Add Bing search engine on Firefox Search Suggestion Box

Surely if Bing wanted to expand their search share they must crawl aggressively like Google. However I had already discuss the power of Image search and Video search of Bing which is lot better than Google. Also their search result presentation is better than Google. So you have enough reason to add it on your Firefox search suggestion box located on top right corner and the end portion of Navigation Toolbar.

All you need to install this tiny addon utility on your Firefox browser. Now use it and utilize its power on your search term.

Using Secure Login in Firefox

If you allow Firefox to store your passwords you might be worried about the recent security holes found in the password manager. The solution to these problems is to use the Secure Login extension to prevent Firefox from automatically filling in password fields, but at the same time giving you the automation that saves you time. In fact, using the hotkey means that this method is probably even quicker.

The regular Firefox password manager will automatically fill in the password fields for you, which gives malicious sites and hackers the chance to use javascript to read the password. Granted, this isn’t a common occurrence, but it’s still wise to be wary.

Using the Secure Login extension, you’ll see these gold bars around the login credentials instead, but it won’t fill in the fields automatically.

Here’s where the magic happens….  just click the Secure Login button and the form will be filled and automatically submitted.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut Alt+N (customizable) to login even faster.

The button isn’t automatically added to your toolbar after installing the extension, but it’s easy to add: just right-click over the back/forward buttons and choose Customize Toolbar. You’ll find the Secure Login button in the list.

The preferences have a lot of other options as well, like not automatically submitting the form when you click the button if you don’t like that behavior. You can even customize the highlight color around the login elements.

Download Secure Login from Mozilla Add-ons

Where is the Browser Market Headed?

There has been more talk about web browsers in the last few weeks than any time I can remember in the past. Google Chrome came out of the Beta phase, Opera unveiled the first Alpha release of version 10, Internet Explorer 8 is suspected to have a 3rd Beta coming in the next month, and Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 was just unveiled. This is becoming a hugely competitive market, and it’s made me wonder whether Mozilla will be able to hold their ground.

Taking a look at Firefox 3.1 I’ve noticed that some great features have been added to the browser, but will it be enough to retain and attract new users? A lot of my friends have already jumped ship to Google Chrome because it has just the right features without overdoing it. Once Chrome supports extensions like Firefox does, which is supposed to be soon, I’m sure Mozilla will be in for a rude awakening as they lose more of their users.

Is Mozilla at risk more than others? I believe so. Firefox users show that they’ve been willing to switch browsers once in order to find something that better fits their needs. For that reason I feel that initially Google Chrome’s marketshare will be eating away at Firefox’s, but it could be another story if Google follows through on their plan to have their browser ship on some new computers like they already do for some of their other software. Doing that would surely lay down the gauntlet for the competition… especially for those browsers who have been relying heavily on word-of-mouth.

Is Firefox 3.1 going to be enough to keep you a faithful Mozilla user? Remember the Ctrl+Tab switcher that Mozilla had in earlier releases? After receiving some negative feedback Mozilla decided to yank that feature out of the browser, and I think that might be the right call. I thought it was kinda nice to have, but I heard more complaints than praises about it. That’s a good sign that they are definitely listening to their users, but what about the other features they are including:

• Private browsing mode
• Enhanced session recovery – after the browser crashes you can select which tabs you want to restore
• Some support for operating system sounds
• Selective results in the address bar using symbols [read more]
• Tab detaching
• Improved performance
• Better support for the Acid 3 test

I feel that Mozilla is trying to keep up with some of the other browsers as well now. For example, the private browsing mode was originally said to be pushed back again, but once Google Chrome came out Mozilla seemed to think it was a higher priority. They also added a tab detaching feature similar to that of Chrome, and it’s one thing I truly wish I could disable. I find myself detaching tabs by accident all of the time, and it’s a pain since they will then open in a new window when that happens.

Personally I’ve been a huge fan of Firefox since before version 1.0, but I’m happy to see all of the competition they are getting. Firefox has been pushing Internet Explorer to rethink their browser for years now, and Microsoft now pays more attention to how they can make their browser better for their users. I think Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera are doing the same thing as Firefox by making it more important than ever to come out with useful and innovative features.

So where do you think the browser market is headed? Are we looking at one browser that will take the crown, or will we never see one dominate like Internet Explorer once did?

Automatically Install Extension Updates in Firefox

Over in our forum someone was wondering if there was a way to prevent Firefox from prompting you about updates to extensions you have installed. Th problem for some users is that Firefox will not continue to load if it is in the process of prompting you for updates. For example, let’s say you have Firefox automatically start when your computers boots up. If there’s an update available for one of your extensions the browser will not actually load until you’ve chosen whether or not you want to accept the update.

Max jumped right in with an excellent solution to the problem, and it just happens to be an extension that will take care of the updating for you. The Update Notifier extension will check for updates after the browser has launched, and you can even choose an option to install them automatically. Not only that but you can disable being notified after the updates are installed thereby making the whole process something that happens in the background.

Update Notifier Homepage