updated. (Like this blog, perhaps? *Hint hint*)

If you have a Bookmarks Toolbar activated (and if you don’t, here’s how to activate it) you’ll notice that Firefox already has a Latest Headlines bookmark there for you. If that source provides you what you’re looking for, great! If not, hey, that’s okay too! Just right click on Latest Headlines, choose Delete, and create your own!

Go to any site that you’d like to follow with a feed, be it a news site like CNN.com, BBC.com, NYTimes.com or any blog, feed, etc. With that site as the open tab, select Bookmarks from the Menu Bar and then Subscribe to this Page.

The page will change to show you its feed, and allow you to select from a dropdown called “Subscribe to this page using”, where you’ll choose Live Bookmarks. Now, updates from that site are included in your Bookmarks Toolbar. If you click on the small downward facing arrow beside of that bookmark, you’ll see the latest updates to that site, and then you can select the specific update you’d like to read.

What if you want to get updates on a site that doesn’t have a feed? Try an Add-on like Update Scanner that will look for new page updates.

And that’s some news you can use!

Firefox Tip – Easy Awesome Bar Search

Yay! You have Firefox as your Web browser! Now what?

There are lots of tips and tricks to help you super-power your Firefox experience – and your Web experience. The best part is that many of these tips come directly from the Firefox community – Firefox users helping other Firefox users. That puts a big smile on our faces.

Here’s one of our favorites.

Did you know that you can search directly from the Awesome Bar (a.k.a the URL bar)? No need to open a new tab or window, just type in a search term and voila: search results!

Read more on searching with the Awesome Bar.

If you have a tip you’d like to share with other Firefox users, please post it on our Facebook page with #FirefoxTips and tag us, or post on Twitter with #FirefoxTips. You can view the tips archive here.

If you found this tip useful, be sure to share it using the Facebook and Twitter buttons below, and help tell the world about Firefox!

Text too small? Use Firefox Zoom Controls.

Problem: The text on that Website is just too small, or, it’s so big that the page doesn’t even look right anymore.

Cause: Maybe your cat sat on your laptop again. Maybe you’re too stubborn to wear your reading glasses. Maybe aliens adjusted your computer settings. Whatever the cause, we’re here to give you the . . .

Solution: Use the zoom settings in Firefox. Here’s how.

If you would like to zoom the whole page in or out, there are several ways you can do it. The first way is to go to the menu bar and select View > Zoom, and then select Zoom In or Zoom Out. There are keyboard shortcuts as well. If you’re on a PC, hold down the Control button and the plus sign (+) to zoom in or the minus sign (-) to zoom out.

If you find yourself using the zoom function frequently – because your cat sits on your laptop often, perhaps – you can add zoom controls to your toolbar. See how to customize your toolbar here.

If you would like to only zoom in on the text, and not the images, select Text Zoom when you go to the menu bar and select View > Zoom.

If you want change your Firefox setting to change the size of the text on any Web page you visit, you can set the default text zoom. Select Firefox > Options and then choose the Content panel. Next, in the Fonts & Colors section, choose Advanced. In the Minimum Font Size drop-down menu, choose the minimum size that you would like all text to be displayed. And uncheck the box that says Web sites may choose their font size.

There’s also an Add-on you could use to adjust the zoom. It’s called NoSquint, and it lets you adjust these settings on a per-site basis, or for all Web sites.

Yay! Now you can view the text the way you want. No matter whether the kitty or the alien changed your settings.

Load Firefox Tabs Faster with Tab Preferences

In honor of International Earth Day on April 22, we want to help you manage your Firefox resources. We can’t make you unplug your computer, but we can get you on the Web faster and give you a better browsing experience so you can make the most of your time online.

If you browse the Web with multiple tabs open at once, there’s a great way to speed up your browser and enhance Firefox’s performance by loading one tab at a time when you restart – or any time you open your browser. (See this site for more on browsing with tabs.) By changing a few settings, each tab will load as you select it (instead of all tabs at once), which will make your Firefox faster. You’re managing your Firefox memory, which makes your Firefox start up faster, and new pages load more quickly, which makes your experience better, and makes you a happier Firefox user! In the next few months, this will be the norm for everyone, because we’re going to build it into the browser. Until then, here’s how you can turn on this setting yourself.

Steps:
1. Select Firefox -> Options (Preferences on a Mac)
2. In the General panel of your Options menu – look at your Startup selection
3. From the drop-down menu, select Show my windows and tabs from last time – this will restore the pages you were visiting the last time you closed Firefox.
4. Just under that drop-down box, check the box that reads Don’t load tabs until selected. Voila! Now, only the last tab you were working in will be loaded on startup.

There’s even a shortcut you can use to open a tab – you don’t have to leave your keyboard! Press the Control (Command on a Mac) button and the letter T at the same time, and a new tab will open. The cursor will even be ready in the Awesome Bar to let you start typing the url. Who needs a mouse?

For more on using Tabs, visit our Support site.

Clean Up Firefox Extensions in 5 Minutes

Got five minutes? It’s not a large amount of time, but it’s just the right time to click a few buttons and perform a few easy Firefox steps that will enhance your Web browsing. For example, if you have five minutes, you could clean up your Firefox extensions. If you have extensions you’re not using, they can slow down your browser performance, so let’s speed things up, shall we?

Go to Tools -> Add-ons, and select the “Extensions” tab. Here you’ll find all of the extensions that you’ve added to Firefox.

Scroll through your list of extensions and Add-ons – we bet you have some that you didn’t even remember were there. If you see one that you’re not using regularly, go ahead and click the Disable button. This won’t remove the Add-on, it’ll just stop it loading up when you start Firefox. You can always re-enable it if you decide you need it back.

If there are some extensions that you either disabled in the past, or were really confused when you downloaded them because you’ll never use them, go ahead and remove them. Simply click the Uninstall button.

Now, restart Firefox. And, you’re done. You did something productive with those five minutes – yay!

5 Tips for Using Facebook on Firefox

Status updates. Gaming. Photo sharing. These are all part of the Facebook experience online. They’re important parts of the Firefox browsing experience as well!

Here are some tips and tricks for optimizing your Facebook experience on Firefox.

1. Get the latest Firefox. The most important thing is to make sure you’re running the latest version of Firefox for the best experience. Download it now.

2. Optimize plug-ins for Facebook games. If you’re running your mafia, tending your farm or finding words with the highest point value, you’ll want to make sure that your Firefox plug-in settings will allow you to load games.

Make sure your Flash plug-in allows third-party content. Here’s how: Open your Adobe Flash Player Global Settings panel, and make sure “Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer” is checked. For other Facebook troubleshooting tips in Firefox, be sure to read our support page.

3. Set an App Tab. If you find yourself typing the Facebook url over and over again, save your fingers and set Facebook as an App Tab, which allows you to always keep it open and just a click away. App Tabs are small, can’t be closed accidentally and open automatically when you start Firefox. Here’s how: Control-click or right-click on the tab you want to turn into an App Tab and select “Pin as App Tab” from the menu.

4. Install a Firefox Facebook Add-on. Firefox has a number of Add-ons that can enhance your Facebook experience. There are many, but here are a few highlights:

– Yoono is a powerful but easy-to-use sidebar for Firefox that helps you simplify your online social life by connecting you to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, GoogleBuzz, Flickr, Yammer, AIM, Yahoo IM and more…all in one place.

– Facebook Translate lets you translate status updates and comments on Facebook, so you can stay in contact with your friends around the world, even if they update their status in their own language.

Our Facebook fans also have some more Add-ons that they recommend for daily use on Firefox.

5. Fan Firefox! Be sure to follow Firefox on Facebook to get more tips, tricks and fun!

 

5 Firefox Facebook-Fan-Favorite Add-Ons

Firefox Fan

Recently, we asked our Firefox Facebook fans (follow us here) to share their best tips for using Firefox. One tip we heard over and over was to enhance your Firefox with Add-ons. There were a few overwhelmingly recommended Add-ons – so you know they must be good.

Here are the top five most-recommended Add-ons from our Firefox Facebook fans.

  1. Adblock Plus – Our Facebook fans use this Add-on a lot! They say it’s a “must have” and “essential” to their browsing experience. They use this to block ads, tracking and banners, to regain control of the internet and change the way that you view the web.
  2. Ghostery – Several fans recommend Ghostery as a “cool” add-on that “protects my privacy.” It allows you to see who’s tracking your web browsing and block them.
  3. Foxclocks – Facebook fan Raki says this Add-on is fantastic. “Love it! Foxclocks helps to keep track of friends’ time zones.”
  4. Forecastfox – Fan Daniel M. says “I keep track of the weather with Firefox. The Forecastfox extension warns me of severe weather headed my way.”
  5. LastPass – Fan Randy O “highly recommends” Last Pass. It’s an online password manager and Form Filler that makes your web browsing easier and more secure.

There you have it! Our Facebook fans’ top Add-on recommendations. Give them a try, and if you have a favorite, head on over to our Facebook page and tell us!

While you’re there, we have some tips for using Facebook on Firefox that you could put to good use.

Firefox Beta Shows What’s Coming Soon to Firefox

If you love using Firefox, you’ll love trying out Firefox Beta and getting a look at the features we’re working on for our next version. You even get to help us make Firefox better in the process.

Firefox Beta is pretty stable, but you still may find some bugs, so it’s not for everyone. Of course, finding bugs is the point. We’re still putting the finishing touches on things, so you can help us refine and polish performance and functionality by providing feedback. You’ll not only help us make the next version of Firefox more awesome, but you’ll have an impact on the 450 million users who use it every day (that’s a lot of people!).

Download it today and then let us know what you think!

How to Protect Your Social Security Number

Today we have some advice from the Privacy & Security Team at Firefox.

Did you know that with your name and Social Security Number (SSN), an identity thief can open new credit and bank accounts, rent an apartment, or even get a job?  Your SSN is confidential because it is the key to a lot of your personal information.  A thief can use it to get even more information about you.

One of the easiest things you can do to protect yourself is to be very careful about sharing it, even when it is requested on a form. Always ask why your number is needed, how it will be used and what will happen if you refuse. The answers to these questions can help you lower your risk and decide when to provide Social Security number.  There is no law that prevents a business from asking for your SSN, but quite often, they don’t need it and you can choose not to provide it.

Additionally, experts recommend keeping your Social Security card in a safe place at home – don’t routinely carry it in your wallet.  Never respond to phone or email requests for your number – always make sure you’ve initiated the interaction.  Shred discarded documents.  And if you suspect a problem, report it and get help.

For more tips on protecting your SSN and what to do if you suspect it’s being misused, visit the official website of the Social Security Administration.