June 2006, started off with updates for both Firefox and Thunderbird and the next milestone for Firefox 2. In keeping with my name (Extension Guru) I reviewed several extensions. Then there were the all the problems associated with extensions, from memory leaks to failure to install (or uninstall). If the extensions weren’t trouble enough throw in a malfunctioning theme!

• We started off June with updates to version 1.5.0.4 for both Firefox and Thunderbird (which jumped from version 1.5.0.2). These were minor updates to improve stability and take care of some security issues.

• While, Firefox 2 Alpha 3 was technically released on May 26th (the Friday before Memorial Day) I didn’t get a chance to review and play with it until after the holiday weekend. This release gave us our first glimpse of the new anti-phishing protection.
• The first major extension write-up since the ill-fated Blue Frog was the very popular Spellbound extensions. Spellbound & Spellbound Developmental Version added a spell checker (the Developmental Version added in-line) right into Firefox. Both of these spell checker extensions are now defunked thanks Firefox 2’s automatic spell check. However if you are still using Firefox 1.5.0.9 you could still use these (with some work).
• In a prefect world every website would load in Firefox. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a prefect world and there are those sites (Microsoft) that refuse to load in Firefox. You could either have Firefox open along with Internet Exploiter (IE) or you could get IE Tab. This wonderful extension would open and display the page using IE right in a Firefox tab! Works for 99% of the sites that demand to be viewed in Internet Exploiter.
• Most of the time I am on the computer, I am surfing the web and listening to music with WinAmp. While normally, I don’t need to do much with WinAmp occasionally I need to stop or pause the player. Say I come across a blog with an embed video, I used to have to either play alt-tab roulette or hunt for WinAmp in the taskbar. Then I found FoxyTunes, which allows you to control WinAmp (and most other media players) right from Firefox (or Thunderbird or Flock).
• The day after I reviewed Foxy Tunes, the developer left a comment an invitation to try out the beta FoxyTunes 2. This made Foxy Tunes even better by adding direct links to AMG, Wikipedia, Amazon, iTunes and more.
• Around this time Firefox seemed to have developed issues with memory leaks. Turns out there were some extensions that had some serious memory issues. There were also other problematic extensions that did not play well each other.
• Okay so you decided to a little extension house keeping but you had an extension that just would not go away. Or may be you accidentally ran the Firefox 2 Alpha 3 with your Firefox 1.5 profile and none of your extensions are functional. mozillaZine Knowledge Base to the rescue with this troubleshooting guide.

The Pimpzilla Theme ~ Click For Full-Size

• Finally got the extension situation under control, but now your Firefox is still not quite right. Somethings are missing from the menus or the display is all funky. Could be that theme you installed earlier.

May

2006 Index

July