Category Archives: Firefox Extensions

Few Tricks to protect your web searches from Search Engines logging

During the past weeks, we read many posts and articles about the new privacy rules that Google introduced for its web services. The goal of this specific post is not about discussing privacy agreements and the many interesting points of view about this kind of topics but we would like to focus your attention on a couple of “tricks” which can help you to increase the privacy level.

First of all, you can decide to use an alternative search engine which doesn’t log your activity and it is not possible to define your profile about your web activities.

Privatelee

Privatelee has been developed to offer better privacy to people who prefer not to have their web searches automatically analyzed by google.com.

This search engine can work on https mode and its search results are the mix between external search such as Google and Bing. You can also decide to use just one web engine or both. Comparing the results obtained we can affirm that Privatelee is really very effective and offers the same main features of Google and Bing.

Startpage

Startpage is based on Google and has many flexible features that can be selected using the “settings” page. This particular search engine deletes all the logs after 48 hours and you can anonymously visualize images and videos or define how to manage cookies. Moreover, Startpage allows you to save your settings without using cookies.

As for Privatelee, please be sure to type https and not a “simple” http when you insert Startpage address in the bar.

Secondly, if you use Firefox, you can use a specific add-on TrackMeNot. TrackMeNot is a simple but useful add-on you can install on Firefox to obfuscate user search data profiler on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu and others. TrackMeNot automatically issues random queries on the main search engines using a list a generic list of words. In this way, search engines are not able to create a real profile about you as web user. Your real searches will be just few between the hundreds fictionally created by TrackMeNot. TrackMeNot is completely configurable: you can choose the query frequency or define the klog of your automatic queries. By default, TrackMeNot uses the words contained in the RSS of four primary websites: The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC and The Register.

Last but not least, if you are using your PC in any area with poor Internet connection, you can disable TrackMe Not with just a click. Easy and fast!

Video – Firefox Addon TrackMeNot by LinuxWindowsMacHilfe

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Use the anonymoX add-on for Firefox to visit website protected by IP selection

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What about listening to Pandora or other USA IP-based online music services if you are not into the USA? There are many add-on for Firefox which can help you to use the right proxy for appearing in different places in the world but, in my experience, you can have some difficulties when you try to use them.

In fact the IPs of free proxies change frequently and sometimes you are obliged to spend a lot of time searching for the right IP of free proxies. Other times the free proxy addresses are so overcrowded that you have to wait many seconds before you can visualize webpages.

One exception is anonymoX, a simple add-on for Firefox which always works properly and assure a good connection speed. AnonymoX has two different service levels, the free basic service has fewer features but it really works properly and it’s fast.

With the free level you can choose your favourite IP exit country between USA, UK and NL. You can also decide if you prefer to stealth your web surfing using anonymoX features or the classic TOR servers. Moreover, you can change your fictional ID every times you want also while you are surfing the web.

During all our tests anonymoX was able to assure us a good surfing privacy, in particular we successfully tried to change browser id and we really appreciated the possibility of visiting .onion websites through the Tor option. Recommended!!!

Searching a Gmail notifier for Ubuntu 10.04… an unpredictable Odyssey!

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Finding a versatile Gmail notifier for my laptop seemed to be not so difficult and, after a first quick search, I selected a bunch of software I believed interesting. But when I tested them I was not satisfied by they behaviour especially because they didn’t have many of the features I wanted.

First of all I started installing the Gmail software I found in the Screenlets repositories on my Ubuntu but it was not able to update itself. Probably the firewall denied to the screenlet to communicate externally. I didn’t want to spend much time (sic) on the research of a Gmail notifier so I decided do uninstall it.

My second option was Popper and reading the program description I believed tha t was really the right one but.. after the configuration I was not impressed by the final flexibility and interaction this software offers. Just to know, for a quick configuration you need Popper configurator that is in the

The next step was represented by KCheckGmail that is for KDE and runs properly also on Gnome but, in this case, the program is not updated with the last Gmail configuration parameters and so it is nice but useless..

Then I tried with Gmail Notify. The configuration is quick and easy but it offers poor results. I mean that you have just the subject of new emails and no possibility to visualize them with a simple mouse click if you haven’t previously done the login of your Gmail account using the browser.

Finally I installed cGmail through the Ubuntu Software Center and I found what I was looking for: a simple program which let me know about new emails and let me open them with a click. The graphic interface is basic but after a couple of hours wasted on searching an effective solution I was satisfied!

Last but not least, if you don’t want to install a Gmail notifier directly on your Ubuntu, consider to install the add-on Gmail Watcher on Firefox.

Please, if you have better solution and you want to share them with us, don’t hesitate to comment this post. Thank you!

How to install “old” add-ons on Firefox 5. The easy way!

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Firefox add-ons I usually update my Firefox as soon as possible but often, especially after installing the new version 5 on a Ubuntu 11.04 platform, I had to lose many add-ons that I previously selected and used daily. To avoid this problem I found some tips on the web and I tested all of them with different results.

Solution 1
– download the .xpi file from its official Firefox add-on webpage using the right mouse button (Save Link As) on

– unzip the .xpi file with Archive Manager and open install.rdf using a Text Editor;

– find this line: em:maxVersion and change the value from e.g. 4.0.* to 5.0.*;

– click on icon in the Firefox Add-ons Manager, select “Install Add-on From File…” and follow the visual instructions.

Unfortunately this solution didn’t work always during my tests

Solution 2
– open a new Tab on Firefox and type: about:config;

– agree to the warning message;

– search all the lines with the string extensions.checkCompatibility and set the values to false

– restart Firefox and enable or install your “old” add-ons.

Solution 3 – The easy one!
– open a new Tab on Firefox and click on Tools –> Add-ons;

– search for the Add-on Compatibility Reporter and install it;

– restart Firefox and you will be able to install all the old add-ons.

Sometimes you will discover that installing “old” add-ons doesn’t mean that they really run on Firefox 5 but, in my experience, more than the 70% of them will be good for the new version. Have fun!!

Technorati Tags: Firefox, install, Firefox 5, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 11.04, tutorial

How to open PDF files (and other formats) through Mozplugger on Ubuntu

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This article comes as a useful help for all Linux (Ubuntu) users, which will be presented with a new way of opening PDF files in the browsers compatible with this operating system. First of all, most of you probably know that Google Chrome is capable of doing this by default, without the user being required to make a particular setting.

However, Firefox does not currently have this built in feature, so it needs some help (usually in the form of a plugin) in order to open the PDF files you download or see online. In addition to the official plugin from Adobe (which contains numerous bugs and can sometimes be really annoying because if its way of loading PDFs), there is the option known under the name of Mozplugger. This is actually a plugin that allows the integration of different applications with the Firefox browser so that it can open some files not recognized automatically by default. If you want to install Mozplugger, the following simple steps are required and can be done by anyone.

After installing Mozzplugger, the following text muse be written in mozpluggerrc:

application / pdf: pdf: PDF file
application / x-pdf: pdf: PDF file
text / pdf: pdf: PDF file
text / x-pdf: pdf: PDF file
application / x-postscript: ps: PostScript file
application / postscript: ps: PostScript file
repeat noisy swallow (Evince) fill: Evince “$ file”

After making these changes, a restart is totally recommended. If you do not restart your browser right after that, changes might not take the desired effects. You will surely enjoy everything this great plugin has to offer. Not only will you be able to read PDFs directly in your browser, but there will also be some extra formats that you never thought they could be read directly from Firefox.

Rediscover Prism by Mozilla (Ubuntu, MAC and Windows tips)

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In 2007, when Prism was launched, there were some enthusiastic reviews about this application. Then the widget era began and Prism popularity decreased. Anyway, Prism is still a powerful application for all that people who desire to run their more often used web application saving RAM and CPU resources. Prism, based on XULRunner, is multi platform, easy to use and very flexible. To use it on Ubuntu you can launch the Terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install prism

or using the Synaptics Package Manager (System —> Administration —> Synaptics Package Manager). Then go to Applications —> Internet —> Prism and a small windows appears. Now, fill in all the required information: the web application URL, the name you prefer, settings and do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut option. At this point you will find a new rough icon on your Desktop with the name you chose. The first time you use it, with the right mouse button click on it and go to Properties —> Permissions and Allow executing file as program. If you want to change the icon you have to click on it (with the right mouse button), go to Properties —> Basic and choose your favorite icon clicking the icon on the upper left corner. If all are steps are annoying for you, it is possible to use Prism as add-on for Firefox. In this case, on Firefox, go to Tools —> Add-ons —> Get Add-ons and type Prism on the search bar. You will install Prism as a simple add-on for Firefox. Now, you can automatically generate a Prism application just clicking on Tools —> Convert Website to Application when you are in the web application page.

On Windows or MAC we suggest to download the standalone package directly from the official web page or install Prism as Firefox add-on following the same steps we described for Ubuntu. If you use the Prism standalone package you have to decompress it in your favorite location. For Windows users: when you set up a new Prism application, try the tray menu option but do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut or you will not be able to find again the application after you close it.

In my experience, Prism is really useful with all the Google web applications, with Zoho services and Pandora. Try and enjoy it!

How to repair Flash on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have written some easy instructions to repair the flash plugin on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty. In fact, after a brand new install on my Acer Aspire Athlon X2 I had big problems in visualizing Flash contents on Firefox 3. I tried to reinstall the plugin different times but the result did not change. Finally, reading a page in ubuntuforums.org I find the right solution for my problem. First of all you have to open Synaptic Package Manager (in System – Administration) and remove all the swfdec packages (in my case swfdec -mozilla and swfdec -gnome). Then, using the Terminal you have to type sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree. Now you restart Firefox and Flash contents will be available again. We believe that this solution is really fast and practical but if you know a better one which could permit us not to install non free code please let us know.

How to install the Linux version of Cooliris add-on in Firefox 3.1

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) , we posted a brief post to focus your attention on Cooliris in its, not well known, Linux version. In fact on Linux, you are not always allowed to install directly Cooliris as Firefox add-on and the same happens when you try to install Cooliris using the Firefox Add-on official webpage In this case, the only solution we have, is represented by surfing on the Cooliris homepage and click on the Linux version in the Downloads Page. The xpi file will be immediately opened and in just few clicks it is installed. Cooliris allows you to search videos, images and photographs in many sites (Google Image Search, YouTube, Flickr, Hulu, online retailers, and other sites), watch them on a 3D wallpaper or on a full-screen slideshow using the toggle button. This program contains also an interesting bunch of channels as News, Sport, Photos of the day, Music Videos, Comedy, etc.. UsingCooliris you can also share your multimedia stuff with friends or keep them in your Favorites. At the moment this Linux version of Cooliris runs on Firefox 3.1+ using Ubuntu 8.04+, Fedora 10.0+ or OpenSuse 11+. Recommended!

Firefox add-ons: use Foxmarks to keep your bookmarks safe and synchronized!

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted a brief review about Foxmarks, a simple but effective add-on for Firefox which can seriously help you to manage, save and restore your bookmarks. In the past, we wrote some reviews about Online Bookmark Manager, Febe and Cleo but, at the moment, we truly believe that Foxmarks is the most flexible between all of them. It is cross-platform (or multiplatform if you prefer), easy to use and very intuitive thanks to its interactive wizards. Foxmarks can be used to simply sharing your bookmarks with your friends or as a professional tool to sync profiles via web between all your PCs. Last but not least, I would like to focus your attenyion on mobile.foxmarks.com which allows you to access bookmarks on all your web-enabled devices. Recommended!