Today Google launched “Google Public DNS“. It is supposed to make your web browsing experience even faster.
A lot of you may be unfamiliar with DNS (Domain Name System)
here’s Google’s explanation:
“Most of us aren’t familiar with DNS because it’s often handled automatically by our Internet Service Provider (ISP), but it provides an essential function for the web. You could think of it as the switchboard of the Internet, converting easy-to-remember domain names – e.g., www.google.com – into the unique Internet Protocol (IP) numbers – e.g., 74.125.45.100 – that computers use to communicate with one another.”
Your ISP has you run through their DNS servers by default- and if you’re a broadband subscriber, surfing web pages is probably fast enough. Google hopes to make it even faster and safer when you use theirs.
For those who already know how to change their DNS address’- the address’ are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
My thoughts:
I jumped on the chance to try it out, and I could tell you that I notice pages loading snappier. I believe it takes half a second longer to get to the page, but once it does, it feels as though the page is fully loaded and ready. I will be using it for a while to see if I want to keep the configuration.
Please let us know your experiences in the comments section below.
Firefox is constantly updated with the latest security threats patched, and secured. But there are still sneaky little attacks out there that get past its radar. Fight bad cookies, phishing, scams, and other invasions of privacy with these trusty extensions.
1. Wot :
If you’re concerned about phishing sites, spyware, viruses, fraudulent online stores, or child safety, you need WOT (Web of Trust). This useful extension shows a rating icon next to each site in search results from Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and other popular Web services. The rating is easy to interpret, so you can see instantly which links in the results are safe to click.
WOT also places an icon next to the address bar, so you can check the rating of your current page in case you didn’t get there via a search engine.
2. Dr.Web anti-virus link checker:
This add-on will put an end to your doubts. If you’re hesitating whether to download a file found on the Internet or not. You have just to check it with this add-on if it’s virus-free or if it’s infected.
It also allows you to check any page you are about to visit with online version of Dr.Web anti-virus
3. NoScript:
A must have addon for your browser. NoScript gives you the power to specify the sites you trust and only those sites will be allowed to run active content like Javascript, Java code and other executable code.It’s very effective against XSS attacks (cross-site scripting attacks).
4. Secure Login:
If you often log into websites and forget or lose your password, then Secure Login will be a great time-saver. It directly integrates with Firefox’s password manager, and will log you into any website without you having to remember or look up the password. When you’re on a page that requires a Login, simply click the icon. Better yet, use a hotkey combination to log in faster.
The program also helps keep you safe online – it prevents hackers from stealing your passwords by halting malicious JavaScript code.
5. FormFox:
Whenever FormFox finds a form on a webpage, it tells you the exact URL, where the information given by your will be submitted and advices you whether that website appears to be genuine or not.
web form is usually safe if it links to a page on the same domain whereas if it links to other domains you should analyze it carefully before submitting the data.
6. KeyScrambler Personal
As you type in your password, KeyScrambler Personal scrambles it so that the information sent out over the Internet doesn’t match what you type. That way, someone won’t be able to steal your private information.
This addon provides Custom passwords for each site and remembers these passwords for you and protects those passwords from outside access by locking it with a master password.
8. LastPass Password Manager
LastPass is a Online Password Management and form filling add-on,Besides being officially recommended and tested by Mozilla,LastPass is safe because it does local encryption, and none of your actual passwords reach their servers.
9. FireGPG:
This addon allows you to encrypt gmail emails and send encrypted email from Gmail with ease. It uses GnuPG, a program which utilizes public-key cryptography for securing the messages. Public key cryptography is a method most widely used for securing data.
With the help of this addon you can easily permit or prohibit the execution of Java or Javascript in your browser. This addon will place its menu in the status panel of your browser. You will be able to switch between various settings by one click. With this addon you will be also saving your traffic because it will block the execution of the pop-up windows.
This add-on protects you from malicious and phishing websites.This addon like Wot does will noot rate webpage .but scans for malicious codes and exploits on a website.This service will block dangerous web sites, undesired websites, advertisement and other unnecessary elements.
Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4892
12. Tor-Proxy.NET Toolbar:
Get Safety and Anonymity by using TOR-Proxy.NET for surfing! Tor-Proxy.NET is a CGI-Web-Proxy, which tunnels your traffic through different anonymization-networks. That way you get high anonymity.
What’s great about Firefox is the scalability under the hood. Hidden from the causal user is a world of tweaks you can toggle, and allow Firefox to soar.
Here are some of my favs:
To get the Firefox 3 configuration file type “about:config” at address bar.
2) Location Bar (Set number Auto Complete URL at Address Bar)
This is a good hack to trim down that huge auto-complete list on your URL bar. By default it displays maximum 12 URL
browser.urlbar.maxRichResults = #
Enter Number at # (3,10,12 etc)
3) Stop Displaying Website Icon (Favicon) in Address bar & On Tab
browser.chrome.site_icons = False
4) Disable Prefetch (Helpful for frequent Google searcher, low-speed internet connection or low RAM)
network.prefetch-next = False
5) Extend Spell check to forms
layout.spellcheckDefault = 2
Change Value from 1 to 2
6) Disable Blinking Text
browser.blink_allowed = False
7) Speed Tweaks
network.http.pipelining false to true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 30 to 8
network.http.max-connections 30 to 96
network.http.max-connections-per-server 15 to 32
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server 6 to 8
network.http.pipelining.ssl false to true
network.http.proxy.pipelining false to true
Mozilla Firefox is an excellent SEO tool (search engine optimization). It is home to many great extensions that make SEO a breeze. Every website owner should browse through this list, as it will help you in your quest to the top of the search results.
These are the BEST SEO add-ons recommended for the Firefox browser.
SEO for Firefox – A useful tool that pulls data research right into Yahoo’s and Google’s search results and includes some of the following features:
• Page links – Shows estimated total number of links pointing to pages in Yahoo
• Cached – Shows how many sites in Google are indexed
• Provides Alexa site rankings
• Gives PR stats (Google PageRank)
• Bloglines – check out how many people are subscribed to certain blogs
• Displays Google PageRank, Compete Ranking, Alexa Rank and SEOmoz Linkscape mozRank in browser
• Includes backward/related links
• Fast keyword density analyzer
• Allows users/web developers to view large number of SE parameters on the internet
• SEO Toolbar – Parameters shown in separate toolbar in browser
• SEObar – Shows values of parameters of web pages currently opened in browser
• Inclusion of parameters in SERPs (customized by users)
• Used to evaluate web page performance
• Web sites run faster – runs diagnostic tests
• Reduces hosting costs and bandwidth
• Performs tests on front-end code and web server configuration
SEOpen
• Yahoo and Google backlinks
• Alexa traffic and backlinks
• Page size and PR checker
• HTML validator
• Analyzes niche keyword competition
• Gives backlink numbers, indexed pages, all in anchor, and page ranks
• Builds high PR links – gain better search engine placement
Firebug
• Includes web development tools
• Allows you to inspect and edit HTML
• Monitor and debug CSS and Javascript in live web pages
• Find and edit DOM (Direct Object Model) quickly
• Shows Alexa information in your status bar
• Provides Reach and Rank data about the sites you surf
• Users can view web traffic metrics
• Find out what sites are more popular than others
• Allows you to web surf more efficiently – finds related links/sites
• Won’t interrupt your web browsing
Firefox is great isn’t it? Loads of extensions, themes, secure and stable browsing.. What’s also great is the number of keyboard shortcuts it supports. Here is a list of useful ones created by Tech2Check.org. Enjoy.
1: Automatically complete .org and .net addresses
Yes, we know that if we type ‘google’ in the address bar and press Ctrl+Enter it directly goes to www.google.com . But what about .org and .net addresses? .
In Firefox, Shift+Enter takes you to .net
And Ctrl+Shift+Enter takes you to .org addresses automatically .
You can just write problogger and just press Enter it will take automatically to problogger.net
2: Alt + D or F6
You can use this to navigate directly to the browser address bar of Firefox. Very useful.
3: Ctrl+T and Ctrl+Shift+T
Ctrl+T helps you to open a new tab and Ctrl+Shift+T reopens the last closed tab.
This comes quite handy in case you accidentally close a tab. Another way to do this would be go to History -> Recently closed tabs.
4: Alt+Enter
This can be an extremely useful shortcut. It automatically opens a website in another tab when you highlight it in the autocomplete list. For example you want to go to Facebook and you start typing www.face…, in the address bar and it starts showing the list below. You just need to use the down arrow key to highlight the selection (facebook.com in this case ) and press Alt+Enter so that it opens in a new tab.
5: Use of Delete Key
The Delete key can be pretty useful because it helps you delete specific addresses in browser history or autocomplete forms. For example in the diagram below, when I type ‘allin’ in address bar I get 3 entries . If I want to delete the 2nd entry from autocomplete history, I’ll just point to it and press Delete key. Simple, isn’t it .
6: Ctrl+Tab
Ctrl+tab helps you to navigate between different Firefox tabs quite easily.
7: Ctrl+[1,2….9]
Ctrl+tab can help you navigate alternate tabs but if you are a heavy tab user like me and want to go to a specific tab then just use Ctrl+corresponding tab number. Ex:To go to the 3rd tab use Ctrl+3.
8: Spacebar and Shift+Spacebar OR PageDown and PageUp
Spacebar or PageDown key scrolls down the webpage you’re on and Shift+Spacebar or PageUp scrolls up the webpage you’re on.
9: The Middle Mouse Button
This is not a keyboard shortcut but it is an excellent shortcut. Just point to a link anywhere on a webpage and press the middle mouse(scroll) button. It opens the page in a new tab .Also middle-clicking a tab with the mouse closes the tab.
10:/ Button
This (backslash) if you hit that once will bring a quick find option. We don’t have to push CTRL+F for searching.
A common drawback in updating Firefox is losing the compatibility of your favorite add-ons. This guide will show you how to configure Firefox to allow those add-ons to run.
Note: Changing these settings can cause trouble, so try it at your own risk.
Here is a trick to get them back to work, which will help you greatly as you upgrade to Firefox 3.5 :
Open about:config. To open it simple type about:config in the address bar.
Accept the warranty condition.
Create a new boolean entry. To create, make a right click anywhere and select New > Boolean.
Name this entry as : extensions.checkCompatibility and set it to false.
And, you are done! Now, add-ons will work irrespective of their compatibility with the version of Firefox.
Okay, I know you’re not going to install all 50- but there is something in this list for everybody, so feel free to browse and use:
Adblock Plus – It is one of the important firefox addon that blocks advertisements to appear on any webpage.
Aging Tabs – Makes unused tabs fade with age and highlights the selected tab.
All-in-One Sidebar – Sidebar control with award-winning user experience.
Auto Copy – Copies selected text to the clipboard automatically. Like Linux or mIrc.
AutoPager- AutoPager is a firefox/mozilla extension that autoloads the next page in background.
Better GCal – Enhances Google Calendar with a compilation of user scripts and styles. All scripts copyright their original authors. Click on the script homepage in the Help tab for more information.
Better Gmail 2 – Enhances Gmail with a compilation of useful features written by Greasemonkey user script developers. All scripts copyright their original authors. Click on the script homepage in the Help tab for more information.
Better YouTube – A compilation of useful Greasemonkey user scripts for YouTube. All scripts copyright their original authors. Click on the script homepage in the Help tab for more information.
ColorZilla – Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies
Cooliris – Cooliris (formerly PicLens) transforms your browser into a full-screen 3D Wall for searching, viewing and sharing the Web.
CustomizeGoogle – Enhance Google search results and remove ads and spam.
Delicious Bookmarks – Access your bookmarks wherever you go and keep them organized no matter how many you have.
DownloadHelper- Download videos and images from many sites. It is the best tool to download videos from YouTube etc .
FlashGot – Enables single and massive (”all” and “selection”) downloads using the most popular external download managers for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and FreeBSD.
FoxClocks – Displays local times around the world in the statusbar/toolbar. Supports virtually all time zones.
FoxyProxy- FoxyProxy – Premier proxy management for Firefox
FoxyTunes – Control any media player from Firefox and more…
IE Tab – Enables you to use the embedded IE engine within Mozilla/Firefox.
Master Password Timeout – Locks the master security device after a predefined period of inactivity
NoScript- Extra protection for your Firefox: NoScript allows JavaScript, Java (and other plugins) only for trusted domains of your choice (e.g. your home-banking web site).
ScribeFire – A full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog.
Twitbin – Twitbin is a tool that allows you to interact with your twitter friends and followers right from your browser sidebar.
Yahoo! Mail Notifier – This extension notifies you when new messages arrive in your Yahoo mailbox.
Flashblock - The plugin blocks flash from running. It acts on all sites by default, but lets you set ‘whitelists’ of sites that can use flash, such as youtube. For blocked sites (those not on the whitelise) you get a window of the right size on the screen, and a ‘play’ button you can click if you want to load the animation. Here is an opera version.
Fasterfox - A bunch of tweaks to speed up firefox simply without manually tuning the registry parameters. Can be set to exceed the RFC specs if you want. Also provides a page load timer in the bottom right which is I like. See how much of a change you get after installing flashblock
Autocomplete Manager – When you type into the default firefox location bar, you get ‘autocomplete’ suggestions based on the part of the URL you typed. This plugin enhances that so it automatically searches on bookmarks, and even web page titles from your history. If you keep a long enough history, it could almost render your bookmarks obsolete.
Firebug – Essential for anyone who does web development. Install it, then for a page you want to analyze click Tools/Firebug. Click ‘inspect’ and point your mouse at any part of a web page and it’ll show a breakdown of the HTML in that section only, and let you modify the source ‘live’ to test fixes. Great for showing how web pages are composed, and it’s a much nicer alternative to a full ‘view page source’ option. Firebug and the inspect facility can be added as icons to your toolbar, so it doesn’t clutter up your browser out of the box. There is also a YSlow plugin that you can add after installing firebug to perform performance analysis on web pages.
FoxEar – Essential internal tool that gives you a sidebar to interface into DogEar.
Fast Video Download – It downloads videos from YouTube. You get an icon in the bottom right that you click when you’re on a page with embedded video, and it lets you save it.
Remove It Permanently - (RIP) RIP lets you right click on any section of a web page (Such as a sidebar or advert) and specify that it’s removed from all futuring rendering of the page. By using this carefully you can reclaim a lot of your browser screen area.
What’s great about Firefox is the scalability under the hood. Hidden from the causal user is a world of tweaks you can toggle, and allow Firefox to soar.
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