Chris Pirillo » browser

How to Improve Internet Explorer

Chris — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:22:24 +0000

How to Improve Internet Explorer is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Back in the day, I used to love Internet Explorer. It was awesome… up until version 4 and above. A lot of people out there still use IE, and will continue to do so. You can install a new plugin that Google has released – and have your install of Internet Explorer kick serious browser butt once again.

Installing the new Google Chrome Frame plugin will allow you to still run Internet Explorer. But, instead of using the IE rendering engine (the way that HTML and objects are rendered) this plugin will supplant it with Google’s engine. This is so much faster, and will make web pages look even better.

You don’t need Google Chrome’s web browser installed. You can simply load this plugin, and everything will run faster and better from within Internet Explorer – including javascript! You can also start using open web technologies – like the HTML5 canvas tag – right away, even technologies that aren’t yet supported in Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8!!

So if you have friends and family who insist on using Internet Explorer, go ahead and install this plugin for them. They’ll never know you did it, and they’ll be raving about how much faster and better their IE is running!

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How to Change the Skins in Firefox (Personas!)

Chris — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:43:54 +0000

How to Change the Skins in Firefox (Personas!) is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Yes, I’ve recorded thousands of videos for YouTube over the years. I’m considering changing some things up soon, including wearing a Fez hat! The Fez is just so cool. I enjoy changing up the way things look at times, don’t you? But, I digress. This video is about making things look different in your web browser – specifically Firefox!

Firefox Personas asks: What will your browser wear today?. Personas are lightweight, easy-to-install and easy-to-change “skins” for your Firefox web browser. You can easily switch between Personas with just a few clicks. There are hundreds of Personas to choose from, with more added every day. You can even create your own and share it with others.

Personas is simple to use, and free! It takes less than 60 seconds to make your browsing experience something completely new and different! Once you install the plugin, just click the tiny fox icon at the bottom left of your browser screen and get started!

You change your clothes and look every day – why not change your browser’s, as well?

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How Do You Enlarge Web Site Fonts for Printing?

Chris — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:19:41 +0000

How Do You Enlarge Web Site Fonts for Printing? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Yes, I’m addicted to fonts. I’ve admitted it for years. I like looking at cool fonts, and enjoy finding new ones. Someone from the PCPitStop community recently asked how he can enlarge fonts on a web page, to make it easier for him to read. You don’t need a new printer, don’t worry! The answer lies within your browser itself!

My recommendation for a browser is Firefox, Safari or even Chrome. No matter what browser you’re using, you should be able to change the font sizes on the page before you read it or even print it. You can check the associated help file in order to learn how to change these settings.

In Firefox, you can change your font sizes by simply holding down your CTRL button, and clicking the + button/sign as many times as needed to increase your font size on the page.
In Internet Explorer, click on View, and then hover your mouse over Text Size. Choose large or larger in order to increase the font to something you can easily read.
If you use Opera, you can click on View and then hover the mouse over Zoom at the bottom of the View menu. From there, you can increase the percentage to make the text manageable for your needs.
With Safari, you will again go to the View menu. Once there, click on “Make Text Larger”, and adjust the percentages accordingly.

Hopefully this answers the question properly. Thankfully, all browsers have ways that you can easily change your settings on everything from font size to the colors that display… in order to maximize the browsing experience for everyone. Don’t let bad eyesight keep you from enjoying everything the web has to offer!

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What’s a Browser User-Agent String?

Chris — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:38:56 +0000

What’s a Browser User-Agent String? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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A Browser User-Agent is information that your browser passes along to websites when you visit any particular web page. It’s benign information – mostly about the browser itself to help optimize your experience. There are tons of different web browsers available to use, and each of them has their own unique user-agent string.

When you visit a Web page, your browser sends the user-agent string to the server hosting the site that you are visiting. This string indicates which browser you are using, its version number, and details about your system, such as operating system and version. The Web server can use this information to provide content that is tailored for your specific browser.

The easiest way for you to analyze your own user-agent string is to visit the UserAgentString web site. As soon as you go to the site, you’ll see that your information is displayed on the page, such as the browser and operating system you are using. You can also analyze it on the page – learning what each part means.

This information is being passed along, whether you knew it or not. Other information is being passed along, as well – such as whether javascript is turned on. None of these things are something that should be hidden, or covered up. It’s a good thing for developers to be able to see this information, so that they can make sure their site is working properly for your particular browser.

Trying out this site won’t help you figure out what browser may be the fastest, but it will give you information about the browsers that you may not have known.

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Google Chrome for Mac OS X

Chris — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:03:25 +0000

Google Chrome for Mac OS X is a post from Chris Pirillo

Apparently, Google Chrome Will Have Extensions by May. That’s great news for those of you on Windows – even if you’re not running Google Chrome as your default browser, it’s only getting more powerful (and a viable alternative to either Firefox or Internet Explorer).

However, Google Chrome has yet to ship for Mac OS X. There’s half-assed efforts that allow you to run Chrome through a virtual machine, but there’s no way I’d ever do that with any browser (nor would I recommend that course of action).

There’s a sign up page for the first Chrome beta, but look how long it took Google to port Picasa to Mac OS X? Some people have pointed me to Stainless, but I find its UI less-than-impressive. Not to say that Google Chrome for Windows would win any awards, but… the feature set is rather tough to beat.

Until then, I suppose I’ll stick with WebKit nightlies (in the hopes that they’ll adopt a few of the smarter features from Chrome at some point in the future). I asked my Twitter followers what they thought, and the responses were certainly mixed:

roehmholdt: I’ve been asking that question since day one of Chrome.

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:25:31 +0000 2009

kalisurfer: we don’t need another sticking browser from google. we already have firefox

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:25:37 +0000 2009

chrisgrayson: Google Chrome… without a version for the Mac, I had forgotten it existed.

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:26:30 +0000 2009

dkemper: Ah, er, OS X version? Aah, er, shortly. Yes, very soon.

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:27:04 +0000 2009

MarkBancks: Maybe OS X will be one of the new extensions ….

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:27:15 +0000 2009

chrisutley: Who cares, Chris? Do we really need another browser? Everybody get behind #Firefox and crush IE once and for all.

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:27:55 +0000 2009

Fazi14: on the google website they are working on a Mac OS X version.

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:28:04 +0000 2009

Xtel: Do you know if there will be one for delicious?

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:28:07 +0000 2009

BenWillis: I totally agree, a large portion of the early adoption crowd are mac users, what is google thinking!

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:28:35 +0000 2009

jackwilson: RT @chrispirillo: “Google Chrome Will Have Extensions by May.” And when the hell are we going to see a version for Mac OS X?

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:29:25 +0000 2009

djbruce: google is already so mac friendly. why would they want to push out safari?

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:29:59 +0000 2009

walkinpp: Yeah, I think they need a Mac Version and Linux would be good too

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:30:11 +0000 2009

Outsanity: In 2021

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:31:36 +0000 2009

jacobovillegas: RT “Google Chrome Will Have Extensions by May.” And when the hell are we going to see a version for Mac OS X?

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:32:21 +0000 2009

r0b: I’d like to know when as well. I refuse to run Chrome in VMWare Unity Mode.

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:33:41 +0000 2009

pepetideo: you can use the crossover google chrome version for mac… It is not very fast but it works ok

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:33:47 +0000 2009

ScottEO: a year later than everyone else for OS X. The usual

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:36:14 +0000 2009

jkneen: what is this Mac OSX thing? ;)

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:37:11 +0000 2009

jakeludington: you have Google Chrome for OS X, it’s called Safari ;)

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:37:12 +0000 2009

ghigliotty: amen! I love it on the pc but work on a mac. Come on googalinos .

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:37:18 +0000 2009

clcradio: I am thinking, if Chrome has extensions, no reason why the browser couldn’t be worked in OSX – sounds crazy, I know.

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:38:03 +0000 2009

MacTheMan: “Google Chrome Will Have Extensions by May.” And when the hell are we going to see a version for Mac OS X? (via @chrispirillo)

about 2 hours ago

Fri Feb 06 00:39:22 +0000 2009

trapline91: There working on bringing it to mac….http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/mac.html

about an hour ago

Fri Feb 06 00:44:21 +0000 2009

robpickering: Agree with @chrisutley, yawn. Don’t care if they never make it.

about an hour ago

Fri Feb 06 00:52:22 +0000 2009

Mat_Lane: I know it’s getting past a joke. I want Chrome now! It will deffo be my main browser when its here for Mac

about an hour ago

Fri Feb 06 00:53:00 +0000 2009

ekas93: LOL

about 51 minutes ago

Fri Feb 06 01:51:13 +0000 2009

pajamasceo: Yeah really. We need Chrome for the Mac pronto. Are you listening Google?

about 23 minutes ago

Fri Feb 06 02:18:53 +0000 2009

Are you using Google Chrome – or am I the only one who really wants to see it running on Mac OS X?

Have You Tried the New AOL Desktop?

Chris — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:49:42 +0000

Have You Tried the New AOL Desktop? is a post from Chris Pirillo

iPhone is a regular member of our chat room, and sent me a surprising email the other day. He has apparently found something from AOL that he is happy with. Take a look:

I wanted to share something GOOD AOL made. No I’m not kidding, I actually like the app really well. It’s called AOL Desktop. It’s available for the Mac and PC both. Yes, it may be AOL, but it actually has been very reliable. When you first open AOL Desktop, it will give you a toolbar at the top which you can customize. It kinda reminds me of Webkit, except it has a better User Interface, and crashes a few times. But remember, we’re talking about AOL. The best thing is the browser. They fully changed the browser… and at some points it was actually faster than Safari. I went to Chris’ site from my AOL browser and my Safari browser at the same time (have them both as my home page). AOL desktop browser beat Safari by 7.62 seconds. I also tried websites like Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Friendfeed. AOL Desktop beat Safari by about 1-2 seconds every time when loading pages fully. That may not seem like that big of a difference, but it really is when you add up all the pages you load in a normal day.
Also, you can have AIM, E-mail, and your browser all in one app. Of course… Apple mail is MUCH better than AOL’s e-mail app. I wouldn’t recommend using the e-mail app. But, I definitely recommend you try out the browser.

Thanks, iPhone for passing this along. I’m sure several people will be checking this out in the near future. What other apps do all of you recommend that we may be skeptical about the quality of? Let’s hear what you’re using.

Free Video Conferencing and Chat: No Downloads!

Chris — Sat, 24 May 2008 01:32:50 +0000

Free Video Conferencing and Chat: No Downloads! is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Matt says: “I just found out about this free service that allows you to video/voice chat with as many people as you like over the Internet using a flash plug-in within your browser. You just don’t have to install it on your computer or anything!” The flash software you already have installed will make this chat service work!

MeBeam is a free web-based chat service. It’s so simple, it’s almost scary. You simply choose a room name, invite people to join you, and start chatting. That’s seriously all there is to it.

I was surprised at how easy this is to use. It may not be “pretty”, but it works! I created a temporary room, and sent out a link. Within seconds, I was video chatting with about seven other people. You can imagine the fun you can have with it. More than anything, I know I will be using this site to conference with people from now on. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s web-based. What more could I want?

MeBeam comes to us courtesy of the folks at Meebo. Meebo is a new communications and media company that’s re-writing the way people have conversations and communicate on the Web. You can keep in touch with friends you know on any instant messaging network. Instant messaging from absolutely anywhere, no downloads or installs required, and free!

If I had one request, it would be that I would get more emails from all of you at chris@pirillo.com. The emails I love to get the most are ones like these, letting us all know about free services and products that can help make our lives earlier. So send yours along!

Webcams on Amazon to help you video conference!

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Should Web Sites Block Old Browsers?

Chris — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:24:46 +0000

Should Web Sites Block Old Browsers? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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It’s frustrating when you are using an old favorite browser, only to go to a web site that pops up a pretty little box telling you you cannot enter. The site has decided to block certain browsers that they feel are outdated from accessing their site. How unfair is that? If you aren’t using a web browser that hasn’t been updated in the past year, there’s something wrong with you and / or your system. If you keep only one piece of software up-to-date… it needs to be your browser.

PayPal recently stepped forward and decided to block older web browsers. By older, I mean ones that haven’t been updated in the last ten years. I’m specifically talking about those of you still using Windows 98. WHY?! What is the point? You’re dragging the rest of the Internet down. Try using Linux if your old computer can’t handle XP.

Web browsers are important. They are gateways to most of what you’ll discover on the Internet. PayPal is implementing this policy to try and curb Phishing scams. Newer web browsers can stop that from happening, with security that is built in. You can also use something like OpenDNS, which will allow you to place filters on your browser that will help protect you even further.

Personally, I wish more sites would do this. Amazon and eBay need to step up to the plate, and start forcing people to upgrade their browser to use their site. Using old and outdated browsers is dangerous, plain and simple. Your browser is what will get your computer infected, and your information hacked. Is that really what you want? Browsers are free most of the time, and are regularly updated. Why aren’t you updating?

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How to Sync Bookmarks Across Multiple Browsers

Chris — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:11:04 +0000

How to Sync Bookmarks Across Multiple Browsers is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Over the years, you may collect a ton of bookmarks within your browser. Let’s say you change browsers, or even Operating Systems. How can you sync all of your links between the browsers, and how can you make sure that the links are still good?

AM-DeadLink detects dead links and duplicates in browser bookmarks and text files. If a bookmark has become unavailable you can verify and delete it permanently. Additionally you can download FavIcons for all your Favorites and Bookmarks.

AM-DeadLink can check the following resources:

Internet Explorer Favorites
Firefox bookmarks
Opera bookmarks
Mozilla and Netscape bookmarks
URLs from tab delimited text files
URLs from comma separated text files

Unfortunately, AM-Deadlink is only for Windows. For a Mac, you can try BookDog. Bookdog allows users to sort (selectively alphabetize), import/export, migrate, verify, find redirects, search, and find duplicates among their bookmarks collections in Safari, Firefox 1.5-3.0, Camino, Google Bookmarks, del.icio.us, OmniWeb, Opera, Shiira 2.x and Netscape Navigator. Migrations can be scheduled using Apple’s Automator, and bookmarks on other networked Macs or backup disks are easily accessible. Bookdog has a 14-day free trial. After that, the cost is just $19.95.

After you install Bookdog, you spend a few minutes adjusting how you want your bookmarks sorted, click Sort and within seconds your bookmarks are all in order! Click Analyze to find duplicates and then eliminate those you don’t want. Open the Preferences, activate Bookwatchdog, and your bookmarks will be re-sorted after you make changes. Automatically. Do you seem to have alot of bookmarks that don’t work anymore? Tell Bookdog to Verify. He’ll make a quick visit to all the websites you have bookmarked, present a report of their responses, give you some options on how he can automatically fix bookmarks that have been “redirected”, and finally present a handy tool which allows you to quickly review and fix the remainder. Using Camino, Firefox, Opera, del.icio.us, Shiira, Google Bookmarks™ and/or OmniWeb in addition to Safari? When you tell him to Migrate your bookmarks between browsers, he finds the right folder and avoids creating duplicates. You can migrate unilaterally (one-way) or bilaterally, “synchronizing” all missing bookmarks between browsers. And you can do so from an AppleScript or schedule Migrations using Apple’s Automator.

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Wireless Networks, Hard Drive Failures, Web Browsers

Chris — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:41:10 +0000

Wireless Networks, Hard Drive Failures, Web Browsers is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Taking live calls on the 888-PIRILLO line is always fun, especially when the questions are so diverse! This video entails more than one question/topic, so it was three times the fun!

Tuxedo_Jericho is a long time chat regular, so talking to him was lots of fun. TJ first asked what are good ways to increase wireless range with his router. The biggest and easiest way is to try to get a better antenna, if possible. Also, eliminate any wireless signals that may lie between the access point and the devices connected. If it’s in a house, try to keep the access point centrally located. My router is in the lower level of my house. Trying to access it from upstairs wasn’t working too well. I ended up buying a USB device that plugs in. It looks like a little radar dish. You point it in the general direction of the access point, and your wireless signal is boosted immediately. It makes a BIG difference. Sometimes, changing the channel on the access point works, as well.

The next call was two questions. The first one was whether I would go with iWork 08 or Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac. It’s funny he should ask that, b/c I just got ahold of Office 08 for the Mac today. First of all, I didn’t feel it was any faster than the earlier version of Office for the Mac. Even though the UI has supposedly been updated, it still feels clunky. I honestly prefer iWork myself.

The caller then said he had gotten his first Mac Mini. He plugged in the external 500GB Seagate firewire drive, and turned it off. It wouldn’t unmount properly. It screwed up the directory file for it, and the entire file system. Even when he plugs it into Windows, it tries to reformat it. I asked him if he can try running a repair on it, and he already had. Even DiskWarrior says it cannot be restored. DiskWarrior is the King of dealing with things on the Mac. If it had problems, I honestly am unsure if anything else will fix the problem. It’s formatted with Fat32, which made me grimace a bit. I recommend trying to recover the data, before trying much else.

The last caller for this video asked what Internet browser I prefer. My first question, of course, is which platform does the user use? Since they’re using OS X, I had an easy time answering this one. Despite Firefox’s default settings for OS X and how good they are… I still use Safari as my default browser. It’s crazy fast, and works great. If you’re a power user, you may want to use FireFox. Also, I know of people who use Opera on OS X, but the UI is kind of junky in my opinion.

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Favorite Firefox Extensions

Chris — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 07:25:47 +0000

Favorite Firefox Extensions is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Here are some of the most popular extensions for Firefox, sent in by various community members. Be sure to keep sending in those top five lists!

IE tab: This allows you to quickly change your current Firefox window to render the Web page as Internet Explorer would see it. This comes in very handy when some sites require IE, or when it just looks cluttered up and would look clean when rendered with IE. You can go from IE to Firefox and back with a simple click.
Fasterfox: Fasterfox pretty much describes itself. It makes Firefox faster. There are a number of ways you can do this in general, as I have done, but downloading this extension makes it even faster! I was surprised the first time I tried it, as loading heavy content sites like YouTube generally seemed faster than without Fasterfox. Now, this will obviously differ with different PCs, connection speeds, etc, but it’s a great add-on. It also gives you the option of customizing it to your liking.
Firefox companion for eBay: Not only can you see all the items you’re watching and bidding on from a handy little sidebar, it also keeps track of how much time is left on every item, notifies you of messages, and alerts you when time is running out. It’s great for the eBay obsessive or for the person who occasionally logs on looking for deals.
Speed dial: This nifty extension gives allows you to set up to nine Web sites to be easily accessed via a pulldown toolbar or a very cool box display. This not only shows you the Web sites… it also allows you to refresh the pages without actually visiting them, letting you know if your favorite site has been updated or what content is new.
Flashblock: If you’ve ever been on the Internet, especially heavily ad-supported Web sites, you probably know of and are sick and tired of annoying Flash ads for everything from new movies to free ringtones. Flashblock simply turns off all the Flash you see on a Web site and replaces it with a play button, allowing you to view flash content at your will. It can becoming annoying for Web sites like YouTube, but you can allow flash on certain Web sites. It will then remember that Web site for future views. Also, putting in a helpful toolbar can let the user quickly turn on or off this feature if you feel the need to.
MinimizeToTray: The name says it all! You can set up the extension to either minimize on close, minimize to tray instead of the task bar, or both.
Google Toolbar for Firefox: I use this extension to synchronize my bookmarks to all of my computers. However, it also gives you one-click access to all your favorite Google features/services like Search, Calendar, Docs, Notebook, and more.
FoxyTunes: This extension is a must for those of us that are always browsing the web and listening to or watching something. It adds a media player controller to the status bar of the browser to control most popular media applications such as Windows Media Player, iTunes, & WinAmp. I find it particularly useful for browsing the web and watching videos on a dual monitor setup.

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Optimize Your ISPs Slow Internet Connection

Chris — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 07:25:43 +0000

Optimize Your ISPs Slow Internet Connection is a post from Chris Pirillo

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How many days of the year do you complain about your connection speed? How many times do you mutter and groan that you aren’t getting the promised speeds? Here are some excellent tips to help you boost that speed.

Schedule your downloads. There are many free download managers that allow you to set up downloads to go consecutively while you are asleep. Otherwise you’d have all of them going at one time, which could result in broken downloads. This is also VERY useful if you have HughesNet and always exceed your download threshold. You can schedule files to download late at night while the threshold is not in place. I recommend iGetter and Free Download Manager.
Download items that you visit every day, rather than reloading them. If you’re like me, you listen to YouTube movies in the background of just about everything you do so you don’t have to pay a dollar for the song, but every time you come back to that page it takes a long time to reload. Instead of reloading the page you can download the video with Youtube Downloader and convert it into a usable format, including mp3, with that same program. Flash games can also be downloaded if you’re using Firefox. Wait for the flash file to load 100% and choose File > Save Page As. Then open up the folder you saved and take out the .swf file. Right click the file and choose to open it with Firefox. (You can then delete the folder)
Know when to click links. If a page is loaded 100%, search for the next link you are going to use before you start viewing the page. If you find it, open it in a new tab and it can load while you are busy on the first page. If a page is in the middle of loading, but you find the link you want before it’s done, click stop before continuing on to the next link. Unless you know you’ll be occupied for a long time on one page (or away from the computer), don’t try to load multiple pages at a time.
Leech!! If you have a laptop and know someone with DSL/Cable or other form of high speed, bring it over there and download as many things as you can to keep yourself occupied while on your slow connection. This may seem like mooching, but you can make it less obvious. Schedule LOTS of downloads before going over there. Then, once you’re there, plug your laptop in, resume the downloads, and do what you would normally do whenever you visit.
Increase your cache size. If you increase the size of your cache and put your computer in sleep mode rather than shutting it down every night, frequently used pages will load quicker. To do this in Firefox, go to Tools > Options… > Advanced Icon > Network Tab.

The Hackers Nightmare: The Bible Of Computer & Internet Security. - How To Keep Hackers, Worms And Other Germs Out Of Your Pc. The Very Best Resource For Computer Security & Internet Security. Written For Novices & Experienced Users. Remove Malware And Speed Up Your Pc. Learn To Protect Against All Attacks And Intrusions.
Bandwidth Speed Test. - BBMonitor Is An Internet Speed Test Meter. You Can Do A Bandwidth Test And The Results Are Shown In Graphs And Recorded.

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What’s new in Firefox 3?

Chris — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:12:23 +0000

What’s new in Firefox 3? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Beta 1 of Firefox 3 was released today. I found a few bugs, but overall it’s looking like there are some excellent new features and improvements. When it goes final, I may switch from Maxthon 1.0 to Firefox for my Windows machine. Let’s take a look at some of what’s new, thanks to Asa Dotzler from Mozilla. Asa is my kind of Geek, that’s for sure.

More Security

One click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand.
Malware Protection: malware protection warns users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware.
New Web Forgery Protection page: the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown.
New SSL error pages: clearer and stricter error pages are used when Firefox encounters an invalid SSL certificate.
Add-ons and Plugin version check: Firefox now automatically checks add-on and plugin versions and will disable older, insecure versions.
Secure add-on updates: to improve add-on update security, add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled.
Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables.

Easier to Use

Easier password management: an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login.
Simplified add-on installation: the add-ons whitelist has been removed making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks.
New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files.
Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection.
Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu.
Text selection improvements: Multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; Double-click drag selects in “word-by-word” mode; Triple-clicking selects a paragraph.
Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection.

More Personal

Star button: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them.
Tags: associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic.
Location bar & auto-complete: type the title or tag of a page in the location bar to quickly find the site you were looking for in your history; favicons, bookmark, and tag indicators help you see where results are coming from.
Smart Places Folder: quickly access your recently bookmarked and tagged pages, as well as you more frequently visited pages with the new smart places folder on your bookmark toolbar.
Bookmarks and History Organizer: advanced search of your history and bookmarks with multiple views and smart folders to store your frequent searches.
Easy to use Download Actions: a new Applications preferences pane provides a better UI for configuring handlers for various file types and protocol schemes.

Improved Performance

Reliability: A user’s bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes.
Speed: Major architectural changes put foundations in place for major performance tuning which have resulted in speed increases in Beta 1, and will show further gains in future Beta releases.
Memory usage: Over 300 individual memory leaks have been plugged, and a new XPCOM cycle collector completely eliminates many more. Developers are continuing to work on optimizing memory use and reducing fragmentation.

So there you have it. A long list of reasons why you should be taking a look at the new Firefox version 3.0 when it is released. Excellent kudos to all of the Dev team at Mozilla.

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Website Language Settings

Chris — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 04:16:30 +0000

Website Language Settings is a post from Chris Pirillo

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AJ28 emailed me from Japan, wondering why when he opens Google (or most any website), it automatically loads the Japanese page. He wonders if the browser automatically recognizes what IP he is connecting from and then determines the language to display.

Aj, you are sort of correct. You’re just a bit backwards in putting things together. Google (and other sites) look at the IP address you are connecting from, and then realizes your location based on that information. They will then serve up your site content in the native language of the country or area you are located. It’s web pages itself… not your browser… that is doing this.

Unfortunately, there really isn’t a way you can change things so that every site will automatically direct you to your native language, regardless of where in the world you happen to be at the time. Trying to do so could actually get you Swahili text when you’re in Taiwan, or German when you’re in the United States. There is a simple way to change the language preferences by site, especially for Google. Many sites may not have this function, though. According to Google themselves:

If you want to change your Google interface language without changing your browser’s accept-language preferences, you can set your Google language preferences manually on our “Language Options” page. However, setting language preferences this way does require that cookies be enabled.

And there you have it. I wish there were a better answer for you as far as making your computer automatically connect to pages in the one language you prefer. As far as I know, there is not. If anyone out there does know of such a way, please let me know!

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Web Browser History Settings

Chris — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 05:00:57 +0000

Web Browser History Settings is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – One of our users asked if they should change the settings in their browser history, or leave them at the default setting.

I used to think that the shorter browser history… the better! Then I realized that I kept forgetting the names of sites I had been to, and really wanted to find again. If you’re like me, and have a bad memory and/or very few favorites bookmarked, you may want to consider bumping up your history setting. It won’t eat up any space on your computer, it won’t affect your speed or surfing habits. I have mine set to about three months. I think that’s a pretty good standard. It keeps things for me that I may want to visit again when I have time (yeah… RIGHT!) and may not remember.

In Internet Explorer, you can change your history setting by going to Tools>Internet Options>General Tab. There you can put in how many days you want IE to save your history.

In Firefox, you would go to Options>Privacy and tell it how many days you want to remember pages visited.

The only caveat to this is privacy. If you don’t want someone seeing what websites you’ve visited, you would change your settings to be zero days. You can also clean out your cache, cookies and such.

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.