How to Use Add ons for Firefox

Have you just started using Mozilla Firefox? Have you explored the special tools available for Firefox users? Mozilla Firefox has a large set of versatile tools called Add-ons, or Extensions. They allow you to personalize Firefox to suit your tastes and browsing habits.You can block many ad images and banners with Adblock Plus. Cool Iris lets you temporarily open a small browser window to explore another link while staying on the same page. eQuake Alert will keep you informed of earthquake details from all over the world. There is a Yahoo Toolbar designed specifically to help you get the best use out of Firefox and Yahoo.There are weather add-ons, dictionary add-ons, graphics add-ons, all kinds toys and games and tools to customize your browsing experience.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. 

   Open Firefox. Click on Tools, then click on Add-ons. This will open a small window in the corner of your browser. The bottom right corner has a blue link, "Get Extensions." Click on it. This will open up a new web page with links to lots of extensions. Look around at what's available and what sounds interesting to you.

2. Click on one of the extensions and you will get a button that says "Add to Firefox." Go ahead and click on it. This will open up a box to verify that you want to install this add-on. Click on "Install Now." Most add-ons will then ask you if you want to complete the installation by restarting Firefox now. Either do that, or close the window and your extensions will be finished installing the next time you close and reopen Firefox.

3. 

   Find Cool Iris in the list of extensions. Cool Iris is a great add-on for checking out links without opening them in new tabs or windows before you're sure you want to. Follow the instructions above to install it, including closing and restarting Firefox. Now, when you roll over a link, you will see a small blue magnifying glass. If you click on or stay on that blue icon, a separate small window will open to show you where that link would take you. Keep your cursor on the window and you can see the information. As soon as you move the cursor away from the window, it will close.

4. 

   Decide if you want to keep using the add-ons. You can keep them, delete them or disable them. Click on the Add-ons menu entry and it will give you a list of all your installed Add-ons and their status. In that window, check the green symbol that says "Extensions." From there, you can enable, disable or uninstall any of them.

Tips & Warnings

• Firefox will alert you if there are updates available to your extensions. Tell it "yes" and it will install the updates and open your Firefox browser as usual.

• Explore within each extension to find out the many ways they can be customized.

• Spend some time on the Add-ons and Extensions page. There are lots of categories and almost countless extensions.

• Many people go to a lot of effort to design and implement these extensions. If you find one that makes your life easier, consider contributing to the author.

• Some extensions will only run with certain versions of Firefox. If you upgrade your Firefox some of your extensions may not work until the editors get a chance to rewrite them.

Resources

• Home Page for Firefox Add-ons
• Firefox For Dummies