How to set up Mozilla’s Firefox browser the right way – PCWorld
Mozilla Firefox is a great choice for your default browser no matter what operating system you’re running, but it’s especially handy if you’re running Windows 10 since it takes control of Cortana’s Bing addiction with no effort on your part. Beyond that, the browser’s doing a lot of interesting pro-user privacy things these days, such as instituting a truly private Private Browsing mode that blocks tracking ads, and rolling out ads that actually respect user preferences.
Firefox also offers many of the advantages that Chrome does, including cloud-based capabilities that sync your bookmarks, browsing history, and open tabs across devices.
Here’s how to set up Firefox the right way so you can get the most of this fantastic open source browser. This tutorial is based on version 41. 0. 1.
Firefox Sync
Sync is Mozilla’s answer to Chrome’s cross-platform service that lets you sync your bookmarks, browsing history, installed add-ons, and open tabs across your PCs and other devices.
To use Sync you need to sign-up for a Firefox account, which you can do right from your browser.
Get started with Firefox Sync right from the browser’s menu.
Click on the “hamburger” menu icon in the upper right corner and select “Sign in to Sync” towards the bottom. This will open a tab where you can create a Firefox account. Fill it out as you would anything else, and then click Sign up.
Mozilla will then send you a verification email that you’ll need to click before you can continue. Once that’s done, Firefox will start syncing your data to Mozilla’s servers so you can access it with Firefox on other PCs, and with Firefox for Android.
By default, Sync saves your tabs, bookmarks, passwords, history, installed add-ons, and preferences. If you’d like to change any of that, open a new tab in Firefox and type about:preferences#sync. Then uncheck any boxes under “Sync” that you don’t want saved. Personally, I don’t bother syncing passwords since I use a password manager.
To turn off Firefox’s feature for saving passwords, type in about:preferences#security in a new tab then under “Passwords” uncheck “Remember passwords for sites. ”
Import bookmarks
When you first install Firefox you’re given the option then to install bookmarks from other browsers installed on your system. If you missed that boat, you can still do it after the initial set up process. First, check out instructions online for how to export bookmarks from Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari.
If given the choice, export your bookmarks as a file and save it somewhere on your PC that you’ll be able to find again, such as the desktop or your documents folder.
You can import your bookmarks from other browsers via Firefox’s bookmarks manager.
Now open Firefox and type Ctrl + Shift + B to open the Bookmarks Manager. A new window will open; at the top, click the Import and Backup button and select Import Bookmarks from HTML… Select the HTML file you exported from your old browser in the previous step and Firefox will do the rest.
Must have add-ons
Like Chrome, Firefox has a healthy add-ons catalog that enhance the capabilities of your browser. To start installing add-ons, type about:addons into a new tab and hit Enter.
Privacy and security conscious users will want to use NoScript, a classic Firefox add-on from developer Giorgio Maone that stops JavaScript and other content from running without your say-so. It has granular permissions that give you control over exactly what runs and what does not on every site you visit.
Another privacy favorite is the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s HTTPS Everywhere. This add-on forces most popular sites to connect to you over a more secure HTTPS connection if an HTTPS connection is available for the site. This makes it much harder for anyone to snoop on your online activity. You may not think reading the news or your favorite blog is important enough to keep private, but that kind of activity can betray your political leanings, interests, and religious views (or lack thereof) to name just a few data points you may want to keep private.
Another great tool is Download Manager Tweak, an add-on that adds some power to Firefox’s download manager. You can open the manager in a tab or sidebar, delete a downloaded file, and re-download files.
Firefox also comes with the add-on from read-it-later service Pocket built-in.
If you want to take a look at more Firefox add-ons, check out our look at 25 browser add-ons that make your life easier.
Update Firefox to the latest release – Mozilla Support
By default, Firefox updates automatically. You can always check for updates at any time, in which case an update is downloaded, but it is not installed until you restart Firefox.
Note: If you use your Linux distribution’s packaged version of Firefox, you will need to wait for an updated package to be released to its package repository. This article only applies if you installed Firefox manually (without using your distribution’s package manager).
Click the menu button, click and select the menu button, click Help and select the Menu bar, click the menu and select.
The About Mozilla FirefoxAbout Firefox window opens. Firefox will check for updates and, if an update is available, it will be downloaded automatically by default.
When the download is complete, click Restart to update Firefox.
If you are on a Mac computer with Apple Silicon and update from an older version to Firefox 84 or higher, you will need to fully exit and restart Firefox after the update (as explained here).
Note: Update settings can be changed in Firefox OptionsPreferencesSettings. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click and select.
Click the menu button and select the menu button and select.
In the panel, go to the Firefox Updates section.
These fine people helped write this article: AliceWyman, Chris Ilias, kbrosnan, Cheng Wang, Kadir Topal, Michele Rodaro, Michael Verdi, scoobidiver, rgnjilx, Swarnava Sengupta, fredy, ideato, user669794, Sourav Lahoti, hoosteeno, Wesley Branton, Lan, Joni, TalkingFirefox, Ömer Timur, John E Case, khdzstudio, Random121, Rashid, RRobinson, Bobby, Angela Lazar, adhistac, p18009423, romado33, v_voorhies, Julie
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Where is Firefox.exe located on WIndows 10? – Mozilla Support
Sorry for posting to an archived thread but I thought this was worth documenting, since it happened to me today when testing out the Firefox Installer.
Firefox installs to C:\Users\
administrator and cancel the UAC prompt (or if you install Firefox in a non-administrator account).
Related bugs:
Bug 1357494 install firefox only for administrator Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1350974
Tortino Reporter Description • 2017-04-18 14:19 EDT
Steps to reproduce:
-on windows 10 logon as administrator user (or a user belonging to administratorS group)
-run firefox setup
-when asked if I want to modify the system I click no
Actual results:
firefox is not installed.
Expected results:
firefox should install to C:\Users\
only for the administrator user, just like it does for normal (ie not administrator) users.
it seems that administrators users can only install firefox “system wide” and sometimes I don’t want to.
Bug 1350974 Cancelling installer UAC prompt closes installer Status: VERIFIED FIXED Milestone: Firefox 55
Molly Howell (she/her) [:mhowell] Assignee Description • 2017-03-27 12:13 EDT
STR:
1) Run a Firefox installer (stub or full, any channel)
2) Cancel the resulting UAC prompt
Expected behavior:
The installer offers a default install path inside the user’s home directory, then installation proceeds as normal without ever requiring elevation.
Actual behavior:
The installer exits.
Romain Testard [:RT] Comment 15 • 2018-04-03 08:54 EDT
(In reply to Chris More [:cmore] from comment #14)
> Romain: can you verify if this is a regression or valid post Quantum stub installer?
Just tested it’s still fixed in Win10 x64 – AFAIK this has been fixed since 55.
Works as intended:
1 User dismisses the UAC prompt
2 Installer launches and installs to the user’s home directory
Frequently Asked Questions about setup firefox
How do I set up Mozilla Firefox?
Get started with Firefox Sync right from the browser’s menu. Click on the “hamburger” menu icon in the upper right corner and select “Sign in to Sync” towards the bottom. This will open a tab where you can create a Firefox account. Fill it out as you would anything else, and then click Sign up.Oct 12, 2015
How do I download the latest version of Firefox?
In the General panel, go to the Firefox Updates section….Update FirefoxClick the menu button , click Help and select About Firefox. Click the menu button , click. … The About Mozilla Firefox Firefox window opens. … When the download is complete, click Restart to update Firefox.
Where is Firefox installed Windows 10?
Firefox would normally be installed in one of these locations: (64-bit Firefox) “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\” (32-bit Firefox) “”C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\””Jan 3