# General > Technical Support >  Firefox 2 Available ...

## blueivy

I know a lot of people who use the forum are using Firefox - version 2 has just been released just in time to cope with IE 7 being released (_update> they've already discovered a vulnerability in IE7)_.

What does everybody use and why?

----------


## saxovtr

il be honest ive never heard of firefox is it a search engine?all i know is i have wanadoo broadband and internet explorer for webpages!

----------


## blueivy

> il be honest ive never heard of firefox is it a search engine?all i know is i have wanadoo broadband and internet explorer for webpages!


Firefox is a web browser in the same vain as Intenet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Netscape. It's just a different way of doing things.

I use Firefox as I find it much faster than IE, more configurable, has a lot more usable plugins and it's got less vulnerabilities (or maybe I should say less we know about!). It also allows tabs (rather than opening a new window for every web page). IE 7 now also has tabs and there are plugins for IE6 to do it too.

----------


## saxovtr

sounds good where do i download that?

----------


## blueivy

> sounds good where do i download that?


Hi,

From here. Addon's available here.

A note to peopl upgrading. A lot of the plugins don't work with the new version (as there will be a lot of internal changes) so just waiting on updates for them. What did impress me is that Firefox told me the ones that wouldn't work and happily disabled them or me - it's nice to see an application that knows about it's own plugins and what will and what may not work!

----------


## maidencaithness

> I know a lot of people who use the forum are using Firefox - version 2 has just been released just in time to cope with IE 7 being released (_update> they've already discovered a vulnerability in IE7)_.
> 
> What does everybody use and why?


I've started using Opera again and forgot how good it is.  I remember being impressed with it's tabs and being able to run multiple searches at one time and that was about 4 years ago.  These days it is so easy to set up exactly how you like and is Fort Knox compared to IE.  The widgets are fun too!

----------


## blueivy

> I've started using Opera again and forgot how good it is.  I remember being impressed with it's tabs and being able to run multiple searches at one time and that was about 4 years ago.  These days it is so easy to set up exactly how you like and is Fort Knox compared to IE.  The widgets are fun too!


Hi maidencaithness,

I used to use Opera and swore by it. It was a fantastic browser, however it just got too big! It wanted to be all things to all people (email, newsgroups and a lot of other features that I had no need of) and I just didn't go for it any more. I also started having a few problems with some of it's fetaures and particularly the rendering of pages. That was a few years ago though so it will have changed.

I moved to Firefox as I needed a browser that was smaller and fast. Firefox is exactly that.

With regards to it being like Fort Knox. No piece of software is 100% secure regardless of what any manufacturer says (though I'm not suggesting that Opera have said that). Nobody is going to try and exploit a browser like Opera as not enough people use it to make the exploit actually worthwhile exposing.

----------


## Tiger Jones

Since I first discovered Firefox (think it was on a cover disk of PC Format magazine a few years ago) it's been my default browser. I do use IE from time to time when it's prudent or am testing things.

I think Firefox is excellent and I guess the most useful parts are the tabbed browsing and Bookmarks handling. I like Netscape but Firefox handles better for me. I've tried Opera on a few occasions over the years and must say I can't get used to the feel of it at all.

----------


## blueivy

> Since I first discovered Firefox (think it was on a cover disk of PC Format magazine a few years ago) it's been my default browser. I do use IE from time to time when it's prudent or am testing things.
> 
> I think Firefox is excellent and I guess the most useful parts are the tabbed browsing and Bookmarks handling. I like Netscape but Firefox handles better for me. I've tried Opera on a few occasions over the years and must say I can't get used to the feel of it at all.


Hi TigerJones,

With IETab you don't need to start up IE any more.

----------


## Tiger Jones

Thanks blueivy. I'll certainly try that later.

----------


## maidencaithness

> Hi maidencaithness,
> 
> I used to use Opera and swore by it. It was a fantastic browser, however it just got too big! It wanted to be all things to all people (email, newsgroups and a lot of other features that I had no need of) and I just didn't go for it any more. I also started having a few problems with some of it's fetaures and particularly the rendering of pages. That was a few years ago though so it will have changed.
> 
> I moved to Firefox as I needed a browser that was smaller and fast. Firefox is exactly that.
> 
> With regards to it being like Fort Knox. No piece of software is 100% secure regardless of what any manufacturer says (though I'm not suggesting that Opera have said that). Nobody is going to try and exploit a browser like Opera as not enough people use it to make the exploit actually worthwhile exposing.


I think your last sentence sums it up, as long as Opera remains to be used by very few (compared to IE and increasingly Firefox) it security will be excellent.  Firefox 2 is apparently nearly as good as Opera although slightly slower in test data I've seen, and the tabs aren't quite so good.  Opera of course, even latest version 9 lacks the anti-phishing of Firefox.

Both remain THE choice of browers and anyone using Internet Exporer should take a look at what their missing.

----------


## Tiger Jones

> Hi TigerJones,
> 
> With IETab you don't need to start up IE any more.


Thanks, Paul. I've had a try of it and it will come in useful.

----------


## blueivy

> I think your last sentence sums it up, as long as Opera remains to be used by very few (compared to IE and increasingly Firefox) it security will be excellent.  Firefox 2 is apparently nearly as good as Opera although slightly slower in test data I've seen, and the tabs aren't quite so good.  Opera of course, even latest version 9 lacks the anti-phishing of Firefox.


Opera used to be lightning fast with page rendering but the last version I tested was very slow. Glad to see it's back up there again.




> Both remain THE choice of browers and anyone using Internet Exporer should take a look at what their missing.


Couldn't agree more. IE is a decent browser but when you compare it to what other browsers offer it really is lacking in some areas.

----------


## blueivy

> Thanks, Paul. I've had a try of it and it will come in useful.


It's pretty good. I use it mainly to view parts of the Microsoft site (which don't render at all in Firefox). A quick right click and it's there in an IE tab in front of me.

----------


## blueivy

Just got this information in that I hope is useful to people looking between Firefox 2 and IE7 ...

Microsofts newly launched Internet Explorer 7 has been praised as a strong competitor to rival Firefox said Gartner.
_[This is the first time I've ever heard somebody saying Microsoft is playing catch-up with IE, it's usually the other way about!]_
Link here.

Another story on the IE7 vulernability.
Link here.

Firefox 2 Release.
The final-version release of the popular open source browser touts built-in phishing protection and spell-checking for online forms, as well as an option to restore forms and pages after an application crash
_[The spell-checker is excellent!]
_Link here.

----------


## pultneytooner

Just as a footnote to blueivy's posts:

Uninstall any older versions of firefox before you upgrade.

----------


## blueivy

> Just as a footnote to blueivy's posts:
> 
> Uninstall any older versions of firefox before you upgrade.


Hi pulteneytooner,

I checked the Firefox 2 release notes and under installation it says:

Please note that installing Firefox 2 _will overwrite_ your          existing installation of Firefox. You won't lose any of your bookmarks or          browsing history, but some of your extensions and other add-ons might not work          until updates for them are made available.It doesn't say anything about uninstalling so I assume you should be okay. I just winged it though without reading them in the first place which is why I checked if I was wrong to do so.

----------


## Colin Manson

Works fine without uninstalling and updates plugins if they are available, I definitely wouldn't uninstall before upgrading.

----------


## pultneytooner

Just mentioned it because I had seen the advice on another website tweakguide for firefox 2.0:



```
http://www.tweakguides.com/Firefox_3.html
```




> If you have a previous version of Firefox before Version 2.0, I strongly suggest that you uninstall it and then install the full 2.0 package or newer. This will prevent a wide range of problems down the track. Once Firefox 2.0 is installed, you can then use the automatic update feature to keep it up to date quickly and easily. Uninstalling Firefox doesn't remove your bookmarks or settings/tweaks by default. However uninstalling and cleaning out all the Firefox files including your profile(s) is also an excellent way of resolving any extremely strange behavior or annoying problems you may get with Firefox

----------


## blueivy

> Just mentioned it because I had seen the advice on another website tweakguide for firefox 2.0:
> 
> 
> 
> ```
> http://www.tweakguides.com/Firefox_3.html
> ```


Weird.

I'd agree that if you're having problems with the upgrade then uninstall it completely and then try a fresh install. However that's a process you'd use for any application not just Firefox!

----------


## Tiger Jones

I installed v2 yesterday. Didn't bother to uninstall the previous version and it only had a problem with one plug-in - one I'd forgotten was there and probably used once.

I didn't like the way the tabs had a close button on each window - I was too used to having the single X at the end and found myself closing windows I'd just opened! Found a fix for that though so that's good.

I like the 'recently closed tabs' function - came in hand for the above problem lol

----------


## blueivy

> I installed v2 yesterday. Didn't bother to uninstall the previous version and it only had a problem with one plug-in - one I'd forgotten was there and probably used once.
> 
> I didn't like the way the tabs had a close button on each window - I was too used to having the single X at the end and found myself closing windows I'd just opened! Found a fix for that though so that's good.
> 
> I like the 'recently closed tabs' function - came in hand for the above problem lol


When I installed Firefox 2 there were (and still are) 4 disabled plug-ins that weren't compatible with the new version.

I agree with you about the tabs. I've no idea why they got rid of the X at the end as it was handy. Would appreciate it if you could let me have the tweak to make this reappear!

If you are working with the tabs a lot, look out for a plug-in called Tabs Mix Plus. Has many many options for working with tabs. Check out the developers comments for the new plug-in (the second one in the list (the html file) is the one that worked for me). The one thing it does fix is that when you open many windows they can appear in multiple rows. I usually have a lot of windows and the scrolling buttons just annoyed me. Finally it also allows multiple undo for closed tabs (user definable number).

I'd also check out the recommended plug-ins page. I listen to a lot of Internet Radio when in the office so FoxyTunes is very useful.

----------


## Mr_Me19

> I agree with you about the tabs. I've no idea why they got rid of the X at the end as it was handy. Would appreciate it if you could let me have the tweak to make this reappear!


All you have to do for this is open firefox and in the url bar type "about**:config" then scroll down to "browser.tabs.closeButtons2 and change the value to "3" by right clicking and then clicking modify. This will put the cross back to the right hand side. Hope this helps!

----------


## blueivy

> All you have to do for this is open firefox and in the url bar type "about**:config" then scroll down to "browser.tabs.closeButtons2 and change the value to "3" by right clicking and then clicking modify. This will put the cross back to the right hand side. Hope this helps!


Doesn't work for me - no button at the right hand side ...!

----------


## Tiger Jones

Strange it didn't work for you, Paul. Did it actually come up with; *browser.tabs.closeButtons* so you could modify it?

----------


## blueivy

> Strange it didn't work for you, Paul. Did it actually come up with; *browser.tabs.closeButtons* so you could modify it?


Hi Graham,

Yep, it came up with it (I think it was set to 1 initially) and I modified it to 3 but no joy ... it now shows as:

user set   integer    3

----------


## Tiger Jones

I take you closed and then re-opened Firefox? I just tried a tweak to remove the tab bar scrolling effort and it didn't take effect until I'd restarted FF.

----------


## blueivy

> I take you closed and then re-opened Firefox? I just tried a tweak to remove the tab bar scrolling effort and it didn't take effect until I'd restarted FF.


Yep. Closed and opened several times (just in case). Made sure it closed itself properly and wasn't quietly sitting in the background (by using Task Manager). Nothing.

----------


## Tiger Jones

> Yep. Closed and opened several times (just in case). Made sure it closed itself properly and wasn't quietly sitting in the background (by using Task Manager). Nothing.


That's a pity. Do you reckon it could be an add-on that's interfering? I don't see why it should, personally. Just another thought.

----------


## Colin Manson

Worked fine for me but now I've gone back to 1, looking for an option to do both 1 and 3.

There is an article about it - here

----------


## blueivy

> That's a pity. Do you reckon it could be an add-on that's interfering? I don't see why it should, personally. Just another thought.


It could be. The only one I can think of is Tab Mix Plus (as it plays around with tabs). After having a play around with it I noticed that it has an option to display a Close Tab button at the end so I enabled this and it's there ....

I got what I wanted just not the way I thought I was going to get it ...

----------

