Firefox Basics | Themes and Extensions | Thunderbird | Back to Freestuff Home
Firefox and Thunderbird
Firefox and Thunderbird are the answer if you want to avoid Microsoft Internet Exploder and Outlook. Free Web Browsing and Email for Windows is right at your fingertips and download/install could not be any simpler.
You obviously know what a browser is. You're using one to look at this web page. We also are fully aware that Internet Explorer is free too (well, it comes with Windows anyway, even after Microsoft lost that court case... funny... ) and works great most of the time. IE even improved their browser and now, in version 7, you can use tabs. Do you know why Microsoft had to upgrade their browser? It's because Firefox was better and people were starting to find out...
Firefox is the browser that used to be Netscape. It's from Mozilla and it's very fast, very reliable, and best of all, very free. It was Firefox that made tabbed browsing popular, and with the added value that extensions and themes, now collectively known as "add-ons", bring it really is a no-brainer.
Getting this swift new web browser is just a matter of going to www.mozilla.org. Click on the Fox and the Bird logos and you'll see the huge Firefox ad (It's up to version 2 as I type this). The download link will be prominently displayed. Download it to a temp space on your hard drive, use windows explorer and navigate to the temp directory and run the install. Fast, painless and you now have one of the major web browsers running on your PC or laptop for free.
Here's Firefox in action. It has all the functionality you've come to expect from a modern web browser. Tabbed browsing, histories, book-marking, toolbar control, you name it. It loads pages very fast and does not take up a lot of hard drive space. It's the answer if you are looking for a change from the regular Microsoft goosestep, but you must be warned that some pages out there in Cyberland are made with Internet Explorer in mind, so some things may not work well in Firefox. Safari people have the same problems from time to time, but they are becoming more and more rare. (the problems, not the Safari people...)
You saw me running Firefox and displaying the Rutgers Computer Science webpage. The Cheetah pattern and diamonds around my buttons are because I use the "PimpZilla" theme. You may also have noticed the control buttons in the lower right hand corner. They look like an MP3 player. That's because they are. They control my iTunes and display what song I'm playing as well as letting me control iTunes without having to maximize the app to do so. It does this by using an extension, a small program that works with Firefox as the base and extends the functionality of the browser.
Just go to the Tools menu item and select "Add-ons" to see the extensions and themes you have...
As you can see, I have a few loaded. Like I said, they are little programs and utilities that let you do very simple things like change your colors or very complicated things like running an FTP client. If you click on the "Get Extensions" button in the lower right hand corner you'll see what a vast selection you have...
Things like blogging, pop-up killing, searching, a whole slew of functionality that you can use without leaving the comfort of your browser. Now you can get things done and not have to stop tinkering with your Fantasy basketball team or have to stop reading FARK...
Now it's time to look at themes....
Themes are like skins. There are thousands of them. All different colors and styles and designs. Go check them out and you'll find one that's right for you in no time. I like PimpZilla.
Firefox is the real deal. You should go and grab it now...
Thunderbird a a mail client. An application that lets you download your mail from your mail server and read it and organize it. it also lets you craft and send your own messages, with text, pictures and attachments. The most popular email clients out there now are probably Outlook or Outlook Express. That being the case Thunderbird is a welcome bit of relief. I've never had anything but the worst experience with those two and have been a happy TBird user since it came out. Even before then I would use other freeware apps to avoid the constant crashing and freezing of Outlook. Ok. Anti-Microsoft rant over. Let's start talking about loading TBird and getting it working...
Go to www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/ and click on the free download area. Save the file to a temp area on your hard drive and then use Windows Explorer, navigate to the temop directory and run the install program.
You will be asked to enter the basic information you have to put in for your mail account.
Your incoming mail server is either a POP or IMAP server. IMAP (Internet message Access Protocol) keeps all the mail at a central location and looks the same wherever you use your mail (this is nice, use it if you can) or a POP (Post Office Protocol) that downloads the message to your machine, giving you the option to keep them on the server to be downloaded elsewhere or to delete them. You'll need your userid and your password to access your mail from your incoming mail server.
You'll also need to know your outgoing SMTP (Simple Mail transfer protocol) server too (some need a password like incoming does).
See how boring a lowly Undergrad admin's email is...
Thunderbird also uses extensions and themes. Under the tools menu there are selections for both themes and extensions.
Firefox and Thunderbird are very stable, very fast and very FREE!! A more than worthy addition to the Freestuff collection.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or corrections please let me know...
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