Tag Archives: Firefox

How to update Firefox to the 9.01 version on Ubuntu

If you use Ubuntu 10.04 or any other Linux distribution which doesn’t automatically upgrade your Firefox to the latest version you can force it.

First of all you have to launch Terminal and add the right PPA to the repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa

Then you need to update and upgrade the OS using:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

If you are installing Firefox for the first time the right commands are:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa

sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install firefox firefox-gnome-support
 firefox-locale-en

As usual on Linux, it is not necessary to reboot the computer and you can start immediately to use your updated Firefox.

Gmail Plasmoid – Kubuntu 11.04 by gotbletu

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Best Gmail Notifier For Ubuntu Linux by Videoorchard

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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 speed up Firefox on Ubuntu 10.04 (or Windows and OS X)

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In the past three months Firefox was updated more than we were used in the past also because it had some “speed problems” expecially on Ubuntu 10.04. Now, after the last updates, Firefox seems to go fast but for people who like to try some hacks we have collected some tips from the web:

– start Firefox

– in the address bar type about:config

– find and modify these lines:

– network.http.pipelining > Make it True

– network.http.pipelining.maxrequests > Make it 8 or 10 (we made it 30 and it really works fast especially on websites as ebay)

– network.http.proxy.pipelining > Make it True

– network.dns.disableIPv6 > Make it True

– last but not least restart and Firefox should work fine and a little bit faster.

Before trying these changes, please consider that changing advanced settings on Firefox can be harmful to the stability, security and performance of the program. Take notes of all the changes you are doing in case you need to revert them later.

I2P a real versatile anonymizing network for Linux and Windows

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This week for our Freeware Page, we tested I2P a freeware which let you to surf internet without revealing your IP and encrypt your data. As described on the I2P Homepage, this freeware is a “anonymizing network, offering a simple layer that identity-sensitive applications can use to securely communicate. All data is wrapped with several layers of encryption, and the network is both distributed and dynamic, with no trusted parties”. During out test we used bothXP and Ubuntu because I2P is a java file even is it seems to be a exe file and it could be used on all the Linux OS. On Windows XP it is very simple to use I2P but at the beginning it is really slow and for this reason we suggest to keep it run for about twelve hours because this freeware needs to build its own network and for this it takes some hours. When ready you have to setup all the software you want to filter through it. For this reason, we setted Firefox (Preferences-> Advanced -> Network -> Settings) Manual Proxy Configuration to HTTP Proxy as localhost, port 4444. Then we put a tick on “Use this proxy server for all protocols” and we finished indicating “No proxy for” as localhost, 127.0.0.1. After some seconds we discovered that our IP was now in the northern part of the France (far away from our real location). To setup I2P it is necessary to point Firefox on http://localhost:7657/index.jsp because, by default, I2P tries to launch Internet Explorer also when it works on Linux. After a week of tests we can say that I2P is a little bit slower than TOR but it can easily be integrated on your browser, mail client, chat and others programs. For our (limited) experience I2P is the most complete anonymizing network we know. To conclude, as already discussed also on this post none or nothing can create a perfectly anonymous software but I2P can help to better improve our privacy. Recommended!

How to manage podcast and RSS reader on Firefox!

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted some lines about editing and changing the feed/podcast reader on Firefox when you have previously chosen a specific program to automatically subscribe to podcasts. If you are using Firefox 3.5 on Linux, you can simply go to Edit -> Preferences and type Feed in the search bar. At this point you have a button menu with all the different options; we suggest to select the Preview in Firefox one. If you have an older version of Firefox that does not allow you to follow the above path (or for some reason, by default, you prefer the most difficult way) you have to open a new Tab and type about:config in it. After a brief warning message you can type Feed in the location bar and find the browser.feeds.handler line. At this point it is necessary to change the value field to Ask and next time you will decide to subscribe a podcast you will free to choose your favourite program. We hope this few lines could be useful and easy to execute for you all!

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!

How to solve a boring Firefox crash when you upgrade it on Linux

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Firefox is the most flexible browser you can install and use on your computer. It is always upgraded, easily customizable and full of add-ons you can choose to satisfy all your needs but sometimes, after an upgrade it crashes and does not run. Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have added a brief post about solving this problem. First of all, start Firefox in its Safe Mode (open Terminal and then type: firefox -safe-mode or if you prefer Alt+F2 and then type as described before). Immediately you will see a menu window with five different options. Click on the button which allows you to “Disable all the add-ons” and you will able to launch Firefox. This happens because some add-ons are not compatible with the new version of Firefox. To completely solve the matter you have to separately enable each add-ons and restart the browser after having added any single add-ons. In this way, you will be able to understand which is the “guilty add-ons”. Useful!