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Firefox - FAQ's
Source:*forum.nmteam.net/ Author:rizuoo
Source:*forum.nmteam.net/ Author:rizuoo
What is Firefox?
Firefox is a free, open-source web browser for Windows, Linux and MacOS X and is based on the Mozilla codebase. It is small, fast and easy to use, and offers many advantages over Internet Explorer, such as the ability to block pop-up windows.
What is Mozilla?
Mozilla is an open-source web browser and toolkit, designed for standards compliance, performance and portability. They coordinate the development and testing of the Firefox browser by providing discussion forums, software engineering tools, releases and bug tracking
What's the difference between Firefox and Mozilla?
Mozilla (Application Suite, also known as SeaMonkey) is a complete suite of web related applications, such as a browser, a mail/news client, a chat client and much more. Firefox is just a browser, which makes it a better choice if you already have a mail client for example. Also, since Firefox is smaller than the whole Mozilla suite, it's faster and easier to use.
Note, though, that Firefox is not the standalone Mozilla browser. The user interface in Firefox differs from Mozilla in many ways. For example, Firefox has customizable toolbars.
Is Firefox more secure than Internet Explorer?
Yes, Firefox and all other Mozilla-based products are more secure. Why? Here is a list of the most important reasons:
* It is not integrated with Windows, which helps prevent viruses and hackers from causing damage if they somehow manage to compromise Firefox.
* There is no support for VBScript and ActiveX, two technologies which are the reasons for many IE security holes.
* No spyware/adware software can automatically install in Firefox just by visiting a web site.
* Firefox doesn't use Microsoft's Java VM, which has a history of more flaws than other Java VMs.
* You have complete control over cookies.
Is Firefox free?
Yes! Firefox is open source software, meaning that anyone has the right to download and use the browser for free, to distribute it unmodified to other people, and even to view and modify the source code under the terms of the Mozilla Public License
Can Firefox coexist with Mozilla?
Yes. Firefox and the Mozilla Application Suite use different profiles that don't interfere with each other. In Linux, however, there can be problems starting Firefox if Mozilla Application Suite is already running.
How do I uninstall Firefox?
If you installed Firefox using the installer for Windows, just uninstall it using the Add or Remove Programs applet in the Windows Control Panel.
If you installed Firefox using the compressed archives, just remove the folder you unzipped it to. Optionally, remove the profile folder, which contains all your bookmarks and settings.
What's the difference between releases and nightlies?
Releases are generally more stable versions of Firefox that should probably be downloaded by most users. Nightly builds are released every night and contain the very latest changes, including new features as well as new bugs. Don't expect everything to work in the nightly builds.
Where is the e-mail client?
Firefox is a web browser only, not a complete Internet solution. However, the Mozilla Foundation has also produced a great mail and news client called Mozilla Thunderbird.
I'm a Linux user, does Firefox support XFT?
Yes, official builds with XFT support are available from mozilla.org
Where are my bookmarks, passwords and other personal information saved?
Firefox stores your personal settings, such as the bookmarks, cache and web form data, in a profile folder. See the next frequently asked question for more information on how to manage the profiles.
How do I start the Profile Manager?
The Profile Manager is used to manage multiple profiles. To start the Profile Manager on Windows, follow these steps:
1. Close Firefox completely (select File > Exit from the menu).
2. Select Start > All Programs > Mozilla Firefox > Profile Manager from the Windows Start menu.
On other operating systems, start Firefox with the the -profilemanager switch, e.g. ./firefox -profilemanager
What is Talkback?
If Firefox crashes, you'll see a program called Talkback appear, asking you to send information about the crash. Asa Dotzler of mozilla.org has written a good explanation of what Talkback is:
Talkback is a client application and server (plus server infrastructure and development/administration people) contributed to mozilla.org by Netscape. mozilla.org, many years ago, agreed to make an exception and include this product with our binary nightly and milestone distributions even though it's not open source because it provides huge value in debugging and isolating stability issues. Talkback has been used to identify and debug thousands of major crash bugs in Mozilla over the years and we're very happy to be able to include it in the Firefox testing builds.
How it works: A Talkback binary is packaged up with the Firefox browser binary. When the browser crashes, the Talkback application is triggered and it offers the user the option to participate. If a user says no then nothing happens. If a user agrees to help the Mozilla effort by submitting crash data then she is prompted with optional fields for including her e-mail address, the URL that triggered the crash and a comment. That user-entered data along with a stacktrace of the crash is sent to a Talkback server at Netscape which is accessible to many of the Mozilla developers. In aggregate, all of the crash data can very quickly point out specific problems being encountered by large groups of users. A small team of engineers pour through these aggregate reports and turn them into bugzilla bugs with good debug information which leads to quick fixing of the most high-profile stability problems. To see some of these bugs, query bugzilla for the keywords topcrash and topcrash+
What else: Talkback is not spyware, adware or anything of the like. Users are clearly prompted and asked to submit the report. User data unrelated to the Mozilla crash isn't at all useful to us. We only care about making Mozilla more stable. If you don't want to help Mozilla and Firefox become more stable by submitting your crash reports then don't. No data is being sent without your explicit consent. I'd encourage anyone that wants to see this browser improve to submit those reports. They are very, very helpful. But, like I said, if you don't want to, then don't. Just remember that we can't fix the bugs we can't identify. If you're happy seeing the same crash over and over then don't worry about sending in that report.
What is an extension?
Extensions are enhancements to the browsing experience in Firefox. They can be thought of as small programs (or add-ons) that add new functionality to Firefox.
The great thing about extensions is that they allow Firefox to stay small and unbloated. Anyone who require more features can download the appropriate extension.
Where can I find extensions?
Take a look at the various extensions at [update.mozilla.org]
How do I customize the toolbar?
You can customize the toolbars by choosing which buttons you want to show, by adding toolbars, or by resizing the buttons. To do so, go to View > Toolbars > Customize.... A new window will pop up, containing available toolbar items. Just drag and drop them to the toolbar where you want to add them. To remove some items from the toolbar, drag them from the toolbars and drop them at the Customize window.
You can even place toolbar items on the menu bar! This will allow you to place everything on one row, saving lots of screen real estate.
Firefox doesn't yet allow you to move the actual toolbars. This is planned for future releases.
E-mail links don't seem to work in Firefox?
If you're using Mozilla (Application Suite) as your mail client, you've probably noticed that Firefox either doesn't do anything or it starts Outlook Express when you click on a mailto link. This is because Mozilla Messenger doesn't correctly register itself as the default mailto protocol handler on Windows. However, Mozilla Messenger registers itself as the default mail client, which is slightly different. You will have to fix this problem manually.
In Windows XP/2000, select Folder Options in the Control Panel, then click on the File Types tab. Here, browse to the file type called (None) URL:MailTo Protocol and click Advanced. Select the open action and click Edit. Uncheck the Use DDE option and specify the full path to mozilla.exe in the Application used to perform action field. Enclose the path in quotation marks and append -compose %1. The result should look something like this:
"C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\mozilla.exe" -compose %1
Another solution would be to stop using the Mozilla Application Suite and use the standalone mail client Mozilla Thunderbird instead.
