How to switch to Firefox and why you should.
First things first, what is Firefox? Well, it’s a browser. Ok
but what’s that? A browser is a computer program used to view
web pages, to browse through the world wide web. In
fact you are reading this article with a browser at the moment.
Browsers are very useful. For a start, they can remember what
pages you have looked at, you can even store your favourite
pages as Bookmarks. Browsers can do much more depending on which
one you have.
Firefox is a free browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The
Mozilla Foundation develops open source software.
Another excellent application is Thunderbird, an email
program.
More than likely you are using Internet Explorer to view this
webpage. This browser is part of Microsoft Windows operating
system. To check which browser you are using:
Click on the Help in your browsers menu bar. (It’s the
last option on the right hand side, after File, Edit…)
Click on the last option in the menu that appears.
If it says Microsoft Internet Explorer® then you have the
browser that between 80% and 90% (depending on who you talk to)
use.
So why change?
Security: Most experts agree that you
are less likely to be the subject of a malicious attack by
“hackers” if you use Firefox than if you use Internet
Explorer.
Firefox Extensions: There is a whole array of quick
and easy to install extensions available for Firefox.
Extensions add functionality to your browser. They are a bit
like the added extras that you get with your car (except they’re
free!). Everything from Ad blockers to your local weather
forecast.
Tabbed browsing: Instead of opening your
browser more than once to view more than one page at a time,
which can slow down your computer, tabbed browsing allows you to
open many web pages, in tabs, in only one browser.
So how do you get the Firefox browser? Click on this link to go to the Firefox download
page.
What the link to download Firefox looks
like. In the top right corner of the page is a green
area with a link to the free download. When the dialog
box appears, click save.
Select a location to download the file to. The file
should start downloading to the location you selected.
When the file has finished downloading, (it should be called
something like Firefox Setup 1.0.5.exe) double click on it to
open it.
The Windows XP security box. Click execute.
If you have Windows XP service pack 2 is installed, a dialog
box may appear. Select execute.
The first screen of the Firefox install
wizard, click next. After Firefox has extracted, click
next.
Select the radio button beside ‘I accept the
terms of the License Agreement’ to activate the next button.
Click on the radio button beside ‘I accept the terms of the
License Agreement’ and then click on the next button.
Clicking next will install all the standard
features of Firefox in the default location. The
standard installation is fine so just click on the next
button.
Confirmation of the installation location.
(Say that 20 times backwards.) This screen just confirms
the location that Firefox is to installed, so just click on the
next button again.
FireFox
installing.
Firefox should now be installing.
Just click finish and you’re done.
Click Finish to complete the installation and launch
Firefox.
Congratulations! You have now installed Firefox. When Firefox
starts the first time it will ask if you want to set Firefox as
your default browser. Select yes.
One last thing. Under no circumstances remove Internet Explorer
from your system. Firefox is a better browser but Internet
Explorer is used by your computer for other things than browsing
the web.
Further books and resources on Firefox can be found
here.
About the author:
Aonghus Flynn is an Irish Web Developer with 7 years industry
experience. His website http://www.aonghusflynn.com
aims to help new pc users to become power users in no time!
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