Mr Chuckles dot net

Updated: July 27th, 2004

I’ve been using Mozilla Firefox for about 6 months now, and I’ve finally decided it is the best browser I have ever used.

You see, the web used to be this wonderful place of information and idea sharing, peacefull and free. That is no longer the case. Obtrusive advertisements, self-installing malware, and popups now ruin what used to be a relatively pleasant experience. However, since I’ve been using Firebird, I’ve slowly been reclaiming my web browsing from the advertisers, and I’m loving every minute of it.

Firefox is a free, open-source web browser based off of the Mozilla project. It runs under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Right out of the box it supports image blocking, popup blocking, and script blocking. It’s far more secure than Microsoft Internet Explorer, and is immune from the many self-installing ActiveX applets (read: Gator).

The thing I like most about Firefox is its extensibility. Its open architecure allows software developers to create extensions which add functionality beyond the default install. By combining several extensions and settings, I think I’ve come as close to a perfect browser as I can at this time:

Block Ads

Block Ads is a group of settings which block web page elements that have the characteristics of an advertisement. It looks at the dimensions of an image, the path of the content, and other element settings, and then blocks them if they meet certain criteria. This tweak alone stopped almost 90% of the ads I used to see on the web.

Diggler

Diggler is a great little extension that installs a menu just to the left of the address bar. From that menu, you can navigate to various areas of the current site your visiting, toggle popup blocking, switch to FTP mode for the current address, and other nice things. Once you install it, you can’t live without it.

Flash Click to View

Flash Click to View does just what it says. I prevents the display of any flash animations on a page until you click on them. The flash objects are represented by empty place holders with the words “Flash Click to View” in them. This little extension has saved my sanity on sites with Flash-over ads that seem to jump all over the screen. The only thing it’s missing is a white list. As a side note, this extension makes modifications to the same file as Block Ads, so you may need to reapply Block Ads after installing Flash Click to View.

IE View

For those of you on Windows platforms, IE View is a must. Some sites simply refuse to work under anything but Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Should you encounter one of these sites, and still wish to view it, right-click anywhere on the page and choose “IE View”. The page will open in IE, just try not to stay in there.

Goolge Bar

Google Bar brings much of the functionality of the Goolge Toolbar for Internet Explorer to Firebird. It’s primary focus is searching, since the Google Toolbar’s other features (popup blocking, autofill, and blogging) are either integrated into Mozilla or are available as other extensions.

There are dozens more extensions and tweaks available at Mozilla Firefox Help. This setup is a good start to reclaiming your web browsing sessions, and may prove enough for most users. For power users desiring more tweaks and features, it’s nice to know that there are other options out there.

So, now you know, and knowing is half the battle (go Joe!). Don’t let advertisers hold your web browser hostage again, take control, and enjoy the ‘net again.