Earlier this week I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and started using it as my default browser. However its inbuilt version of Google is much more primitive than the Google Toolbar I’ve been accustomed to using with Internet Explorer. Accordingly I tried to install the new Google Toolbar for Mozilla Firefox (beta version). Unfortunately I wasn’t able to complete the installation, and it now crashes Mozilla every time I try to open it! Moreover I don’t know how to remove the Google Toolbar (Mozilla version) because it doesn’t appear in the uninstall list under Control Panel, presumably because the installation wasn’t completed. I tried uninstalling and re-installing Mozilla, but the incompletely-installed Google Toolbar is still there and still crashes Mozilla every time I try to open it (it also attempts to open multiple instances of Mozilla for some reason).
Does anyone have any hints on how to fix this problem? I’ve now downloaded Internet Explorer 7, which of course enables me to keep using the the fully featured Google toolbar to which I’m accustomed. But IE7 seems to have a very primitive and user-unfriendly version of tabbed browsing (the main Mozilla feature I really liked). As far as I can work out, although you can choose to open Favourites in either a separate window or separate tab by right clicking, unlike Mozilla you don’t get that option when opening ordinary hyperlinks in a page. Is there something I’m missing?
Ken, check this page and see if either method enables you to uninstall the toolbar:
http://www.google.com/support/firefox/bin/answer.py?answer=45081&topic=9173
No, neither of those methods is available. The toolbar isn’t completely installed and therefore doesn’t appear in the Mozilla browser window. But it nevertheless instantly crashes Mozilla and renders it inoperative, thus you also can’t uninstal the toolbar from the browser. Nor can you do so from Control panel because it doesn’t appear there (as I say, probably again because it wasn’t fully installed).
Anyway, I’ve managed to work out how to make the tabbing function in IE7 work roughly as I want it to. You just hold down the Control key while clicking on a hyperlink. It means I have to browse two handed instead of drinking a coffee while browsing, but I can live with that. So it looks like I’m stuck with Mr Gates whether I like it or not.
I have used OPERA for over 7 years. I’d recommend you at least try it. Opera was the first with tabs – and its still the best for tabs. It also has lots of other nifty features – my favourite is a function – makes one handed browsing a breeze.
http://www.opera.com/
I meant to say I have IE, Firefox and Opera all installed – but I rarely use anything other then Opera.
oops i used the greater than and less than thingos as brackets and it stripped it.
I’m sorry I’ll read that again.
It also has lots of other nifty features – my favourite is a function -[paste & go] that lets you drop a url into the browser or a word / phrase into google and drop it and launch in one finger action – makes one handed browsing a breeze
Ken, you need to remove all the user settings as well as the binary. Some instructions.
This is likely to fix the problem with the toolbar as well.
For Firefox I recommend the following extensions as the minimum extras
Linkification
Copy URL +
Copy Links
History Menu
(and One to delete search engines added to the tool bar, I forget its name)
and, most importantly,
Tab Mix Plus
One must have this one!
I’ve installed google toolbar but rarely use it, much prefering the original search field in the bar with a dedicated wikipedia and wikiquote add-on (plus about ten others)
But one always has to have more than one browser ready to go…
What’s Opera, FX?
Reformat. You probably don’t do it enough anyway.
Thx for the add on recommendations Meika – I didn’t know some of them. I was particularly pissed off that Firefox 2 did away with the little close tabs button on the right hand side of the screen. This enabled you to close five or six tabs by just clicking. The revision of FF 2 meant you had to go hunting for the close box on each tab. Now one of the add ons you have identified (I don’t even know which one – but I presume Tab Mix Plus) brings it back! I love open source for reasons like this!
You can open a hyperlink one-handed in IE7 in a new tab by clicking on it with the mouse wheel, which acts as a middle button for this purpose. (If you click on something that isn’t a hyperlink you get a different effect which I have never found useful. You can undo that by clicking the mouse wheel again.)
Dunno if you’ve figured it out, and sorry for the late comment, but since no one’s offered explicit directions I thought I’d chime in.
Close Firefox, open My Computer, double-click C drive, then:
Documents and Settings > your username > Application Data > Mozilla
Trash the folder named Firefox, then open the Firefox program again. This should reset all extensions, clear your history and bookmarks, etc.
(If you don’t see the Application Data folder, hit Control Panel, Folder Options, click the second tab, and tick the option to display hidden files.)
MikeM: that works in Firefox and Opera as well :-)
I’ve used Firefox for years. I don’t have any extensions installed, and I wouldn’t touch the Google Toolbar with a ten-foot pole.
I don’t like Opera, but my dad loves it. Each to his own, I guess. (The only version of Opera I am prepared to use is on my Wii — but that’s because it’s the only browser available!)