Mozilla Firefox Who is Mozilla? What is Firefox? Is it better than Internet Explorer? Presented by Phil Goff (Branch 116) SIR Area 2 Computer and Technology Meeting September 18, 2008 1

Firefox Browser A Browser is the software on your computer that helps you connect to the internet. Once you have signed up with an ISP (Internet Service Provider), then any Browser will let you connect. The most common Browser software is Internet Explorer MAC users have Safari but many use Internet Explorer 2

Mozilla Foundation Originally Mozilla was the Browser used by Netscape which was purchased by AOL. It was called Netscape. In 2003 the original programmers formed the Mozilla Foundation, a not-for-profit Corporation to be supported by donations. All products were “open-source” meaning that outside programmers could develop specialized features and offer to attach them to Mozilla. Mozilla called their browser Firebird but because of copyrights, it was changed to Firefox In 2005 Mozilla formed the Mozilla Corporation which is a for-profit Corporation. 3

Firefox Browser The first name for the Browser was “Mozilla” That was a slang term for “Mosaic Killer” (Anyone remember Mosaic?) The No. 1 Browser today is Internet Explorer with 65% of the Market. No. 2 is Firefox with just over 15%. The remainder of the market is highly fractured. Apple's Safari has only 1%. Firefox is the fastest growing browser software. Recently Google added Firefox to it's recommended list of free downloads (Probably just to anger Microsoft.)‏ 4

Firefox Browser Why should you care which Browser you use? All Browsers seem to work just fine with modern Operating Systems Some have features which are more user friendly than others Most computer hackers focus their attention on Internet Explorer since it has the lion's share of the market 5

My Favorite Features of Firefox Firefox Browser My Favorite Features of Firefox You can enlarge font on web pages to make them easier to read You can add icons for your favorite websites on the toolbar (not unique to Firefox, but very easy to do) You can bookmark favorite pages with a single click The “Awesome” Bar can be extremely helpful Clearing out your temporary files and history is extremely easy There are many “Add-ons” offered by individual programmers A history of your downloads and other processes is a single click away 6

Sometimes the Font is Too Small to Read on a Website 7

(Keys on extreme left and right of keyboard)‏ Press Ctrl+ to enlarge or Ctrl- to Shrink (Keys on extreme left and right of keyboard)‏ 8

(Note: You can also do this in IE)‏ Add Icons of Favorite Websites to the Toolbar (Note: You can also do this in IE)‏ Log into a website, drag the little icon shown in the URL to the toolbar. Or just click on the Star in the right side of the URL. Note: Once it shows on the toolbar, you may right-click the Icon and change the name if you wish. 9

Bookmark Favorite Websites Click on Bookmarks, Name the Page and it is Saved. Or Click on the Star in the right side of the toolbar and specify the folder, etc. 10

The “Awesome” Bar When you start to type a URL, a drop down box appears with a lot of information about the site you may be seeking. It is much more powerful than the browsing history info offered by IE. 11

Clearing Out Temporary Files is Easy Just click on Tools and the drop down box lets you clear out any data you wish. 12

Clearing Out Temporary Files is Easy Click on Tools, Clear Private Data, and this Box Appears 13

Viewing Downloads Click on download icon View download history. 14

Firefox Add-ons Firefox is an “Open Source” program which allows individuals to code and offer enhancements There are a large number of Add-ons offered for free on the internet, most of which have no value to you Many are fun to try and may be quite useful Examples are mapping tools, screensavers, etc. There is no oversight of Add-ons by Mozilla so some could create security leaks. Stay with Add-ons listed at Mozilla’s site addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

Firefox Add-ons Click on “Tools” and select “Add-ons”

Examples of Firefox Add-ons Click here to see many more Add-ons

Firefox Security Firefox doesn't allow the user to set the Security Level. The developers designed it for maximum security level Firefox uses Googles Blacklist of Phishing and Malware Sites

Pros and Cons of Firefox Firefox is easy to use. Takes some getting used to because some commands are a little different than Internet Explorer.
Firefox complements Internet Explorer, so you can keep them both on your desktop and use either one. Firefox doesn't render pictures quite as well as IE. You can see a little graininess in some website pictures. There are innumerable Add-Ons that people have developed. I don't care for many of them but they are fun to try. I think Firefox loads websites a little faster than IE, but I am not sure. Try it – You might really like it. 19

mozilla.com/en-US/firefox Where Do You Get Firefox 3.0? mozilla.com/en-US/firefox Don’t Forget to Visit the CAT Website: sir-web.org/computer