Making Firefox Work Better

Here are a couple of quick tips, via video, to help your Firefox Web browser work a little faster, courtesy of CNET TV. I tried some of them and they do work.

The first video is entitled "Speed Up Firefox." The second video, which I found even more helpful is called "Another Way to Speed Up Firefox." Both of these videos show you how to change some of the configuration values to make things better. If Firefox is your browser of choice (which it should be) these videos are worth watching...and they are only a couple of minutes long.

Another good video I found on CNET was about better ways to view a PDF file in Firefox. You can watch that video by clicking on this link. Occasionally, I have had some difficulty with a PDF file on the Net. The add-on recommended in this video really helped.

And speaking of Firefox, here are some links to other Web sites that talk about some of the best Firefox add-ons (aka extensions)

http://websearch.about.com/od/dailywebsearchtips/qt/dnt0528.htm
http://best-firefox-extensions.blogspot.com/
http://db.rambleschmack.net/pc_tips/best_firefox_extensions
http://www.listible.com/list/best-firefox-extensions-for-power-users

Extensions are great as many of them really make Firefox perform better or allow you to customize your Web browser to the way you do things. In one of the above mentioned videos, they recommend that you don't overload your Firefox with too many extensions and I agree with that. You should download as many extensions as sound interesting to you then try them out. If you find yourself not using them very much, get rid of them.

Here is a list of the add-ons that I use, which, of course, makes them my personal favorites (at least for this moment in time):

1. AdBlock Plus - the name says it all and it works really well.
2. Foxmarks - a bookmarking add-on that synchronizes your bookmarks on all the computers you use. A fantastic tool!
3. Google Notebook - I wrote about this one in my last blog and I am using more and more everyday.
4. Google Preview - Lets you look at a page in Google and Yahoo searches before you open it.
5. McAfee Site Advisor - Lets you know if a Web site is safe or not when you do a Google search. This one is a must.
6. PDF Download - see above.
7. Tabbrowser Preferences - Allows you more control over your tabs.

You can find these and many, many other extension at the Mozilla Web site.