For me, this add-on and program were life savers.

The first is simply getting your home page to open when you open a new tab. It was always annoying when it was blank and you had to type something in.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/777

The second is an uncommon one, and a 3 years old one that still amazingly works for FF 3.0. It's called FireFox Startup Enhancer.

I'm not sure how many people get this problem, but I've noticed it on my computer and on those of my friends. When you first boot up the computer, and let everything load, FF will still have an extreme minute or too of jerky lag that makes browsing impossible. Then after a minute everything instantly goes smoothly. This is because FF is being loaded into your computers RAM (or something like that) during that first minute. FF Startup Enhancer will load FF into your RAM on boot up, and it doesn't increase the boot up time by anything noticeable at all.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffpreloader/

Thanks for the tip about Homepage in New Tab. I really like that feature.

Every time I install FireFox on a machine, I always add the following Addons:

WOT (Web Of Trust)
FlashBlock
NoScript

for security, and I also have
FEBE if you ever find yourself wanting to clean install windows again, you can use this to export your entire fx profile
AVG Security Toolbar (Really Nice if you like AVG, but one drawback, you only get the full if it's pro. it has active linkscanning)


ALSO:
I set my settings to not remember anything but passwords, and autoclear without prompt at close. I only keep third party cookies until i close firefox, (but clear private data keeps that to a minimum too)

WOT has an MSI for IE as well.

Happy, and Safe Browsing

This post has been edited by Micha'El: Feb 1 2009, 04:44 PM

Hi Micha'El

Being a fan of Firefox, there are some addons I always use.

Some of these, you have already mentioned.

WoT (Altho I am testing a new addon in that alley)
NoScript (The single addon I wouldn't be without at any time)

FlashBlock I have used, but have sort of abandoned it again.
Its a great addon, no doubt, but I think it is of more use for the
inexperienced PC user.

A addon, I think you have missed when talking browser security, is
AdBlock+. It is great for keeping those pesky banner ad's and various
popup ad's at bay. Malware are seen more and more often in those
ad's, and some people think they are innocent looking enough, that
they actually click them, its a big no-no! With AdBlock+ you don't have
to even take it into consideration, as they are never shown.

At the moment, I am testing a linkscanner addon named Finjan.
IE version also available. Its a lot like AVG's linkscanner, and I haven't
fully concluded yet if I like it or not. Maybe, I am going back to use WoT
once again. Do note that Finjan and WoT can work together, altho it will
slow ones browser a bit. But if one is the type who wants (needs) both
belt and suspenders, and doesn't care for some extra seconds, thats
a possible solution.

Another great addon I use, is Foxmarks. Altho not security related, it is
nonetheless a very handy addon. I don't have to worry about making backups
of my bookmarks, as the addon stores them for me online. Ready available to
import if need be. Another great use with it, is that you can access your book-
marks on another machine. So sitting at a computer cafee, 100's of miles from
home, you still have them, ready available online.

Regards Abydos

Awesome, It's always nice to have more tips to use

Thanks for the awesome adds.

This might be interesting... Gonna try!

Hi all

A "little" update since my last post regarding the Finjan addon for IE and Firefox.

As mentioned, I was testing the Finjan addon. And I found it to be a ok addon. However, it does slow a bit, so if one is on a slow connection, this is something to have in mind. As it uses live heuristics scanning routines, means that if you (it) encounters links / search-results that it finds to contain malicious content, you will get a warning, or in the case of those times where you use search-engines, you will get a color-code rating for webpages appearing in the search-result. These color-codings are as we know them from other browser security addons / plugins. Red, Yellow and green, meaning "use caution", "page not available for scanning" and "safe to browse", respectively.

As I am no malware expert, I can't judge with certainty that it will catch everything (I doubt it would). That said, if you have no other webscanner presently installed in your browser, and a little speed hit doesn't concern you, this is a valid option. I should mention, that the speed hit, that I noticed, occurs when using search engines. So in that light, it is relatively fast considering the amount of URL's it have to scan. Thats right, it scans every URL encountered on a single search, including links and AD's on the pages appearing in the search! It doesn't track pages, which is good, so it uses no caching, and leaves no obsolete files. You get what you see, a addon / plugin without any real downsides, other than a delay of a few seconds on searches via search engines.

For AVG 8 users, this is to compare to the webscanner which comes with it, so no need for this addon if you are running AVG 8 with active webscanner. They might even get in conflict with each other, altho I haven't tested it, so it is pure speculation on my part.
This might also hold true with other webscanners.

Finjan SecureBrowsing for IE and FireFox: http://securebrowsing.finjan.com/

Disclaimer: Any info in this post depicts my opinion and my opinion only. This try-out was for my own evaluation, and I have no involvement with Finjan Securebrowsing other than that of a normal consumer. This is not a advertisement for Finjan Securebrowsing, but a desire to inform web-users of a security option. There, that should take care of any legal stuff

The test was performed on a Intel Core 2 duo processor 2,33MhZ(1333 Mhz FSB), 2GB RAM (Kingston PC6400 800 Mhz) and a GF 8600GT 1024Mb Graphic card. Internet connection: 18/1 Mbit cable. Browsers: IE7 and Firefox 2 + 3.06. OS: Windows XP Home ED. SP3

I'll be testing for a period, on yet another addon, and will most likely present my opinion here again.

Regards and happy surfing!

This post has been edited by Abydos: Feb 24 2009, 03:32 AM

Vectris Abydos, many thanks for the Home Page tab loader and FF Preloader. I'm installing both on all computers I work on now.

There are a couple others that I can't live without.

Prefbar - the All-in-one Preferences toolbar
IE Tab - Embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox
DownThemAll - The first and only download manager/accelerator built inside Firefox!

This post has been edited by Ztruker: Feb 24 2009, 09:37 PM

Hehe, thanks, but no thanks Ztruker... I can't take credit for someones elses post

Cheers

This post has been edited by Abydos: Feb 24 2009, 08:43 PM

For those of you like myself who prefer to use FireFox and perhaps Thunderbird, the following is an excellent FREE stand alone program that backs up all you would ever need to totally and rapidly restore all your preferences/email for both applications and several more that I have not mentioned:

MozBackup - Backup tool for Firefox and Thunderbird

I have had to use it 2-3 times so far while performing a new install and all your Bookmarks, Add-ons (In fact your entire profile) is rapidly backed up and can be restored with one or two clicks (including all the email that you had when you last ran your last MoxBackup. It has worked flawlessly for me on numerous occasion and I highly recommend it. I used to use FEBE but have totally moved to MozBackup since I discovered it a couple of months ago. FYI, I keep this backup with all my important stuff backed up at one of the lesser expensive online storage sites.

I would have mentioned it sooner but was waiting for this version to come out of Beta. Note: This free tool does not backup the FireFox/Thunderbird programs, just the personalized settings that you have painstakingly tweaked over a period of time.


From the above link

Try it!!! I am sure that you will like it.


While I am at it, may I suggest the Stylish Extension for FF. Stylish :: Firefox Add-ons

There are numerous customizing scripts already written for Stylish so you may be able to avoid any coding when you want FF to look or act a bit differently. With this add-on, there is no need to compose a script by creating/modifying a userchrome.css file in your FireFox profile. Another good one to take out for a spin if you like to personalize your viewing while using FireFox as I do.

Hi Trevuren

Excellent utility to FX .

I have used it for a long time now, along with this one;

Foxmarks

Theres a "ongoing" FX thread here; http://forums.whatthetech.com/Useful_Firef...ngs_t95947.html

Regards


Edit: The last two posts were merged into this topic from the All Member Forum.

This post has been edited by Trevuren: Mar 6 2009, 01:41 AM

Mozbackup doesn't work for me. I've tried it several time. Posted the problem in the MozBackup Support forum but have not received any fix. Now when I try to login to the MozBackup Forum, it says "The specified username is currently inactive. If you have problems activating your account, please contact a board administrator." but you need to be able to login before you can send a PM to anyone.

Thanks for the links,they will help alot

For me it is GHost 12 for my PC and Acronis 10 for my Laptop.

I have run them for years, had to use them on several ocassions especially when SP3 gave me stress on my Laptop installation. Great investment, both as good as the other.