Get to know Firefox

Previously, we learned how to download and install the free Firefox browser.  (Click here to read that article.)

Your default homepage for Firefox will look like this:

default-firefox-homepage.jpg

The first option you’ll see at the top is to import your bookmarks and history from other browsers.

firefox-import-now.jpg

Click it, and choose to import bookmarks, history, and passwords from Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, or Chrome. Select the browser, click next, and follow the instructions.

firefox-import-choices.jpg

Moving down the default home page, you’ll see a list of Top Sites.  Click the drop-down arrow next to Top Sites to make them disappear.

top-sites.jpg

To the right of Top Sites, you’ll find a three-dot menu icon. Let’s click on that.

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You can add a site, adjust the position of sites, completely remove the section from your homepage, or expand the selection to include more sites.

top-sites-menu-adjust.jpg

For even more options, click on Manage Section.

manage-section.jpg

The first option you’ll see is Home.  Here, you can adjust what you see when you open Firefox, a new window, or a new tab.

firefox-home- new windows.jpg

You can choose between the default Firefox Homepage, a blank page, or select any page you choose.

firefox-home-choose.jpg

Select Custom URL and you can choose a page you’re currently on or copy and paste the web address for the site you’d like to open up to like Gmail, Facebook, or Cyn’s Tech Tips.

firefox-custome-url.jpg

When you’ve selected your homepage, you can move on to search engines. You can choose whether or not you want Firefox to provide search suggestions and also change your default search engine. Google is the current default. But you can change that by clicking the drop-down arrow next to Google.

firefox-search-tooldbar-choose.jpg

Choose from Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and more.

firefox-search-look-defaults.jpg

Next, you can choose your One-Click Search Engines.

default-one-click-options.jpg

These are the options that will appear just below searches you make with your default search engine. For example, I’m searching Google, but I also get options for Bing, Amazon, Twitter, and more.

default-in-tool-bar.jpg

Click on Find more search engines for additional options.

search-engine.jpg

There are over 3900 options for Firefox extensions.

search-engine-add-ons.jpg

In the next part of this series, we’ll move on to checking out your privacy options.

 

 

 

 

 

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