Mozilla Firefox what is this program and is it needed? What is the Mozilla Firefox browser and its settings. The history of the Firefox browser What is the firefox browser

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Today will be the third article about browsers. A little earlier, we already managed to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of a newcomer to the field of browser building - .

The share of these browsers in the Runet market is quite large, but there is another representative of this galaxy, which is not inferior to them in popularity not only in Runet, but also in the world. I'm talking about Mozilla Firefox.

In Runet, the popularity of Mazila is comparable to that of the Opera, and through this browser about 30% of the total number of all Internet users go online. But in the world it is still popular (about the same 30%), although it is inferior, and Google Chrome is already close to it, which has shown an amazing increase in popularity over the several years of its existence.

Each of these browsers has its own features, and today we will try to consider everything that makes Firefox so popular and what a webmaster can use when working on his site.

History of Mozilla Firefox and its features

Let's start, according to tradition, with what we say - and it will always be completely free from here(the big green "Download for free" button at the top right of the page). By the way, in 2008 this program set a record that was included in the Guinness Book of Records. In that memorable year, the new version was downloaded more than eight million times in the first day.

In general, Firefox traces its history back to the oldest graphic (not text) browser on earth - from Mosaic. The first versions of which were born back in 1994 and became a kind of sensation. For the first time, Internet users were able to view graphic images on the web pages they open.

Then Mosaic was renamed to the well-known Netscape Navigator, and then its name was changed a little more and it became Netscape Communicator.

In 1998, Netscape was acquired by a large American IT corporation and for further work over the browser and other software has been created Mozilla non-profit organization, under the auspices of which it was planned to release and develop open source software standards (this term was previously used as a working name for Netscape Navigator).

The Mozilla Organization was financed mainly by the same Netscape company, and already under the wing of this organization the first version of Firefox was released. Its engine was completely written from scratch and it was on its basis that subsequent versions of the Netscape browser (starting with the sixth) were released.

After some time, the roads of the two browsers Firefox and Netscape diverged (around 2003), as a result of which the latter rested in Bose, well, and the former became one of the most popular Internet browsers in the world.

Directly Firefox has been leading its history since 2004 (although it already existed in 2002, but was called Phoenix, and in 2003 it was renamed Firebird and only in 2004 it finally took on the name familiar to us) and until recently its main competitor was IE, because the latter is built into the most popular operating system of all time by default.

But in 2011, Mazila first experienced serious competition from a newcomer called Google Chrome. And according to some reports, the share of these browsers in the world is now about the same.

In general, the situation in the market of Internet browsers is now quite tense and competition is escalating. This probably plays into the hands of us, ordinary users, because it forces developers to look for more and more new features that increase convenience and draw attention to their offspring. However, all new products are being introduced very quickly by competitors, so none of the developers can rest on their laurels.

By the way, I recently read that in order for Mozilla Firefox to be used as the default search, the company of the same name paid developers a billion dollars. It's good to be, however, non-profit organization because the income is impressive.

Well, it's understandable - the share of Firefox is still huge and Google, most likely, will not lose. Even our domestic search engines are trying to create their own browsers based on Chromium in order to bind users to themselves. Vivid examples can serve.

Our hero, by and large, does not have this moment some serious innovative or different features from other analogues. It has all the necessary set of features, but nothing more. However, its popularity, in my opinion, lies not in the basic features, but in what can be brought to it with the help of extensions.

Not so long ago, Mazila Firefox was almost the only browser that supports installing full-fledged extensions. It was originally focused on this and that is why the developers decided not to overload the main core with all possible features. The conversation about I decided to make a separate publication.

However, the ease of connecting and developing extensions for it has a downside - the interface itself is somewhat slower and consumes more computer resources than its closest competitors (Chrome also consumes resources, but it works very quickly and, most importantly, very reliably - each has its own process ).

Mozilla's recent times gives the impression of a certain monstrosity, especially against the backdrop of fast and ascetic Chrome. However, it is still much more convenient to work with extensions in it, which, in my opinion, allows it to still stay among the leaders.

When changing the operating system or the entire computer, you can, of course, use the function of synchronizing your bookmarks, passwords and history using the tool described just above, and successfully restore everything on a new operating system. But God saves the safe, so it will not be superfluous to do a backup copy of your profile folder in Mozilla Firefox. You can open this profile folder in the following way.

From the top menu, select "Help" - "Information for solving problems" and click on the button opposite the "Profile folder" field:

If synchronization fails, then you can always copy this folder to its rightful place and get exactly the same settings, saved passwords and bookmarks in Mazil that you had before moving.

As I said, Opera is my browser for surfing and I am especially used to its features. It has such a thing as an express panel, which contains previews of the sites I most frequently visit. At first, I really lacked the same feature in the “fire fox”, because it was not implemented in it by default.

For example, Opera and Chrome have a built-in ability to synchronize bookmarks made in the browser and other personal data with the server in order to then be able to access your browser bookmarks from any computer in the world. This feature is certainly convenient and necessary (for example, in case of a crash operating system).

But Mozilla Firefox did not provide this option by default until the spring of 2011. However, that didn't mean she wasn't there. It is enough to install the extension and bookmark synchronization becomes possible in your favorite browser (if it is one for you).

Those. the idea laid down by the developer is very rational - everyone will be able to choose the add-ons they need and assemble their own set with only the functions they need. Another thing is that not everyone uses extensions (after all, they still need to be found, installed and configured) and not everyone knows about them at all. Therefore, this approach, in my opinion, has both positive and negative sides.

Also noteworthy is the increased rate of appearance of new versions of the fire fox last year. In the spring, the long-awaited Firefox 4.0 was released, which replaced version 3.6, released already in early 2010. In total, more than a year has passed between updates. Well, the latest current version of Firefox is the proud number 23.0.1.

Whether this is an attempt to follow the version numbering example of the main competitor in the face of Google Chrome, or the developers really stirred, feeling that a monster like Chrome with its innovations, speed and other little things is breathing down their backs.

There is also a mobile version, which can also be downloaded from the official website. Obviously, due to the very close contacts between Google and the Mozilla Foundation, the mobile version is focused specifically on Android - the super-popular mobile and tablet platform from the same Google.

Of course, Android rules, but not all mobile phones work on it. Yes, and the popularity of Opera Mobile or Mini, it seems to me, greatly hinders mobile version Mazila become popular. Well, for me, there is nothing better on the iPad than Google Chrome - almost a complete analogue of the desktop version, but very fast.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site

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In this article, we decided to make an overview of using the program. In the review, we will try to move away from the official names and tell in detail plain language users who are just starting their let in the internet world. The review will be written on the example of Mozilla Firefox version 3.6.10 (Russian version).

So, Mozilla Firefox is a web browser. Correctly! Yes, it is with the help of this program that you can climb the Internet. When you first start the program, you will see something like this window.

This is the browser window Mozilla Firefox, people also call this program firefox, mozilla, fox, fox, fox and more. If you hear such a name, do not be surprised. All the names of Mozilla Firefox came from the name of the program itself, it can be assumed that from the emblem-picture, on which, as you can see, a fox-like creature hugs a ball resembling the Earth.

So, here we see the buttons at the top, below, in the middle, let's see what they are for. For a better understanding, we will try to analyze all the frequently used ones.

Let's start with the most frequently used buttons. Namely, this panel:

So, on the right is the address bar, now the following text is written there

This means that we are now at this address on the Internet. Click the left mouse button on the address so that it is highlighted and type the following address www.google.com. What can we say, we went to Google. The browser window will look like this:

What is the address bar for? In it you need to drive in the address of the site on which we want to go.

Let's look further. Arrows on the left. When we climb (surf) the Internet, moving from site to site or from one page of the site to another, the arrows are activated. It can conditionally call them as “forward” and “backward”. This is exactly the function they perform. That is, you went to page 1, read selected and clicked on page 2, read and decided to return to page 1, to do this, click on the left arrow and we return to page 1. The prince of the arrow pointing to the right is logically clear.

Circular blue arrow. This is the page refresh arrow. Let's say if the data is updated on the page, a failure occurred and for some unknown reason the update did not occur. For example you look online result of football matches. And suddenly the page stopped updating, you need to update it manually.

The cross is used to pause page loading. This happens if the sites you visit are very resource-intensive. There must have been sites like this. To stop loading the site, click the "Cross".

Button in the shape of a house. This button immediately takes you to the home page. A little further we will tell you how to change its value.

Let's now take a look at the top panel.

What are the buttons here: File, Edit, View, Journal, Bookmarks, Tools, Help.

File button. From the entire set of commands that are offered by clicking the “File” button (hereinafter we will call our button as the “File” menu), our novice user will only need the following commands, namely “Save as” and “Print”.

“Save as” what is this button for? Let's say you liked some web page, you wanted to save it on your computer and go to it without using the Internet. Do not forget that the page is saved on your computer, which means that you simply copied a piece of the site to your computer. This piece of the site is not a complete site, for the full use of the site, of course, you need the Internet. We recommend that you try it, but do not bother too much, because if you always have the Internet at hand, there is no special need for this button.

Button "Print". The name itself already says what it is for. Yes, for printing. You can also print to your favorite Mozilla browser using the CTRL + P button combination.

Let's move on. We see the following menu "Edit". What can we do here? There is an important button here, it is called “Find”. The button can also be called by pressing the key combination CTRL + P, it is advised to remember. Very comfortably.

Click on it with the left mouse button or call it with the CTRL + P combination. A window appears at the bottom of our browser.

What is the "Search" button for? If you have landed on a page with a lot of text and you need to find a certain word. There is simply no time to read the text. And let's say you need to look through five, ten, one hundred pages and where to find the time to read everything? Exactly. In the window, enter the desired word and press the button, which is activated just to the right of the search input window. Try to search, it will speed up the work with web pages a lot.

What are these encodings for? It happens that when you go to the site it shows the following:

As we see hieroglyphs. And our website is in Russian. To make the text readable, we try to switch one encoding, then another, until the text on the site becomes readable Russian. This can come in handy, although in most cases, firefox automatically selects the desired encoding. We advise you to adopt. In the case when you have tried all the encodings and nothing has changed, forget about this site. This is most likely poor service.

Next, we see the “Journal” menu. This menu can be useful when you need to look at which sites you have recently visited in the browser. It means that you have entered the site. Read something, then closed the tab with the site, then remembered that it was there useful information but forgot the site address. It's okay, just go to the journal menu and you will see recently closed tabs with sites.

The method of viewing closed tabs is useful for the director to check his subordinates. After all, we all know very well how nice it is to have the Internet in the workplace and go about our business on the Internet, and not do assigned work.

Bookmarks menu. It will be useful for users to store site addresses.

That is, you go to your page, for example, in “ vkontakte.ru”, saved it and now, if necessary, do entrance to the site vkontakte just click the "Bookmarks" menu and go to the site. We recommend that you save all useful and frequently used sites in your bookmarks.

Menu “Tools”

This menu contains many settings and useful functions. If you want to customize your “chanterelle” more flexibly, then you are here. If everything suits you by default, and usually these are the optimal settings, then there is simply no need to change anything.

The only thing worth paying attention to is the settings button. Here are our recommended settings. Look carefully at the drawing.

Here the default home page is google.com.ua. Although if you do not like this option, you can write down another page here. Let it be even the entrance to the VKontakte website, this is purely for everyone. In the download point, the settings are set as follows so that if you need to download something, FireFox will ask where to save the file, to which disk, folder.

Help Menu

We can recommend the last item “About Mozilla Firefox”. Having opened it, the user will see what version of the browser he has. If you have a permanent connection to the Internet, then Mozilla itself will download updates and be updated.

Good luck on the Internet.

A completely logical desire of every Internet user is the safe and comfortable browsing of websites on the Internet.

And safety and comfort, first of all, depend on the characteristics and features (the program through which pages are viewed).

To date, a large number of the most have been created. However, the most popular are Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox. In this article, we will take a closer look at the last browser from the list above.

Firefox (and also Mozilla, also called the "fire fox") is installed on the computers of a lot of users. Someone uses only this browser, praising it in every possible way. Someone strongly dislikes him, preferring Chrome or Opera. There are even those who have never used the "fire fox" at all. And it will be useful for such people to learn about all the main pros and cons of Mozilla Firefox.

Advantages of Mozilla

1. High degree security

Mozilla has built-in mechanisms that warn the user about the presence of a possible threat to the computer when viewing a particular web page, as well as when opening links from these pages.

2. Lightweight architecture

The browser itself is quite competently and rationally designed. This allows third party developers to create a large number of add-ons and plug-ins that significantly expand the functionality of Mozilla Firefox.

On a separate page (https://addons.mozilla.org/en/firefox/) you can find exactly those add-ons that you need, which will make your stay on the Internet more comfortable and safer. At the same time, many add-ons are absolutely free and are installed in a couple of clicks.

3. The presence of a master password

As you know, browsers have the ability to remember the login and password entered on different sites. On the one hand, this feature makes your life easier (no need to enter the same data in the form every time).

On the other hand, there is a risk that someone from the same computer can use your accounts. Therefore, Firefox implemented the ability to create a master password. When you install it, you will protect all data stored by the browser for all sites.

Rice. 1 Master password in Mozilla FireFox browser

4. Convenient work with bookmarks

All bookmarks can be opened in one click from the main menu. Therefore, if you are forced to work a lot with bookmarks and actively navigate through them, then you will probably like Firefox. Also, when you open a new tab in the browser, a panel appears with the 9 most viewed pages. It is very comfortable.

5. Pop-up blocker

You can enable automatic blocking of all pop-ups in your browser settings. This will allow you to browse sites with greater comfort, without encountering annoying ads.

Now let's list the identified

Disadvantages of Mozilla Firefox

1. Abundance of unnecessary items and panels in the main menu

For example, few people use such sections as "File", "Edit", "View". At the same time, these sections cannot be removed or hidden anywhere to make more space for other elements.

2. Deactivation of many extensions when updating the browser

If you have installed a large number of add-ons and extensions on Firefox, then after the next browser update, some add-ons will have to be installed again. However, they may not be supported by the new version of Firefox.

3. High resource intensity

Mozilla Firefox is perhaps the most resource intensive browser. The firefox.exe process is quite heavy on RAM. All this is especially noticeable on weak machines.

When opening a large number of tabs, RAM is often clogged at 100%. In addition, the flash plugin from Adobe eats a lot of resources (it is the one most often installed by users). However, if you have a powerful modern computer, there is nothing to be afraid of.

4. Deterioration of some browser characteristics in its new versions

Oddly enough, but the usability of Mozilla has deteriorated somewhat with the release of latest versions. In particular, the interface has become less intuitive, work with bookmarks has become more complicated.

In this article, we decided to make an overview of the use of the program. In the review, we will try to move away from the official names and tell in detail in an understandable language to users who are just starting their journey in the world of the Internet. The review will be written on the example of Mozilla Firefox version 3.6.10 (Russian version).

Mozilla Firefox- a convenient and modern browser that is always in constant development. Developers quite often produce new versions that are automatically delivered to the user. The browser will always notify you when a new version is released and will check for updates to installed add - ons .

But for timely extensibility and flexibility will come at a cost. The price is an increase in system requirements. This browser has a slower interface. Therefore, users who are accustomed to the speed of other browsers refuse Mozilla Firefox with dissatisfaction. But no similar browser will be able to provide the set of functions that this browser has.

This browser has:

Checking "through" spelling;
- creation different groups and folders, the ability to assign tags to bookmarks;
- each user can create their own profile with bookmarks and stories;
- the ability to synchronize various settings and browser data on different computers and in any operating systems;
- preferential opportunity for sets distribution of open tabs;
- with frequently needed used web pages, the ability to pin them to tabs.

Also in Mozilla Firefox, as in other modern browsers, you will be able to find:

Automatic blocking of all quick pop-up windows (the ability to configure the browser in any particular case);
- the function of "private browsing" of Internet pages;
- new built-in search bar;
- tabs or tabs;
- mechanism for working with RSS.

The main advantage of Mozilla Firefox it becomes possible to set the so-called master passwords, which block access to digital certificates and other available passwords. At the very first setting of a password, any user can determine its complexity using graphic elements.

Find quickly and the open source code of the browser helps developers to fix vulnerabilities. There is a downside to this openness. Any attacker can also examine the program code and find a vulnerability. Therefore, if you are interested in Mozilla Firefox, then it is better to download it on the official website of the project. And be sure to install extensions that will increase the security of browsing the Internet.

Don't be too afraid, Mozilla Firefox knows how to protect itself. It is one of the most well protected and secure browsers. Firstly, all found vulnerabilities are closed much faster than on browsers from other manufacturers. Second is Google's SafeBrowsing, an existing database of sites from the Google search project. The browser constantly updates the downloaded data from the database into the memory of the user's computer. And it always warns about the presence of viruses, fake and fraudulent sites in the visited site. Since this data is updated quickly enough, surfing the Internet becomes safe and enjoyable. Thirdly, all downloaded files to the computer are checked by powerful antiviruslocated in the system.
In this case, of course, do not neglect other methods of protection.

Russian version of Mozilla Firefox offers its users to use the search engine from Yandex by default. But changing this and adding your favorite search engine will be very simple, just go to the search box menu.

At one time, when I just switched from Windows XP to more modern operating systems, I, like other browser users, noticed something new in the list of installed applications on the computer. In the control panel, next to the installed browser, there was an object called mozilla maintenance service - what kind of program I didn’t know then, and, not wanting to leave an unknown application on my computer, I decided to find the answer to this question.

Purpose

In fact, the Firefox browser itself is to blame for the appearance of this service. The fact is that in new operating systems there is a component called UAC, which, when a user tries to install something on a computer or make changes to system settings, issues a corresponding request, and sometimes requires administrator rights.

In the process of collecting information, I found out about the mozilla maintenance service that this application is responsible for disabling the user control service during a browser update. As a result, the installation of a new version of the browser is "silent" and imperceptible to the person sitting in front of the computer. After the file installation process is completed, the UAC service continues its normal operation.

In a word: the maintenance service is a completely harmless component for the system, which you can simply ignore. However, if necessary, it can be disabled or removed, which will not affect the stability of the browser.

Shutdown

Now that we have learned about the mozilla maintenance service what it is, I will tell you how to disable this service. This is done in the Firefox browser settings. The user will need:

1. Launch browser.
2. Open the menu in the upper right corner of the program window.
3. Select "Settings" from the drop-down menu.
4. Open the "Advanced" section and go to the "Update" tab.

Next, you just need to uncheck the box "Use a background service to install updates" and apply the changes. How it looks in practice can be seen in the screenshot below:

So, we found out what it is about the mozilla maintenance service, the photo above showed the mechanism for turning it off. Now consider the procedure for uninstalling this application.

Removal

To remove the Mozilla Background Update Service, you can use the standard Windows features by going to the appropriate section of the control panel. This is done as follows:

1. Open the start menu.
2. Select "Control Panel". If you are using Windows 8, or the display of this menu item is disabled, then use the search bar in the Start menu by typing the phrase "Control Panel" there and selecting the appropriate item from the results.
3. Go to the "Programs and Features" section.
4. Find "Mozilla Maintenance Service" in the list of applications and uninstall it by clicking the corresponding button.

Important! When you reinstall the browser, this program will appear in the list of installed applications again, and it will need to be uninstalled again.

So we figured out this unknown application from Mozilla. I repeat that its very presence does not cause any harm to the operating system, and removing or disabling the service does not affect the stability of the browser.

Sometimes Mozilla Firefox.lnk and other LNK system errors can be related to problems in the Windows registry. Several programs can use the Mozilla Firefox.lnk file, but when those programs are uninstalled or changed, orphaned (invalid) LNK registry entries are sometimes left behind.

Basically, this means that while the actual path to the file may have been changed, its incorrect former location is still recorded in the Windows registry. When Windows tries looking up these incorrect file references (file locations on your PC), Mozilla Firefox.lnk errors can occur. In addition, malware infection may have corrupted the registry entries associated with Microsoft Windows . Thus, these invalid LNK registry entries need to be repaired to fix the root of the problem.

Manually editing the Windows registry to remove invalid Mozilla Firefox.lnk keys is not recommended unless you are PC service professional. Mistakes made while editing the registry can render your PC unusable and cause irreparable damage to your operating system. In fact, even a single comma in the wrong place can prevent your computer from booting up!

Because of this risk, we highly recommend using a trusted registry cleaner such as WinThruster (Developed by Microsoft Gold Certified Partner) to scan and repair any Mozilla Firefox.lnk-related registry problems. Using a registry cleaner automates the process of finding invalid registry entries, missing file references (like the one causing your Mozilla Firefox.lnk error), and broken links within the registry. A backup copy is automatically created before each scan, allowing you to undo any changes with a single click and protecting you from possible damage to your computer. The best part is that fixing registry errors can drastically improve system speed and performance.

Warning: Unless you are an advanced PC user, we do NOT recommend manually editing the Windows Registry. Incorrect use of the Registry Editor can lead to serious problems and require you to reinstall Windows. We do not guarantee that problems resulting from misuse of Registry Editor can be corrected. You use the Registry Editor at your own risk.

To manually repair your Windows registry, first you need to create a backup by exporting a portion of the registry related to Mozilla Firefox.lnk (eg. Microsoft Windows):

1. Click on the button To begin.
2. Enter " command" in search bar... DO NOT PRESS YET ENTER!
3. Holding keys CTRL-Shift on the keyboard, press ENTER.
4. An access dialog will be displayed.
5. Click Yes.
6. The black box opens with a blinking cursor.
7. Enter " regedit" and press ENTER.
8. In the Registry Editor, select the Mozilla Firefox.lnk-related key (eg. Microsoft Windows) you want to back up.
9. On the menu File select Export.
10. Listed Save to select the folder where you want to save the Microsoft Windows key backup.
11. In field File name enter a name for the backup file, such as "Microsoft Windows Backup".
12. Make sure the field Export range value selected Selected branch.
13. Click Save.
14. The file will be saved with .reg extension.
15. You now have a backup of your Mozilla Firefox.lnk-related registry entry.

The next steps for manually editing the registry will not be covered in this article, as they are likely to damage your system. If you would like more information on editing the registry manually, please see the links below.

The developers of the popular and progressive Mozilla Firefox browser took care of their users and came up with additional software to automatically update their search engine. This utility is installed on a personal computer along with an Internet browser. It has its own folder on the installation hard drive. And it can be removed from the user's PC in the same way as any other program without reducing the performance of the Mozilla Firefox browser.

Mozilla Maintenance Service - what is this application

An optional but very useful maintenance utility that allows you to automatically update the search engine in the background without notifying the owner of the personal computer. This technical service Support interacts directly with a component of the Microsoft Windows operating system (UAC - User Account Control) and updates all updates released by Mozilla Corporation and Mozilla Foundation. There is no harm from this. This application does not constantly use the resources of the user's "machine", it is activated only when downloading and installing the next updates of the search engine. If there is a need to suspend automatic browser updates, you can disable this feature manually.

Disabling automatic browser refresh

Deactivation of updates is carried out through the settings menu of the Mozil Internet browser.

about:preferences#advanced

Settings/ Advanced/ Updates

You can leave the check for updates with the subsequent decision “to be or not to be”, or you can completely refuse monitoring and work in the current version. There is also a choice for background system updates, plugins.

In addition to disabling automatic browser updates, developers provide Mozilla Firefox users with the ability to remove the Mozilla Maintenance Service.

Removing the Mozilla Maintenance Service

You can uninstall the Browser Update Service just like any other software in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

To do this, go to the "Control panel / Control Panel", then open the "Programs and Features" tab, select the "Mozilla Maintenance Service" program.