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We all have questions about how Firefox works and how we can tweak it to make it better.  That is the single greatest aspect of this fantastic browser. So, with the end of the year coming up quick I thought it was about time we took a look back at the 25 most popular browser tweaking tips, customizations and tutorials I have posted on Firefox Facts over the years.  These 25 posts you see are the most visited topics from all of the support related articles I have written.

You voted for these with your mouse clicks over the past year, so let us check out the most popular Firefox support posts of 2010.

Change Default Search in Firefox

Tired of having Google as the default search engine in Firefox? Maybe it is another search engine’s turn to be on top?! If you feel the urge to dethrone Google as the default search engine for your Firefox search box – this is how you can get it done.

How to Backup Firefox Bookmarks

Backing up your bookmarks is one of those chores you have on your to-do list but never get around to it.  Then when they are lost, you say – I wish I would have.  Here are a few Firefox bookmark backup techniques to help you out.

Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ

Want to increase your privacy on your PC?  With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode.  Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more.  However, with this newest addition to the Firefox 3.5 feature list, you can now go incognito on the Internet.

about:robots – Firefox 3 Secret!

For those of you playing with Firefox 3 – Beta 5, try typing about:robots into your address bar and hit enter.

Firefox 3.6 Fix – Open New Tabs in Far Right

New to Firefox 3.6, when you are on a page, and you want to open a link in a new tab – rather than opening the link in the far right of the tab bar, Firefox will now open the link right next to the tab you are in.  Now, while this might be convenient for some, it is a feature I don’t really need.  So here is how you can disable the new “Insert Related Tab After Current” tweak in Firefox 3.6.

Tabs are a feature in Firefox we all take for granted some times.  It has become so normal for us to uses them, they just don’t seem that exciting anymore.  Well, if you feel like your tab bar has lost some of it’s specialness – be sure to check out these ten terrific tab tweaking tips.

Close Tab With Two Right Clicks

Rather than hunting down the X to close your current tab, what if all you had to do was wish upon a star, and then right click anywhere on the tab you wish to shut down?  I will let you know how to get that done, without the need of the “wishing upon a star”.

Tab Counter

Who doesn’t want a Firefox add-on that counts the number of tabs that are open? Tab Counter is the name, and counting tabs is its game.

How to Duplicate a Tab

Need to duplicate a tab in Firefox, so you can have the same content loaded up in two Firefox windows?  Not sure, you could just copy and paste the URL into both browsers – but who has the time?  I have an easier solution to fix this problem.

Save Your Memory and Organize Firefox Tabs

I can tell you from experience, having too many tabs open can be a real pain.  On occasion though, it is something you have to do, so you might as well find an add-on that will help you navigate through your tabs more effectively.  That is where TooManyTabs comes into play.

Tile Your Firefox Tabs in the Browser

We are all looking for ways to get more done in the browser visually, and at times I would like to look at two tabs at the same time.  Looking for a way to tile my tabs, I found a great add-on that does the job really well.  The Tile Tabs add-on for Firefox does [...]

Close All Tabs in Firefox

Sometimes we all go a little tab-happy when it comes to our Internet browsing ways.  You might be browsing around, one lazy Friday afternoon, and before you know it – you have twenty open tabs and then decide, "hey, maybe I should get back to work!".  Well, have no fear, because I can get all [...]

Tab Utilities

Looking for a Firefox tab extension that does a little ‘bit of everything?  Look no further than Tab Utilities. This add-on for Firefox really is your proverbial utility knife when it comes to controlling, editing or optimizing your browser tabs for better performance.

Firefox Tabs on Top

Tired of seeing your tabs under your navigation or bookmark toolbars? Maybe you just want to see how Firefox would look with tabs on the top?  With the Firefox extension, Tabs on Top – you can easily move your browser tabs to the top of the screen.

Tab Rotator

Have the need to rotate your tabs?  No, I do not mean to turn them upside down. Tab Rotator, an add-on for Firefox, will automatically switch between the open tabs in your browser after a certain amount of time.

Just Put It On My Bar Tab

When you load up a dozen or more tabs all at once, Firefox can slow down to a crawl.  Now, you can either choose to stop overwhelming Firefox with too many tabs or you can grab this helpful add-on for Firefox that will only load up the tab you need at the time, with multiple [...]

Have another tab tweak you’d like to share? Leave it in the comments!

With Firefox 4 coming soon, we will be finding a lot of new hacks, interface customizations and more we can do to make Firefox more personalized to our own needs.  So, with that said, I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the most popular hacks for Firefox 3.5 and up to give you all one last chance to try them out before Firefox 4 changes the game again.

How to Disable the New Tab Button

For some people out there, the new tab button on the tab toolbar was a waste of space.  By editing your userChrome.css file, you can easily remove it.

Speed Up Flash Videos (like YouTube)

Want to speed up your flash video watching?  By default, Firefox takes a sort of “snapshot” of whatever you are doing every ten seconds.  Why?  It is so that the browser can restore itself, just in case of a crash. With a little about:config tweak you can speed up the videos you are watching on YouTube and other video sharing websites.

Quicker Route to Private Browsing

Yes, we did finally get a way to enable private browsing in Firefox.  The problem is, it is a pain to enable!  Well, to save you a few clicks, I figured out a way you can start private browsing mode in Firefox from within the awesome address bar.

Move the Close Tab Button

In an effort to simplify the Firefox interface, did you know you can make a few changes in the about:config page to move the close tab buttons around?  I’ll show you how to move it to the far right of the browser, in just six easy steps.

Enable the Visual Tab Switcher

With Firefox 3.6’s release, we can all do a quick about:config tweak that will enable the prettier tab switching.  By default, when you hit the keyboard keys Ctrl + Tab you just rotate through your tabs.  By making some quick adjustments though, you can pull up the new tab switcher that you see in the picture above.

Make New Tab Pages Open in the Far Right of the Tab Bar

New to Firefox 3.6, when you are on a page, and you want to open a link in a new tab – rather than opening the link in the far right of the tab bar, Firefox will now open the link right next to the tab you are in.  Now, while this might be convenient for some, it is a feature I don’t really need.  Now, let us put things back the way they were.

Change the Firefox Spell Check Font Format

Want to make your misspelled words stand out a ‘bit more when composing a message in Firefox?  It is easy to do with this quick about:config tweak.  You can select no highlighting, a dotted line, long dots, a single straight line, a double underline or the default squiggly line.

I hope you enjoyed this collection of classic Firefox 3.5+ interface hacks and tweaks you can do to make the browser a little more customized to your own browsing needs.  Have another favorite customization tip I might have missed?  Leave it in the comments!

Check out these great Firefox inspired wallpapers:

Thanks to wallbase.net for helping me find all these great Firefox wallpapers to share with you all too.  Which is your favorite?  Do you know of one that I missed?  Make sure you leave your suggestions or picks in the comments.

Update:  It seems that wallbase.net doesn’t keep the same static URLs for images, so this is why some of these were broken.  The best way to find these wallpapers (and many more) would be to search wallbase.net for “firefox”.

Recently, I needed to use Firefox in full screen mode, but ran into an annoyance you might have seen.  While the presentation was nice, seeing the web page stretch across my entire monitor when I hit the F11 key, I did not want the address bar and tab bar to disappear.

So, now the question I needed to answer is how can I always show the navigation toolbar and the tabs toolbar when browsing in full screen mode in Firefox?

The answer was simple, and probably overlooked by many.  When in full screen mode, simply right-click the navigation toolbar and un-check “Hide Toolbars”.

That is all you need to do.  There is no need for an about:config tweak or add-on to download.  Just an often overlooked and simple solution to a Firefox browsing preference.  Hope this comes in handy for all of you out there.  It just goes to show you sometimes the most simple Firefox fixes are right under your nose.

The Google Reader Watcher add-on is handy to have, because it will check your Google Reader for unread new posts.  You can use this to keep track of how many stories you have yet to read.  Checking Google Reader with this add-on is much more practical than visiting the Google Reader web site several times a day, for those RSS feed addicts out there like me.

Next, I would have to say the Better GReader add-on for Firefox is fantastic for Google Reader fans.

This add-on for Firefox bundles several great Greasemonkey user scripts into one extension.  Better GReader adds useful extra features to Google Reader, like feed favicons, inline article previews, and unread counts in your browser tab.

Want to integrate Google Reader into the Gmail inbox?  If so, check out the Integrated Gmail add-on for Firefox.  It gives you Gmail, Google Calander, Googler Reader, and more all from within your Gmail account.  The most recent revision added:

• Significant Performance Boosts and Reduced Resource Dependence
• (Beta) Google Wave Support
• Native Google Tasks Support
• Schedule Once Meeting Scheduler Integration
• Support for Firefox 3.6

Last but not least, we have Google Redesigned.

Tired of how Google Reader looks?  Want to give it a massive redesign?  This add-on for Firefox gives you a complete redesign of all Google’s most popular services (including Google Reader).

Now, let me know your favorite Firefox extension to use in conjunction with Google Reader.  Is it one of these I mentioned, or do you have another favorite I have yet to check out?  Let me know in the comments.

Also, remember to subscribe to Firefox Facts in Google Reader – cause you’d hate to miss another great collection of tips like this one!

Now I know I went on a ‘bit of a rant the other day about how some Personas just are not worth the time of day, however some really do fit in well with the Firefox browser too.  Here are 10 of the most popular abstract Personas I found usable and beautiful.

Groovy Blue

Abstract Black

Gray and Black

Abstract splash

Arcane Green Horizon

Windows 7

Aurora Australis

Firefox Saucers

Bright Blue Abstract

Abstract Electric

There you have 10 of the most popular abstract Personas out there today.  Which is your favorite?  Do you have an alternative abstract Persona that should have made the list?

With that in mind, I thought it might be handy to guide you through the process when it comes to adding a new Persona theme to your browser, removing a Persona theme from your browser, and how to chance through Persona themes – once you have several saved to your system.

How Do You Install a Firefox Persona?

If you are using Firefox 3.6 or above, the options for Personas should be built into the browser.  Here is how you can grab your own Firefox Persona to use in Firefox.

Go to the Personas page on the Firefox Add-ons web site or the Personas Gallery.

Next, browser around the web site until you find a Persona you would like to use in your own Firefox browser.  Notice that as you hover over the thumbnail previews, your Firefox browser will change to show you what that Persona would look like.

Click on the Persona you would like to use, and go check out the official page for that specific Persona.  For example, here is the page for the Superman logo Persona shown above:

• Superman Logo Firefox Persona

To install that specific Persona for Firefox, click the orange, “Wear this Persona” button.

Once you do so, the Persona will be installed – and you will get a message come up in the browser telling you it has been installed, and giving you the option to undo or go to your manage themes settings.

You are now done.  Your new Persona for Firefox has been installed and is ready to decorate your browser till you change it again.

How Can You Uninstall a Firefox Persona?

Uninstalling Firefox Personas is as easy as installing them.  From Firefox’s Menu Bar, select Tools and then Add-ons.  Once that comes up, you want to go to the “Themes” tab. Both Firefox themes and Personas will now be displayed here.

Click on the Firefox Persona you wish to uninstall, and click the “Uninstall” button. You will be asked to verify the uninstall, and then it will be gone for good.  You can also switch to a different Persona you have downloaded by clicking on that Persona from this screen, and selecting “Use Theme”.

Get More Personas Help: Other Personas Tips, Articles and Tutorials!

Both the Operetta and Operetta Advance themes for Firefox will give you that Opera look and feel you have been looking for.  The main difference between the two themes is that Operetta has the tab bar in the usual location (under the bookmarks) and Operetta Advance will move the tab bar to the top of the browser (on top of the menu).  So you have two choices to work with, depending on where you want the tabs bar.

Here is what Operetta looks like in action.

For comparison’s sake, here is the Operetta Advance theme.

Both themes give a great looking interface, without having to switch to the Opera browser to use it.  You can pick up both the Operetta and Operetta Advance themes (Windows only, for both themes) on the Firefox Add-ons web site.