[Tip] Open Google Page Automatcially With Every New Tab In Firefox

firefox logo

I got this idea when one of my friends asked me how to automatically Google.com when a new tab is opened. I dug into it as is it indeed pretty useful not just for me, but majority of other Firefox users who wants to see Google.com page automatically whenever they open new tabs.

So here we want to open a default website (be it homepage or google.com for instance) each time we hit the new tab. Firefox by default shows a blank page whenever a new tab is opened. Unfortunately Firefox doesn’t have an in-built provision for achieving this, so we have to go through workarounds. Here is the easiest way in which you can set such a feature in Firefox.

1. Install NewTabURL extensions from the Firefox add-ons gallery.Restart your Firefox.

NewTabUrl install

2. Go to Tools> Add-ons and find “NewTabURL” in the list under “Extensions” tab. Click “Options” to configure options for the add-on.

NewTabURL extensions page

3. In the Options window, enter the URL (ex: http://www.google.com/) in against URL option or you can even set Home page as the default URL to open with new tabs. Click Save to save the changes.

NewTabURL options

Now when try opening a new tab in Firefox and it should load the URL that you had chosen while configuring the options. Isn’t it that simple ?

Other Firefox add-ons offering similar feature: New Tab Homepage, Tab Mix Plus

[How To] Disable Session Restore In Firefox

firefox logo

Firefox has a pretty useful “Session Restore” feature that lets you recover the opened sites when the browser crashes all of a sudden. In the latest version (Firefox 3.5+), Firefox has even allowed the users to restore only a certain number of tabs that were open just before the Firefox had crashed.

Session restore prompt in firefox

Even though highly useful and recommended, you might want to disable this feature for your very own reasons. With a little bit of effort, session restore can be disabled altogether from Firefox.

In this tutorial, let us see how to disable the session restore feature in Firefox via Firefox configuration settings page.

Steps:

1. Launch Firefox.

2. Type about:config in the address bar and press enter.

3. Accept the warning (This might void your warranty..) and proceed to the next page (click I’ll be careful, I promise!)..

This might void your warranty

4. Type “browser.sessionstore” in the Filter and look for the entry “browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash”.

session restore firefox settings

5. By default, the boolean value will be “true”. Right-click on the entry and choose “Toggle” to set the value to “false”. Close and restart the Firefox.

Browser session restore settings in firefox

Now you have disabled the Session Restore feature in Firefox. You will not be asked to restore the last opened tabs after the browser crash, instead the homepage will be opened.

[Tip] Remove Unnecessary Items In Firefox Right-Click Context Menu

Firefox context menu

One main reason for Mozilla Firefox to get popularity among the internet audience is the comfort ability of adding our favorite add-ons from a host of add-ons available at Mozilla add-ons gallery. But sometimes when you install an add-on, they also add some items to your context menu in Firefox. When you go on installing more add-ons, the number of context menu (which appears when you right-click on any webpage inside the browser) items will become so huge that you can’t even spot the correct menu item at the first sight.

Wouldn’t it be good if we have a control over this context menu items and customize it and remove the unnecessary items from the context menu ? You can actually do it for yourself in two ways. The first and easy option would be to grab an add-on that lets you manage your context menu items. The second way of working around this needs a more of your effort and time. I’m here briefing both the methods, but I strongly suggest you to use the first method, second method is only for those enthusiasts out there who don’t like simple solutions Smile

Method-1:

1. Download Menu Editor Firefox add-on (currently works with Firefox 2 &3) , click “Add to Firefox” and allow it to be installed on your Firefox and restart the browser.

Add to firefox

2. Hit Ctrl + Shift + S button to open the Menu Editor options dialog.

Menu editor options

3. Change the items in the menu editor options as you wish (you can click “Hide” button to remove it from the context menu). Alternatively you can rearrange the items to change their order. You can make use of this to Chrome-like options menu for context menu. In Chrome as you know, “Open link in new tab” comes ahead of “Open link in new window” option (reverse in case  of Firefox). You can use this add-on to change your Firefox context menu look similar to that of Chrome and other browsers.

Firefox new tab optionsFirefox new tab options after using addon

4. Click Apply to apply the changes and click OK to close the dialog box.

You will see the changes once you restart your Firefox.

Method-2:

1. Press Start button + R to open “Run” command window and key in %Appdata% in the field and press Enter.

Run command

2. A new window will open containing a lot of folders. Navigate to Mozilla > Firefox > Profiles > <default profile folder> > chrome folder.

userChrome.css examples

3. Create a new file called userChrome.css (notice the uppercase ‘C’)inside the chrome folder.

userChrome.css file

4. Open the file userChrome.css in any text editor and add the following lines to it:

#id1, #id2 { display:none !important; }

5. Replace each of the identifiers #id1, #id2,.. with one of the selectors from this Firefox context menus list.

For instance, if you want to disable “View Page Source” and “View Page Info” items from your context menu, you should use the following code:

#context-viewsource,
#context-sep-viewinfo {
  display: none !important;
}

Similarly if you want to remove “Set As Wallpaper…” and “Set as Desktop Background…” menu item in the context menu, that appears when you hover on any image on a webpage, you should use the following code:

#context-setWallpaper,
#context-setDesktopBackground {
  display: none !important;
}

To remove the “Open Link in New Window” menu item, use:

#context-openlink {
  display: none !important;
}

And you can use your custom based on the selectors from the Firefox context menus list.

If something goes wrong just close the browser and delete the userChrome.css file from the chrome folder.

[Tip] Paste Text Minus Formatting In Google Chrome

This might have happened to all of us- You are writing an email and you want to quote something from a webpage, you try to copy text and paste it in the email editor, you will see the original fonts, colors, spacing and styling attached to it, but you are just concerned about the plain text and you don’t want any sort of styling attached to it.

When the traditional Ctrl + V command just pastes the text with all formatting, Google Chrome team has developed an easy shortcut Ctrl + Shift + V command (Command + Shift + Option + V on Mac OS) to just “paste as plain text”.

Ctrl shift v chrome

Take a look at the following screenshot which highlights the advantage of this particular shortcut while writing an email in Google Chrome.

Chrome Shortcut for pasting text without formatting

You can use this keyboard shortcut for any rich editor like Gmail’s compose mode, or even in editing documents in Google docs etc. to remove all the unwanted formatting and styling from the text from webpages.

Via Google Chrome blog

[How To] Block A Website Using Content Advisor In Internet Explorer

site blocked

Blocking certain websites that may not suit the audience mainly in the case of children or workers has always been one such compulsory feature. In case you haven’t spotted yet, there’s one such option in Internet Explorer too. Here are the steps to block any website in Internet Explorer using IE’s content advisor.

Steps:

1. Go to Tools > Internet Options in the Internet Explorer.

2. Go to “Content” tab under the Internet Options. Find “Content Advisor” under this tab. By default it would be set default. Click “Enable” option opposite to it.

Content advisor in Internet Options

3. Go to “Approved sites” tab in the Content Advisor window. Type the URL of the website that you want to block in the text box and clock “Never” button. See the screenshot below:

Approved sites in Content advisor

4. Click “Apply” once you are done and then go to “General” tab. Here you can choose whether to password protect the blocked sites that you added. Once configured, click “OK’ to close the window.

Content advisor General options

You will now be asked to enter the supervisor password for the content advisor settings.

5. Create a supervisor password and add a hint (recommended) which is helpful in case you forget the password in future. Close the window once you have done that.

Supervisor password for content advisor

Content Advisor settings done

6. Now try to open any website that you have added in the block list. You will see the following prompt window, asking for you to enter the supervisor. User can view the website only if he knows the supervisor password.

Content advisor prompt window

7. You can disable the content advisor any time by clicking the “Disable” button under the “Content Advisor”. You will however need to authorized to do that by validating through the supervisor password.

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Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 & Beta 2 Builds Available For Download

Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 Screenshot:

Firefox 4 beta 1 screenshot

Mozilla has recently unveiled a new Beta version (yeah, it’s still buggy and under testing) of  upcoming Firefox version, Firefox 4. Users can get a rough idea about how the upcoming Firefox 4x versions would be by installing this beta version of Firefox. You can download Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 and Firefox 4.0 Beta 2 Pre Build from the Mozilla’s directory of nightly builds links for which are posted at the bottom of this post.

Changes in Firefox 4.0 Beta :

1. New User Interface simple in line with Windows Aero in Windows 7 and Windows Vista also supports the new Glass translucency effect. This version  supports multiple tab previews much like in Internet Explorer 8.

2. The menu bar has been repositioned at the top most left of the windows, which you might have seen in the latest Opera browser too.

Firefox 4 menu

3. Another change includes the change in the position of the tabs. Until Firefox 3.6, the tabs are used to be placed below the address bar, which is not the case in this new version. Tabs are neatly placed above the address bar like Google Chrome.

Firefox_4_address_bar

Download Firefox 4.0 Beta:

Update:Download from Firefox Beta page (available for public download)

[Tip] Install Two Different Versions Of Firefox On The Same Computer

firefox logo

Today I wanted to install and test the latest Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 version on my laptop where I had already installed Firefox 3.6. I didn’t want to loose all my customised addons and other preferences that I have been using in Firefox 3.6, at the same time I should also test the latest Firefox 4 beta version. The option to use portable version of Firefox, is obsolete here. So in short, my PC should have both the Firefox builds installed and should be able to run both independently. I looked for a possible solution, and I think I was successful in  accomplishing the task, hence I’m sharing it here:

Steps:

1. First download and install the new Firefox version (Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 in this case). Don’t worry Firefox will keep your old installation as such and will install Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 in a separate folder.

2.  Now go to run (by pressing Windows button + R) command, and click “Browse”.

run windows browse

3. Locate the “firefox.exe” from the program files and click “Open”. It will show

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" [If you are not able to see backslashes “\”, see the image below:

Firefox.exe shortcut path

in the run command filed.

4. Just append “-p -no-remote” to it and click OK.

run program path

It will open Profile Manager.

5. Under user profile manager, you will just find an entry called “default”. Rename it to something like Firefox3 or whatever version you are using.

Firefox User Profile Manager

6. Now create a new profile (something like “Firefox4”) through the “Create Profile" Wizard”.

7. So by now you will have two user profiles for Firefox.

choose user profile

8. Now create two separate shortcuts for both the versions on your desktop.

Firefox desktop shortcuts two different builds

Right-click on the shortcut for the older version and under shortcut target append the following line:

-p Firefox3 -no-remote

[ replace “Firefox3” with whatever your profile name that you had given].

So the shortcut will look like this after editing:

Firefox 3.6 shortcut profile name

Add the following line to the shortcut for the new version (Firefox 4.0 Beat 1 here):

-p Firefox4 -no-remote

[Replace “Firefox4” with whatever profile name that you have chosen]

The shortcut now appears as shown:

Firefox 4 Beta shortcut with profile name

Save the shortcuts and give them appropriate names so that you can distinguish them.

Now you can use these shortcuts to open either of the Firefox versions at ease. However, please be noted that you cannot run the two different versions/builds at the same time.

The trick involved here is all about using Firefox user profiles.Without using profiles, if you try to open the Firefox 3.6 version with Firefox 4.0 beta 1 also installed, then it’ll only going to launch Firefox 4 instead of the other.

Enable/Disable Auto Fill Or Auto Complete In Firefox

AutoFill Firefox

Firefox by default is coming up with AutoFill or Auto Complete feature in location bar (address bar), but for some reasons if you see it disabled in your Firefox, you can enable it in the following steps:

1. Type about:config in the address bar.

about: config firefox

2. Just accept the “This might void your identity” warning to proceed to the about:config settings page

3. Under the Preference Name, filter the entries by typing “Autofill” in the filter bar.

Autofill in browser urlbar

4. Change the value field to “false” to enable the Auto Complete feature in the browser URL bar.

Just set the value back to “false” to disable the auto-fill feature in the location bar.

How To Download Google Chrome Standalone Offline Installer

Google Chrome Offline Installer

Google Chrome, the lightweight browser from Google has become very good alternative for browsers like Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox and its market share is continuously increasing booting other less popular browsers.

The problem that many users raise against Google Chrome is regarding the installation of the browser. When you want to download Google Chrome, all that Google gives you is a small file called “Google Chrome Installer” which then connects to internet and downloads the installer package online and automatically installs the stable version of the Google Chrome on your computer.

Google_Chrome_Installer

But do you guys know that Google offers a standalone offline installer which you can download and install on any computer that has no internet connection ?

Tip #1 :

If you want to download the standalone installer for the official Google Chrome stable version,

Download Google Chrome Standalone Offline Installer

Tip #2:

If you want the standalone offline installer for the latest Dev version of Google Chrome, follow these steps:

1. Find the latest dev version of the latest release from official Google Chrome Releases blog, find the latest version number mentioned there (in the screenshot, it is 5.0.375.55).

Note down the last 5 digits of the version number (xxx.xx format). In this case, it is 375.55

Chrome latest dev stable release version
2. Paste the above 5 digit number that you copied in the above step in place of “xxx.xx” in the following link:

http://dl.google.com/chrome/install/xxx.xx/chrome_installer.exe

[ In the above case, the link will be http://dl.google.com/chrome/install/375.55/chrome_installer.exe ]

3. Type the link in the address bar and press enter. You can now download the standalone offline installer of the latest Dev channel release version of Google Chrome.

Turn Off New Geolocation Feature In Google Chrome

google chrome logo

The latest beta (developer) version of Chrome, Google Chrome 5.0.375.23 Beta (Official Build 45690) is coming with a inbuilt geolocation feature that lets any website know the location of your computer once you allows access to track your physical location.(See the screenshot below).

Geolocation in Chrome
Well, this may be useful in many ways for websites that offer services based on your location, like Google Maps for instance.This feature gets activated when you click the small little circle at the upper left corner of your browser in Maps.

However if you are worried about your privacy, you shouldn’t allow access at the first place.If you have allowed access initially and later want to rollback and deny access to Google maps to track your location, you should follow the following steps:

Turning Off Geolocation In Google Chrome:

1. Click on the wrench chrome tools menuand click Options.

2. Go to Under the Hood tab

3. Under Privacy, click Content settings

Chrome options under the hood

4. Go to Location tab in the Content Settings

5. Choose “Do not allow any site to track my physical location”.

Chrome Content Settings

6. Close the settings windows.

That is it, Chrome won’t track your location to websites from now on, hope this small tutorial has helped you.For more tutorials and updates from us, you can subscribe to Techrena RSS feeds via email.