BizzNtech » Firefox, IE, Opera tips

How to Use Greasemonkey in Opera

Joel — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:36:35 +0000

I’m sure most of you are aware of Greasemonkey, well if you don’t then it’s a Firefox extension that allows Firefox users to install scripts that make quick changes to web pages. Using this extension you can add new functionality to web pages and web sites like adding an HTML signature in Google, bypassing image verification in Orkut, changing an orkut theme or a Gmail theme, etc.
If you’re an Opera user then there’s a good news for you. Opera supports Greasemonkey scripts! These user scripts work exactly how they work in Firefox. You can simply import them into Opera unlike in Firefox you where you need to install the Greasemonkey addon. Here’s an easy tutorial which will guide you to do so:

1. Download the Greasemonkey script you want to use.
2. Now, rename the script so that it ends with “.user.js”

3. Open Opera and go to Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Content and click the JavaScript Options button.

4. In User JavaScript files field, choose the location of your scripts folder and click OK.
5. Restart Opera for the changes to take effect.

Get File Browser in Firefox 3 using Firefly

Joel — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:54:34 +0000

Few minutes back I came across an awesome addon for Firefox known as Firefly. It allows users to have access to a comprehensive file manager within Firefox which can be used to view, open, edit, delete, move and rename files. It’s easy to use and reduces wastage of time as well. When you start Firefly you get a page with all drives in it. You can also add other drives and folders of your choice. As Firefox searches for available devices at startup you don’t need to add drives and optical drives.

To browse files and folders you can simply click on them like you would do it Windows explorer. The most interesting part that I found in Firefly was the ability to play multimedia files within the browser itself. In addition to this you can also preview files by just hovering over them. Another interesting feature that I found was the ability to view two folder paths in split screens which makes copy paste operation easy.

Firefly addon is still in development stage, it looks pretty stable though, I didn’t find any probs or bugs while using it. If you would like to try it you can download it from here. It’s 1.4MB in size. Well, I guess it’s the biggest addon at present, but it’s certainly worth a try.

Download Firefly

How to Speed up Firefox3, a Quick Tip

Joel — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:55:43 +0000

No doubt Firefox 3 is the fastest browser at present. But since its open source there is always a room for improvement. Here’s a small tip which will help you to speed up Firefox3, follow the below instructions carefully:

1. Type “about:config” (without quotes) into the address bar and hit enter. You will get a warning message saying “changing these settings can be harmful to the stability, security and performance”. Just below the message click on the button “I’ll be careful, I promise”

2. Now, scroll down and look for the following entries:
network.http.pipelining
network.http.proxy.pipelining
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

You need to alter the above entries as follows:
Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Once done right-click anywhere and select New> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

How to Fix Choppy Scrolling in Firefox 3

Joel — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:24:52 +0000

Mozilla recently released its new version of the browser- Firefox 3. If you are using it, you might have noticed that the scrolling in Firefox 3 is not really smooth, it’s a bit choppy. Firefox hasn’t come out with a fix so far but it will fix it very soon. Well, instead of waiting for a fix from Firefox its better we do something for the time being to fix the problem. Here’s a small workaround which makes scrolling really smooth. Follow the below instructions carefully:

1. First, go to your Firefox 3 profile folder. It can be accessed by going to:

C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

2. Now search for the folder “chrome”, and open it. You should find a file named “userContent-example.css”. Copy it to safe location so that you can restore it if any problem arises.
3. Now rename the file to “userContent.css“.
4. Open “userContent.css” in Wordpad or Notepad.
5. Paste the following code at the end of the file:

/* Smooth Scrolling Fix: Disable Fixed Background Images on Pages */
body {
background-attachment: scroll !important;
}

6. That’s it, now save the file and start Firefox.

[via-Deviantart journal]

Free Orkut Themes for Orkut Lovers

Joel — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:23:38 +0000

Recently Orkut came out with new themes but for some reasons they are available only for certain users. A few people got them and a few didn’t get them. But there’s a way to install them even though they aren’t available in the settings. I have listed the official orkut themes below along with some other beautiful ones. But for installing them you need to follow the below instructions carefully:

Firstly, you need to have Firefox installed. If you haven’t installed yet, then install it from here.

Once done, install the Greasemonkey Firefox addon from here and restart the browser.
NOTE: If you are using Firefox 3 RC1 then the above version won’t work, you need to install the one from here.

Restart the browser after installing the addon and Enable Greasemonkey by going to Tools> Addons> Greasemonkey> Enable.

Now, you can install any of the below themes by just clicking the links below them. When you click the install theme link you’ll get the above box. Just click “Install” to install the theme. To check the newly installed theme log in to your orkut profile.

Managing scripts:

You can check and deleted previously installed or unwanted scripts by right clicking on the monkey icon and selecting “Manage scripts” in the right hand bottom of the browser.

A new window will popup. Here you can select a particular script and click on the uninstall button to uninstall it.

Custom Orkut Themes:

Install Ironman Reloaded theme

Install Dark Knight Theme

Install Alieninvader theme

Install Cute Puppy theme

Install Emma Watson theme

Install Emmawatson 2theme

Install Firefox theme

Install Radiant Explosion theme

Install Orkut servant theme

Install Katrina Kaif theme

Install Hrithik Roshan theme

Install SRK Chak DE theme

Install SRK Om shanti Om 6 pack theme

Install SRK plain theme

Install Kajol theme

Install SRK in White shirt theme

Install SRK Youngistan theme

Install Kolkata Knight Riders theme

Install Spiderman3 Black theme

Install coolmint theme

Official Orkut Themes:
I have removed them from here because Orkut has already included them in profiles

NOTE: I’ll be adding new themes as soon as I get them so keep checking this page for new themes

How to get the Vista Aero Glass Look in Firefox 3 using the Glasser Addon

Joel — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:26:22 +0000

Even though I don’t like Vista for its resource hogging nature, I still like its eye candy interface. I was wondering if there a theme for Firefox which would give the glass Aero feel of Vista. And to my surprise I came across a theme which does the same. To get the Vista aero glass look follow the below instructions carefully:

1. First download Glasser Installer (XPI) and save it on your desktop. Now drag the downloaded file into Firefox to install it. Restart when prompted.

2. Now download the Stylish firefox addon and install it, restart when prompted.

3. Download the zip file and unzip it to a specific location. You’ll find four CSS files, you can install the one you like using the Stylish Add-on. The 4 styles include- Windows Explorer, Windows Media Player, Aqua and Applets.
That’s it, hope you liked the theme. Looks pretty eye candy isn’t it? Please note that the Glasser addon is in Beta stage and hence you might experience few bugs. To check out on further development and new version of the addon you can check here.

[via- Cybernetnews]

How to Recover and Restore Lost Firefox Bookmarks

Joel — Sat, 03 May 2008 08:23:14 +0000

Sometimes if Firefox doesn’t close properly when you close it, the next time you start Firefox you’ll notice that some of your bookmarks have disappeared. The fact is that the bookmarks aren’t actually lost they’ll be still there. Firefox makes backup of your bookmarks automatically, hence you’ll be able to restore the backup. Here’s how you do it:

Go to Start > Run and type the following command. It will take you to the Firefox profile folder
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

Search for the folder ‘bookmarkbackups’ and click on it. You’ll find the bookmarks that were backed up by Firefox automatically. Now copy the latest file after looking in to the date of the file and paste in on your desktop.

Now start Firefox and go to Bookmarks> Organize Bookmarks, in the new window that pops up go to File > Import > From File
Browse the file copied to your desktop earlier and Click Ok. Hopefully your bookmarks will be restored.

Stay Safe from NSFW links using the No-NSFW Firefox Plugin

Joel — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:17:56 +0000

There are several links which you come across while browsing which will lead you in to unwanted stuff. In most of the cases new internet users don’t understand such links and often click them. There’s a Firefox plugin- No-NSFW which will warn you from visiting such links.

You’ll get a small warning in the lower right hand corner of your browser that either marks it safe (SFW) or not safe (NSFW) with color coding to match whenever you move your mouse over a link. The links rating (i.e. NSFW, SFW) are determined by user’s votes.

Every user using this extension can rate a page. To vote on a site you’re on, you just need to click the small eyeglass button right by where the warnings pop up and mark the page. Each time users vote on a page, those votes are tallied up–a number that will shift with the tide of its safety rating.

[via-Webware]

Get a Black Gmail Look and Enjoy a Whole New Gmail experience

Joel — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:37:28 +0000

We all love the Gmail interface and its white background color but how would it be if the whole Gmail look was transformed in to black? It would certainly look great isn’t it? I really love screens with dark backgrounds. It is really helpful for people like me who sit for long hours in front of their pc. Dark screens will result in less strain to your eyes. I have set my Opera theme, desktop wallpaper, Gmail look and many other things to black.

If you would like to change your Gmail look to black just follow the below steps carefully:
1. Download and install Firefox if you haven’t installed yet.
2. Install the stylish Firefox addon.

NOTE: Make sure you’re using the latest version and have JavaScript enabled.
3. Now go here and install the black Gmail skin by Clicking the ‘Load into Stylish’ button.
Check out the stylish black login box which appears after applying the skin

How to use Opera Mini on Your PC

Joel — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:25:03 +0000

I have been using Opera from the past two years and I feel it’s a great browser. I wanted to use Opera Mini in my cell phone but unfortunately for some reason it never worked. Today I came across an awesome article which allows you to run Opera Mini on your PC! Now the question is why would anyone use Opera Mini when there’s Opera browser for PC. Well, the answer is simple, if you have a slow internet connection like 56k internet connection or lesser then you’re benefited from this. Using Opera Mini you can load web pages way faster than any other browser.

Follow the below instructions carefully to use Opera Mini on your pc:
1. Download the microemulator from here and unzip the package to a specific folder.
2. Now download Opera Mini .jar and .jad files from here and save them in the same folder as it will be easy to browse.

3. Double click on “microemulator.jar” to run it. If it doesn’t start then you need to type “java -jar microemulator.jar” in a console.

4. Go to Options > Select device> Add…, now navigate to “microemulator/devices” and select “microemu-device-resizable.jar”.

5. Select the “Resizable device” profile you added and click on “Set as default”.

6. Click on the “Resize” button in the lower right corner and enter your preferred size.
7. Go to File> Open JAD and choose the Opera Mini .jad which you had downloaded in Step2.
8. “Opera Mini” will now appear in the list of applications you can start.
9. Click “Start” to launch it.

16 Useful Firefox 3 Extensions

Joel — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:28:40 +0000

1. Mouse gestures:
This extensions allows you to execute common commands like page forward/backward, close tab, new tab,etc by mouse gestures drawn over the current webpage, without reaching for the toolbar or the keyboard. You can also use click-only “rocker” gestures which are even faster than drawn gestures.

2. ColorfulTabs:
The most beautiful yet the simplest add-on that makes a strong colorful appeal. Colors every tab in a different color and makes them easy to distinguish while beautifying the overall appearance of the interface.

3. FaviconizeTab:

This extension adds a new “FaviconizeTab” option to the context menu of the tab. When it is clicked, the width of the tab becomes small up to the size of favicon. It returns to the former size when “FaviconizeTab” is clicked again.

4. Adblock Plus:

Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.

5. Autofill Forms:
Autofill Forms enables you to fill out web forms with one click or a keyboard shortcut.
A set of customizable rules is used to determine the input for each form element.
You are able to edit, remove, enable/disable the provided rules and to add your own ones. You can configure the order in which the rules are to be applied and define site specific rules. Profiles can be used to switch between several sets of rules.

6. Download Statusbar:
View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar - without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.

7. GooglePreview:

Inserts preview images (thumbnails) of web sites and Amazon products into the Google and Yahoo search results pages. When you use GooglePreview and click on an Amazon link within the search results, you support me and the further development of the extension and back end if you actually purchase a product. The GooglePreview thumbnail system currently consists of 5 dedicated servers and generates 4.5 TB of traffic per month.

8. Forecastfox:
Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive extension. Unfortunately, this addon doesn’t work with Firefox 3 Beta 4.

9. URL Fixer:
URL Fixer corrects typos in URLs that you enter in the address bar. For example, if you type google.con, it will correct it to google.com (asking first, if you enable confirmation).

10. BugMeNot:

It bypasses mandatory registration for sites like the NYT. Activate the extension by right-clicking on a user name and/or password field of a site that asks for registration. BugMeNot will log in for you automatically using user-submitted passwords.

Features: multiple login attempts, failure reporting, and auto-submittal.

11. IE Tab:
It allows you to emulate IE in a Firefox tab for apps that require IE. This is a great tool for web developers, since you can easily see how your web page displayed in IE with just one click and then switch back to Firefox.

12. Flashblock:

Flashblock is an extension for the Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape browsers that takes a pessimistic approach to dealing with Macromedia Flash content on a webpage and blocks ALL Flash content from loading. It then leaves placeholders on the webpage that allow you to click to download and then view the Flash content.

Flashblock currently blocks the following content types:
* Macromedia Flash
* Macromedia Shockwave
* Macromedia Authorware

13. PDF Download:

PDF Download enhances PDF features in FF. When you click on a PDF file, PDF Download lets you know, how big it is, and can then give you the choice to open, download, or convert it to HTML. PDF Download also helps you to stop PDF files crashing your browser, stop PDF files taking forever to open, make PDF files download like other files in Firefox.

>>Greasemonkey: Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript.

14. Google Saved Searches - Adds a sidebar with saved searches. You can access your saved searches (and only yours) from any computer as long as your browser has this script installed. Multiple people can use the same computer and browser while their saved searches remain separate and distinct from the other person’s.

15. Google AutoPager- It enables “infinite scrolling” on Google search-results pages. You don’t need to click ‘Next’ at the bottom of the page. It fetches and appends the next batch as you scroll down, creating the illusion of infinite scrolling.

16. Auto Add Feed - If you use Google Reader, this plugin allows you to skip that intermediate page when adding a new feed, and you end up directly in Google Reader.

How to Disable the AutoScroll Feature in Firefox

Joel — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:35:41 +0000

The round “Auto Scroll” icon is sometimes really annoying, especially when you try to middle click on a link and you miss it. The page starts moving and scrolling by itself. Well, if you don’t like it then there’s a way to disable it. You can do so by going to Options> Advanced> and then uncheck “Use autoscrolling” box as shown below.

Speedup Firefox Load Time with Preloader

Joel — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:47:04 +0000

Firefox no doubt is the most widely used browser but it has a small drawback, it takes a lot of time to load. Even if you have a Core2Duo and 2GB RAM it will take a little bit of time to load. Well, the fact is that even Opera and IE loads faster than Firefox. Luckily, we have a great Windows app- Firefox Preloader which loads some parts of Firefox into memory before it is used to improve startup speed. You can also manage different Firefox versions with this app.

This app certainly does speed up Firefox startup but it also does consume a lot of memory. If you are having a 512MB or a GB of RAM then you don’t need to worry about.
Download Firefox Preloader (link2)

[via-Lifespy]

How to Open a Website without Using a Browser

Joel — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:36:31 +0000

Here’s a small trick which helps you to open a website without using a browser. Now you might be wondering if this is really possible. Well it is. You can do so by going to the help section in notepad, calculator or any other similar application. Here’s how you do it:

1. Open notepad.

2. Go to the Help section and Click Help Topics.

3. A new windows will pop up; now left Click on the top left corner of the window.

4. Click on Jump URL and enter the web address of the site you want to browse in the “Jump to this URL” field (make sure you include http://).

How to Use Firefox as a Windows Explorer

Joel — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:35:47 +0000

Firefox is one of the most widely used internet browsers in the world. Firefox’s tab feature makes it easy to have access to many sites in different tabs rather than opening them in different windows.

We can make use of this tabs feature to use it as a file manager/ windows explorer. This will help to cut down the clutter by opening windows in different tabs. So, here’s how you do it:

As, Firefox by default cannot be used as a windows explorer you need to install an addon in order to support it to do so.

1. Download and install the IE Tab plugin (supports on Firefox3)
2. Restart Firefox
3. Open an IE Tab in the Firefox
4. Use the file extension “file:///” followed by local drive to use Firefox as Windows Explorer (For example, “file:///C:/Programfiles”).

The best part is that you can also bookmark the file locations just like the way you would bookmark a webpage.

[via- lifehacker]