For Students: Block Wikipedia Entries While Researching with Google

Much like my Opening Windows search engine for Firefox, this one allows students to research through Google without running into take-it-with-a-grain-of-salt Wikipedia entries.

1. Paste the following code into Notepad:
   <search
   name=”Google -Wikipedia”
   method=”GET”
   action=”http://www.google.com/search”
   queryCharset=”utf-8″
   ><input name=”q” user>
   <input name=”-” value=”wikipedia”>
   </search>
2. 2. Save the file as “google-wikipedia.src” in C:\Program Files\Mozilla
   Firefox\searchplugins (and be sure to select All Files from the
   drop-down, or else it will be saved as google-wikipedia.src.txt).

That’s it! Now, restart Firefox and start searching Wikipedia-free from your Firefox search bar.

NOTE: There have been some issues with the code. If Firefox rejects it, try replacing all of the backwards quotes with normal quotes. That should fix any issues.

FireFTP: An Alternative for those who Live Within Firefox

About two weeks ago, I started having trouble with my previously-recommended FTP client SmartFTP. Since I spend so much time within Firefox, I went on the search for an extension to allow me to transfer files right from the browser. The highest-rated and most popular extension that I came across was FireFTP. The interface is clean and simpler than SmartFTP. Set your login information, click connect and you can immediately start moving files back and forth. I like the arrow buttons that tell me which way I am transferring (local storage or FTP); I’m a visual person. So, if you like Firefox as much as I do, give FireFTP a try. I think it may be more to your liking than a regular FTP application.

FireFTP – The Free FTP Client for Mozilla Firefox

(Note: As you can see, I’m going to start putting prominent links below the post body to make things easier to find.)

Launch Applications, Bookmarks and more with Launchy

I cycle through favorite applications, and for a few weeks now the top runner has been Launchy. Whether you need to launch applications, Firefox bookmarks, music, video, photos or anything else, Launchy can do it. All you need to do is specify which directories it should index and the file types it should look for. Then, press Alt+Space (or whatever key combination you define) and up comes a dialog box for you to type what you are looking for. Launchy will try to give you suggestions to save you keystrokes. Launchy is also skinnable, so you can customize it to look however you please. And if you are into portable apps, you can even put it onto a USB drive. But my most favorite feature of Launchy is its ability to handle Firefox quick searches. I’m a fan of political cartoons, so if I want to find one about Iran, I just key in Alt+Space, polcartsearch Iran, Enter. It is amazing. Once you check out Launchy for yourself, you won’t turn back to the Start Menu.

Best… Extension… Ever!

I am a big fan of video podcasts. Alas, my portable media player does not have video functionality, so I mainly watch them on my PC. Downloading all of those large files through Firefox’s built-in interface can be slow and clunky, so I installed the DownThemAll extension. This is, in my opinion, the best Firefox extension currently available. There are just too many good things to name, so I will just say this: Download it, install it, and prepare for a downloading experience 1,000 times better than before.

Problem Solved!

I have recently been having the most annoying problem with Firefox. To make it more understandable, let me put it into context. I use a wonderful PDF reader called Foxit Reader. It loads much faster than the competition from Adobe. So, when I come across a PDF file in Firefox, I want it to open in Foxit. But, when I visit Tools>Options>Content>File Types> Manage, I am met with a puzzling sight: no file types listed! I have done research on this problem but only found references to it occuring in Firefox 1.5 (I am using 2.0). But, finally, I found the solution. There must have been a corrupt something-or-other in my Firefox profile. See, uninstalling Firefox through Add/Remove Programs only removes the essential program files, not your stored extensions, bookmarks, config files, etc. But, when I uninstalled Firefox and deleted my Mozilla folder (Located in C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\), and then reinstalled Firefox, the problem was solved. Now, I am happily viewing PDF files in Foxit Reader.

Search Opening Windows From Firefox

If you want to search Opening Windows directly from Firefox, no matter what URL you are at, I have the code for you (There is a tutorial for you to do this on your own site, but it uses Google. I had to do some tweaking to use the built-in WordPress search).

1. Paste the following code into Notepad:

<search
name=”Opening Windows”
method=”GET”
action=”http://openingwindows.wordpress.com/”
queryCharset=”utf-8″
>

<input name=”s” user>
</search>

2. Save the file as “ow.src” in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins (and be sure to select All Files from the drop-down, or else it will be saved as ow.src.txt).

3. Also in that folder, save this .GIF file.

That’s it! Now, when you restart Firefox and access your search bar in the upper-right of the window, you will see an “Opening Windows” option, complete with the Windows logo.

Cut Your Browsing Time with Google Reader

Google has some pretty interesting webapps out there, but I personally believe that the best one is Google Reader. Instead of trying to piece together your virtual newspaper everyday by hopping around to twenty different sites, Reader brings it all to you via the power of RSS: real simple syndication. Granted, there are many other RSS readers out there. But Reader has one of the best interfaces I have seen. It’s also much more intuitive than other readers. I especially like how easy it is to use Reader to subscribe to podcasts. There is a built-in audio player as well as links to the original files. Also useful are Reader’s Star and Share features. Starring posts allow you to easily keep them for later reference. And clicking the “Share” button adds them to your public Google Reader page, a URL that you can give out to your friends so that they can keep track of your favorite stories. Google Reader also works easily with the Firefox address bar RSS button. Just click the button and choose Google Reader from the drop-down list. If you cannot find what you are looking for just by browsing the Web, Google also provides subscription packages, recommendations and a feed search tool.

Read more at the Official Google Reader Blog.

Easy Bookmarking and Site-Searching in Firefox

I read a Lifehacker post a few months back that changed the way I use Firefox. If I want to go to Weather.com, I would normally type out the full web address. But now, I only need to type “w.” And say I wanted to search Lifehacker for a specific keyword. I would normally go to Lifehacker.com and use the built-in search bar. But now, I just type “lhsearch keyword” (without quotes and with ‘keyword’ being my search term) into my Firefox address bar and press Enter. These one-letter bookmarks and address-bar based searches are easy to configure, as long as the site’s search tool works something like this:

http://www.site.com/search/%s

“%s” represents the search term. That is what your address bar should look like after you’ve performed a search on the site.

The extension you need and all of the instructions to easier, faster bookmarking are available through the Lifehacker post.

Play Flash Games from a USB Drive

It’s easy to save Flash web games to your USB flash drive for play without an Internet connection.

You will need:

• USB Flash Drive
• Mozilla Firefox
• Mozilla Firefox Portable (for USB Drive)

1. Visit https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/201/ and download the DownThemAll extension for your home version of Firefox.
2. Navigate to the website where your Flash game is located.
3. Press Ctrl+U to call up the page’s HTML source.
4. Press Ctrl+F to call up the “Find” dialog. Type “.swf” (the extension for Flash files) and press Enter.
5. Scan through the document until you find the Flash file for the game (it should have the game’s name in its filename)
6. Copy the full URL of the Flash file.
7. In Firefox, navigate to Tools>DownThemAll>dTa! Manager.
8. Press “Add URL,” paste the Flash URL and select the Destination Path (your Flash drive).
9. Press Start.
10. Open your Flash drive and navigate to the Flash file.
11. Right-click and select “Open With.”
12. Browse to Firefox Portable, select it, and check “Always Use This Program…”
13. Now, your Flash files will always play in Firefox without having to connect to the Internet.

One last note: If you already have Firefox running on the computer when you try to access Firefox Portable, then you will receive an error message saying that an instance of Firefox is already running. This means exiting Firefox. If you don’t want to do this every time, just set .swf files to open in Internet Explorer. Use the instructions in Step 12.