FirefoxHelp.com Blog

Daljeet Kaur asked:


Profiles are one of the best kept secrets around regarding Mozilla Firefox (my browser of choice).

In the role of web site designer, I find it useful to have Firefox set up with various Extensions for helping test compliance, keep track of Google Adsense earnings, checking PageRank and Alexa rating, etc…

However, when I am simply surfing the internet, I don’t want to be weighed down by all these tools, cluttering up my status and toolbars. I like a slick, simple browser that looks good and works quickly.

Fortunately, I am able to have both of these scenarios in Firefox, through the wonder of Profiles.

How do Firefox Profiles work?

Firefox allows multiple users to set up the browser to suit their own specific needs and tastes, from Themes and Extensions to Bookmarks and Home Page.

Upon startup of Firefox, you are able to choose which user profile you would like to use.

So, you can now have a profile for your web development needs, one for your personal surfing, and even one for the kids (allowing you to increase Firefox’s security measures).

Each profile is independent of the others, so it’s like having a new installation for each user.

How do I activate Firefox Profiles?

1. Firstly, find the Firefox shortcut on your desktop (or create one from the .exe file).

2. Right-click it, and select properties.

3. Lastly, in the Target box, add ‘ -p’ without the apostrophes to the end of the target line (so that it reads something like ‘C:Program FilesMozillaFirefoxfirefox.exe -p’), and click OK.

Now when you start Firefox through this shortcut you will be prompted with the Profiles Manager box (as long as you do not already have an instance of Firefox open). It’s all self-explanatory from thereon.

For faster start-up, I advise that you keep two shortcuts on your desktop – one to load up Firefox as normal, and this new

andy tao asked:


When it comes to choosing an internet browser there are two main commonly used ones which give you a range of benefits. Every computer that comes with any version of windows will have Microsoft Internet Explorer already installed which is great for the average user who is just interested in browsing the internet. Many people are beginning to download toolbars to make it easier to perform every day tasks. Many people will just tend to leave Internet Explorer as their default internet browser.

This is why the FireFox became popular amongst everyone who gave them a try, you can download many additional add-on packs which can give you advanced searching, faster results, etc. FireFox is very customizable, you can change the colour of the tabs and everything so you can make it suit your personality. It does have the advantage of better security so you are much safer from viruses and spyware if you use FireFox. I would say that FireFox is for people who like to use the internet on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, if you use the internet very rarely FireFox will still be able to give you benefits over Internet Explorer and the best thing is, it’s completely free!

With FireFox becoming very popular people still go back to Internet Explorer as it is very easy to use and has a great interface. You can guarantee that you will be able to find what you want with ease, even if you are new to the internet side of things. If you were to have trouble navigating around a browser you can check out the help files which will be able to explain everything step by step so you can go from complete novice to professional.

Many people actually use a variety of browsers to get the best of both worlds, especially if you are a webmaster as the different browsers interpret the coding in different ways so you could make a website which looks fine in Internet Explorer and if you open it up in FireFox it could potentially look totally different. It can be quite tricky to spot the cross browser errors and even harder to fix them, with knowledge and patience you will be able to sort them out making them look identical to each other. The worst thing you can do it to eliminate valuable traffic simply because your site is not compatible with FireFox.

Daniel Millions asked:


For several years, Mozilla’s Firefox has been steadily gaining ground on its more established rival Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Despite the fact that its development is entirely open-sourced, the project has consistently introduced innovative ways to improve the safety and functionality of the browser that you use to surf the internet.

These positive changes have given Mozilla a platform to develop its browser further and its popularity continues to increase. The Firefox browser is downloaded over 500,000 times a day and the project currently enjoys around 12% of the market share. So why should you choose Mozilla Firefox over its more established rival. Quite simply, it is a better browser.

Due to the popularity of the Firefox browser, Microsoft sought to combat this in its latest version of Internet Explorer by including some of Firefox’s innovations such as tabbed browsing, an integrated search engine and a built in pop-up blocker. Nonetheless, Firefox still has many more benefits and Microsoft has as yet not built a browser that matches it.

So here are seven reasons why you should choose Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

Firefox is a faster browser: Studies show that the internet explorer browser does not load a page quicker then Firefox. The latter uses fewer resources and can be tweaked to make the best use of the computer’s capabilities.

Firefox is a safer browser: Despite the many improvements made in the latest version of Internet Explorer (version 7), there are still many security issues related to the browser. Firefox does not use Active X, which can easily be manipulated to spread viruses and spyware. Although Firefox is not completely safe, its track record demonstrates that its developers consider browser security as paramount.

Firefox makes it easier to manage downloads: The Firefox download manager is great because not only does it organize the download information in a single place but you can also pause the download and start it again at a later convenient time.

Firefox is fully customizable: Because Firefox is open source, the browser is capable of being completely flexible. You can change the theme of the browser, design and attach plug-ins that you choose and you can block images. The plug-ins available are great. You can add spell checkers, translators and many other useful applications.

Firefox enables you to clear your data easily: Unlike Internet Explorer, the Firefox browser allows you to easily delete all of your private data by pressing one single button. Alternatively, the Internet Explorer browser requires you to manual select cookies, temporary internet files and history in order to clear the data. If you have been using the browser for a long period without clearing it then this can be a cumbersome task.

Firefox gives you comprehensive page data: There is a cool tool built in to Mozilla Firefox that allows you to bring up the data about the current website that you are visiting. You can visit the links that are present, the date the page was last modified and other interesting information. Firefox will also allow you to view the source code for the website. This is great for web developers.

Firefox allows you to block images: Should you visit a site that has lots of images on it, for example adverts then Firefox allows you to block any images specific to that site. This is great as it improves the speed that it takes for the website to load. Internet Explorer does not have this functionality.

Robert asked:


Without a doubt Mozilla Firefox is the most favorite browser in the world at this moment, but this was not always the case, there were times when there were not a lot of options in terms of web browsers and the choices were limited to Netscape navigator and Internet explorer but that has all changed in the last decade with Mozilla gaining quick ground and fast becoming the most user-friendly and technically advanced web browser.

Not many realize but on 31st march 2008 Mozilla completed its 10th anniversary, 31/3/1998 the date of official release of Mozilla, on this date the first code of Mozilla became available as an open source to general public, 10 years ago this was a huge step, when most of the corporate giants were looking for monopolizing the market with their products, here was a new organization that one day hoped to make it big with their open source code product.

It was not that this was the first such idea to come about, there were success stories of Linux and BSD OS to count on and that was perhaps the inspiration for Mozilla Firefox.

What’s so great about Mozilla is that it granted an open license, so that people could use or modify the code as required to create something new, this at the very inception was thought to be a suicidal step but in hindsight perhaps it turned out to be the biggest plus point of this browser.

Many inputs and modifications were made to the original code to achieve what we know of Mozilla today, what started out as an idea 10 years ago, has shown the world the power of small ideas and how everything great is just an idea at its very inception.

During its first decade Mozilla not only broke many notions like an open source cannot work, or doubts on quality of an open source product versus a closed source code product kept under legal wraps, limited popularity of something developed using such a code. It has today become the choice of over 170 million netizens laying to death any doubts and apprehensions that were associated with open source products, It is the biggest most comprehensive and technologically advanced project that’s open source.

It has time and again set in newer standards in the technology of web browsers be it proxy settings or tabbed browsing etc to name a few.

It has set the standards for what a web browser should have, and how to make it more user friendly, in terms of customization of looks or integrated search box, what Mozilla Firefox has done today the so called major corporations have followed tomorrow. Mozilla has been more secure than its nearest rival, not to mention the various plug-ins and other enhancements that have been developed by coders and programmers to make Mozilla the most customizable web browser ever, and all this has become possible because of its open source license!

Incase you still do not have Mozilla Firefox I strongly suggest you download Firefox right now it will make a world of difference to your browsing experience.

Mozilla has always been about transparency and it has always stood by people coaxing them to think and visualize big for visions do come true.

David Datour asked:


The Firefox power is growing strong since its launch date in 2004, with an increase from 100 Million to 200 Million 2 years later. It managed to doubled popularity in 2007 reaching 400 Million last week.

It’s important to say that these 400 Million downloads do not represent the number of people who use the increasingly popular Internet browser. The number also includes updates or people who have re-installed Firefox. However there is no time to rest as it does not mean that every user who has downloaded the software is actively using it.

Firefox is gaining more and more market shares from Microsoft (Internet Explorer) and has reached around 18% according to W3Counter, this is a loss of about 9% for Internet Explorer.