1st time FireFox user Question?

I just switched my browser from K-Meleon to Firefox 3.0. From searching other threads here, I notice that many people use FF w/ EXTENSIONS. I've also heard that adding too many might slow down the browser and increase the memory usage.

I've only added 2 extensions (FireFTP and RoboForm) thus far because those are the only 2 I really need. I'm using Ad-Muncher w/ KIS 8 for my ad blocking and security needs.

Is it recommended to use Firefox 3 just basically set to default or are any particular extensions recommended for SAFETY and better optimization?

Also besides FasterFox (it makes FF not play well with KIS)....should I do any "tweaking" (ie using FireTune) or just leave it at the DEFAULT settings?

Any help and suggestions by you long-time FF users is appreciated. Thanks.

 

If you don't use any other extension whatsoever, do use "NoScript". It protects against a lot of javascript attacks on the browser.

 

Try NoScript for security.
Many find it a PITA, but it's just matter of getting used to it.
It protects against scripts while browsing, including XSS.

 

The only issue I see with Noscript is that when a website does not work properly, it can be a guessing game as to which or the 4, 5, 6 or more scripts listed to enable to make the website be completely functional, and that guessing game can be dangerous.

 

And that's when SandboxIE comes to the game

Now, more seriously, yes, that is an issue. Sometimes it's just one script needed, but you have to guess which one it is. Personally, when I find a page with 6+ scripts blocked, I think twice and ask myself if I really need to view that site.

 

I agree completely. As far as numbers of scripts, you should check this place out with NoScript: Http:// www.careerbuilder.com. Lol, yeah, like I want to guesstimate scripts at that kind of a website.

 

You can peruse the short list of the Firefox add-ons I have installed here

I run a DEV Build of TabMixPlus (since it is not yet published for Firefox V3) and I uninstalled FireFTP because it was late getting to Firefox V3 and in the meantime I found FileZilla, which I like better anyway.

 

If I'm already using AD-MUNCHER....are AdBlock Plus and NoScript still needed/recommended?

 

NoScript could have it usefulness. It protects from much more than advertising.

 

Will it slow down page loading/browsing speed?

 

Yes to NoScript if you feel you need/want it (in my case, I do need/want it.) AdBlock Plus isn't meant to provide protection against targeted browser exploits. It just looks for certain page elements (which are commonly ads) and/or certain known ad sites attempting to load and blocks them. Conversely, NoScript does not look at ads. It just blocks (by default) Java, Flash, Silverlight, Cross Site Scripting and more, which can all be used to exploit weaknesses in the browser.

Should you still have ABP? Maybe... But since Ad Muncher works so well, IMO, you would only need to use ABP if you also run AdBlock Plus Element Hiding Helper. Element Hiding Helper lets you create custom rules for ABP that code writing challenged users like me can run. As an example, on a couple of my fav sites, I still had a few ads I didn't want to see and didn't want to learn how to tweak Ad Muncher to make them go away. Element Hiding Helper came to the rescue and within about 3 or 4 clicks of the mouse, those ads are now gone for good...

 

NoScript does not slow browsing speed.
It DO has a downside, which is that sometimes pages would not load well, because the content is being blocked. This happens with Flash, javascript, etc. (For example, youtube videos are blocked).
To unblock, you do that with just 2 clicks, and you can whitelist pages forever, so if you have some pages you commonly visit, this is just a limitation the first time you visit it.

 

Thanks for all the useful info guys! Much appreciated.

One more thing.....when I click the little "drop-down" arrow on the address bar (right next to the star), it shows a history of sites I visited (all bookmarked -- yellow starred). I tried using CCleaner and the "Clear Private Data" feature in FF and those sites are still listed.

Is there a way to DELETE them and preven them from showing up again?

 

Yes.
To erase browsing history, go to settings and under the privacy tab, click on "delete private data" or somthing like that. You can edit the settings to see what you want erase.

Also, you can do another thing, disable that "awesome bar" (this is how the feature where firefox matches what you are writing it's called).

EDIT:

on the adress bar, type "about:config" (without ""), hit enter
click on "i'll be carefull" (since you will )
search for "browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped". It should be set to "false". Double click on it, it should change to "true".
Close config tab.
Voilà!, awesome bar disabled.

 

That did the trick! Many thanks.

I'm actually loving the versatility of the FF browser. I should have switched a longtime ago.

 

I uninstalled TabMixPlus as well recently