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If you’re like most people with a Windows machine, you use Internet Explorer 6 or 7 to browse the web.  But there’s a few other browsers out there that you may not have even heard of, which may very well do a better job than IE.  Firefox is the one that I’m going to focus on today.

Firefox released the third version of its browser on a week ago yesterday, and more than 8 million people downloaded the new version.  What do these people know about this browser that you don’t?  Keep reading, and I’ll show you.

The Firefox browser draws its roots from Netscape Navigator, which at one time was as dominant a browser as Internet Explorer is today.  But eventually the developers of Navigator decided that they wanted to do something else with the beast, and they laid the plans for what would eventually come to be known as Firefox.

So why should you download Firefox and try it out?  Have you ever been reading a website in IE that just looked like it was designed poorly?  Maybe the graphics don’t quite line up, or things just look a little…off?  Chances are, that page would load properly in Firefox.  Microsoft has taken a few liberties with the web design standards and tweaked them so that IE doesn’t always follow the standard.  That’s why you get funny looking pages.

Firefox follows the CSS (web design) guidelines much more closely, and, consequently, you’ll get better looking pages in Firefox.  But what really sets it apart from IE, is the ability to customize it however you want.

While Firefox there are literally thousands of different themes available for Firefox, you’d be best to probably stick with the original, or maybe try one or two to see how you like them.  Chances are, though, that you’ll come back to the original.  But where the customization really shines is in your ability to install add-ons to the browser, to make it work the way that you need it to.

Without a doubt, one of the very best add-ons available for Firefox would have to be AdBlock Plus.  What this plugin will do is block as much advertising as it can from each page that you browse.  And if the odd advertisement slips through, you can tell it to block it, and you’ll never see that ad again on that site.

I have literally visited some websites while using another computer and asked the user when so-and-so site put advertising on their site, only to be told that it’s always been there.  I didn’t know about it because I’d NEVER seen ads on the site.  Give it a try.  You’ll be amazed at the results.

If you like keeping an eye on the weather, give ForecastFox a try.  It’ll display 3 day forecasts for all major metropolitan centers, and some pretty out of the way places as well, in your choice of format (imperial or metric). 

As with the themes, add-ons number in the thousands, with some being must=haves that will just generally make your browsing experience better, while some are very niche-oriented (in 2006, for example, I installed an add-on that showed me live scores from the FIFA World Cup.  I’m hoping that there’s another one written for 2010 tournament in South Africa).

If anyone would like a list of recommened extensions, leave a comment below and I’ll do what I can to forward you a list of add-ons that would be suited for your needs.

Regardless, though, you owe it to yourself to give Firefox 3 a try.  We’d love to hear your thoughts if you do, too.

You may have heard the term “Patch Tuesday” discussed online, and wondered just what it was. Or, if you’re the type of person who leaves their PC on 24 x 7, you know that usually about once a month, you’re going to sit down at your PC and find that it rebooted itself overnight for some reason. Why?

Blame it on Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday, which is the second Tuesday of each month.

Patch Tuesday is when Microsoft rolls out all the upgrades and security patches to its various operating systems for those who have Automatic Updates enabled. Even if you don’t, though, there can be the odd time when you’ll find that Microsoft has *forced* an update onto your PC and rebooted it. Generally, though, if Microsoft considers a security issue serious enough to override your settings for updates, it’s probably going to be an update that you really should have.

If you don’t have automatic updates enabled, this is when you should be hitting Windows Update, to try and get the latest updates and patches for your OS. Sometimes it can be better to wait a day or two, though, simply due to the fact that there’s going to be a *lot* of other people trying to do the exact same thing that you are. If you’ve got the time, go for it. If not, waiting a day or two probably won’t kill your machine.

Patch Tuesday Schedule

The remaining Patch Tuesday events for 2008 are:

• Tuesday, July 8th
• Tuesday, August 11th
• Tuesday, September 8th
• Tuesday, October 14th
• Tuesday, November 11th
• Tuesday, December 9th

If you’re like most Internet users, you get frustrated at the sheer volume of spam that hits your inbox on a daily basis.  You probably wonder if the company you gave your email address to in order to download that utility sold it to a spam broker.

If you use Google’s Gmail, though, there’s a way you might be able to find out. 

Now, this method isn’t foolproof, but if you want to find out if someone sold your email address, this can help you point the finger in the right direction.

For example, when I signed up for the iTunes Music Store, I provided an email address of myaddress+itunes@gmail.com, for my login address.   This will still be delivered to myaddress@gmail.com, and the plus-sign with the additional information behind it helps me to filter my mail to see if it’s been sold.

I created a filter in Gmail that basically says, anything with the +itunes designation in it should have an ‘iTunes’ label put on it, and put in a special folder.  If I ever get an email at that address that’s not from Apple, then I know that they either gave or sold my address to someone for the purposes of spamming, because the ONLY place that has ever seen that email address is the login server at the iTunes Music Store.

(For the record, I’m not accusing Apple of selling my address, because every email I’ve ever received at myaddress+itunes@gmail.com has been a receipt for a purchase at the iTunes Music Store).

As I mentioned above, though, it’s not foolproof - but not for the reason that you think.  Some websites won’t allow you to enter an email address with a plus-sign in it, but there’s a way around that as well, although it won’t show you who sold your address if you use this method at more than one site.

In addition to myaddress@gmail.com, mail sent to myaddress@googlemail.com will also show up in your inbox.  So, if you get email sent to that address and it shows up from someone you never gave the address to, there’s your smoking gun.

Just another reason why you might want to consider switching to Gmail.

One of the best ‘power toys’ that’s available for Windows XP is Microsoft’s TweakUI utility, which provides a user with a very wide range of ways in which they can customize XP so that it acts just the way they want. 

It can even help deal with some of the XP issues that you might be having.

Tweak UI Main Screen

Clicking on each of the options in the sidebar on the left will open a number of options for that heading in the right hand pane.  Most changes will take effect when you close the application, but some will require you to reboot your machine.

For example, if you don’t want to see the shortcut arrows overlaid on your desktop’s icons, click on ‘Explorer’ and ‘Shortcut’.  Click the ‘None’ radio box, and you’ll never see the arrow again.  This is one of the very first things that I change when start working on an XP machine.

You can also change the settings that determine which applications show up as ‘Frequently Used’ when you click on XP’s Start button.  Applications that you never launch directly (ie, Acrobat Reader, which gets launched when you click on a PDF), can be removed from the list here if you wish.

Ever wondered what half the stuff in your Control Panel does, and why an application is there if you’re never going to use it?  This is where you can toggle whether or not applications show up in the Control Panel.  I’ll put up another post highlighting which apps are generally safe to remove in the near future, but this is one place where de-cluttering can really help.

Finally, if you’re tired of right clicking, selecting New, and getting a long list of options for new files to create for various applications, have a look at the rather shorter list that I’ve configured on my machine:

 

If you’re looking for a truly useful configuration tool for Windows XP, and one that’s free to boot, TweakUI is definitely worth a look.

Alas, Vista users don’t have the option of a free version (at least yet), but rest assured that one will probably be available before long.