SOHOLogics

An Alternative Web Browser to Internet Explorer

By: Christy Osborne

Pop-ups got you down? Do disruptive advertisements give more blues than Craft Macaroni and Cheese? If so, throw out Internet Explorer and Netscape and start using Mozilla Firefox for all your browsing needs!

Pop-ups got you down? Do disruptive advertisements give more blues than Craft Macaroni and Cheese? If so, throw out Internet Explorer and Netscape and start using Mozilla Firefox for all your browsing needs! So what’s all the scuttlebutt? Unlike its contemporaries, Mozilla acts intuitively, blocking popup ads, spyware, and even those pesky viruses, allowing you to surf the Internet worry free.

Besides offering popup blockers, stronger security, and Bookmarks that update themselves, Mozilla also allows for tabbed browsing. This feature allows you to open multiple Web pages in one browser window, so you can quickly flip back and forth between pages and group related pages together. Make the most of your browsing today with this nifty feature!

Mozilla is compatible with Windows XP (Recommended), Windows 98,Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Linux kernel, and Mac OS X 10.2.x and later. To download this freeware program, take a look below!

1. Go to www.mozilla.com
2. Click the Download Now button
3. Click Save to Disk, save the file to your Desktop, and click Ok.
   
   
   
   
4. Open Firefox Setup by double clicking the Firefox Setup X.X.X.X.exe icon.
   
   
   
   
5. Work through the Install wizard by clicking the Next button. Accept the Software Licensing Agreement and select the Custom Install. After Firefox finishes its Install, click Finish.
   
   
   
   Note: When you open Firefox for the first time, it will prompt you to import settings from Internet Explorer. Do this if you would like your Favorites to be moved over to Mozilla as Bookmarks.
   
   Now that you are ready to enjoy all the perks of using Mozilla Firefox, I want to mention some basics.

Bookmarks

Save the links to your favorite webpages and never type in long URLs again!

Just like Internet Explorer, visit webpages by typing in the desired location into the URL or Location box. We'll practice on Google.

To bookmark this or any other pages:

1. Type in www.google .com and press Enter on your keyboard.
2. Click Bookmarks
3. Select Bookmark This Page…
4. Once you have named the page, click OK

Setting your Homepage

Do you have a favorite page that you view everyday?

To make Google your homepage:

1. Click Tools, and then select Options.
   
   

   
   
   

2. Either type in www.google.com or click the Use Current Page option, then click OK.
   
   

   

Tabbed Browsing

Mozilla Firfox’s Premiere Feature.

Now that you are ready to enjoy all the perks of using Mozilla Firefox, I want to step you through the Tabbed Browsing Feature. Imagine that you are Googling a new car, but cannot quite find the website you are looking for, so you decide to check Yahoo as well. If you need multiple browsers open at one time, it can get messy.

Guess what, you don’t have to open another browser window! With Firefox, you can open up the Yahoo and Google page in ONE window! To do so, see below.

1. Currently the browser is at www.google.com. Now, to open up Yahoo in the same browser window, select the File dropdown menu located on the toolbar at the top. Click New Tab.
   
   

   
   
   

2. In this new “(untitled)” browser window, you can either type in a new URL in the Location bar or select a bookmark to open in the new tabbed browser.
   
   

   
   
   

   Now two tabs, one for Google.com and the other for Yahoo.com, exist. Click each tab and maneuver back and forth to get familiar with your newfound freedom!

Now, you must be getting very excited about this feature since its capabilities are becoming clearer.

Opening a new, blank tab:

• Press “Ctrl-T” on the keyboard.
• Click File > New Tab on the file menu.
• Click a link using your the middle mouse button (scroll wheel).

Alternating between tabs:

• Press “Ctrl-Tab” on the keyboard.
• Click the tab with your left mouse button.

Open multiple sites when you start the browser:

1. Click Tools, located on the menu bar.
2. Then, click Options.
3. Select the “General” selection.
4. Type each URL, making sure that each is separated by a “|” This symbol is located on your keyboard, and looks like a horizontal dotted line.

Open a folder of bookmarks in tabs:

1. Locate the folder of bookmarks under Bookmarks on the file menu.
2. Look at the last entry inside the folder you would like to open.
3. Select Open In Tabs to open all of the pages in tabs.

Reloading a tab:

• Press “Crtl-R” on the keyboard.
• Click the refresh button on the toolbar at the top. It looks like a recycle icon on top of a piece of paper.

Close tabs:

• Press “Crtl-W” on the keyboard.
• Click the tab you want to close with the middle mouse button (scroll wheel).