Disable Firefox speed dial aka new tab with previews (Step-by-step instructions)

Since Firefox 13, Mozilla has introduced new feature which is commonly known as speed dial among Opera fans. Whenever new tab is started, it’ll show the nine most frequently visited sites in preview. It may be useful for some people, but many other people find it really annoying. 

firefox_speeddial

Unfortunately, as of version 14.0.1, Mozilla hasn’t provided any easy option to disable it.

So here are the steps by steps instructions to disable it via about:config.

  • Firstly, type about:config in address bar. You’ll receive the following warning. Just click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!”

aboutconfig

  • Then type “browser.newtab.url” in the search box of about:config window.

browser_newtab_url

  • Double-click on that Value. Then type “about:blank”. Click OK.

change_value

  • You’ll see the new value as follow:

browser_newtab_url_after

  • Just close that tab and open new tab. You’ll no longer see that annoying speed dial anymore. Enjoy!

newtab_without_speeddial

Firefox about:config settings in GUI

Firefox provides access to ton of settings under about:config. However, some users will find it not too user-friendly.

If you want to access those extra settings without having to deal with text based config, there is Firefox addons called, Configuration Mania. Here are a few screenshots of that plugin.

configmania1

configmania2

As long as you have Firefox version 4 and above, you’ll be able to install this plugin.

How to configure default Ctrl+Enter setting in Firefox

I have told you guys about how to type web addresses more quickly. Ctrl+Enter will fill you up .com. But what if you access to .net site more often and you want to change the default Ctrl+Enter to automatically fill you up .net not .com. How can you do it?

It’s easy just download URL Suffix Add-ons for Firefox. After installing the Add-ons, go to Tools –>> Add-ons. And then Choose the URL Suffix and click on Options.

url suffix

You will see the URL suffix configuration dialog box as follow.

config url suffix addons

See? You could even configure for Enter behaviour, not just Ctrl + Enter. But I find it quite annoyance as most of the websites I surf are end with various suffix.

How to secure Firefox stored passwords

ff-passwd-save

I’ve always enjoyed Firefox handy feature of saving login and passwords for web sites. But I’ve never aware that without using Master password, other people could easily view our stored passwords in plain text.

Go to Firefox Tools –>> Options.

After that go to Security tab, then click on Show passwords.

 ff-password

See? You can see all your stored passwords that simple.

How to prevent this?

You can set a Master Password by clicking Set Master Password. Remember by setting a master password, you need to provide your master password for every session of Firefox before using your stored passwords. Anyway, that’s a lot better than someone easily sneak away all your confidential.

Firefox 3 beta 2 Download Available!


Now Firefox 3 comes into second beta phase. Previously, many people complained about the Firefox add-on compatibility on Firefox 3 beta 1. Now it is improved on Beta 2. Many popular Firefox add-ons added support to Firefox 3.

For incompatible add-ons, you can use Nightly Tester Tool to force them work with Firefox 3 and they work!

For me, I just want to try Firefox 3 without touching my old Firefox 2 setting. So that I download portable version and trying now. So far, Firefox 3 looks like it will survive memory leaking issue that killed Firefox 2.

How to check Firefox cache usuage

Hopefully, everyone knows how to adjust cache size in Firefox. In case, if you don’t know, I’ll let you know again.

  • Go to Tools –>> Options
  • And then go to Advanced tabs, Select Network.
  • You will see cache size as shown below.

You can adjust to whatever the size you want. But one thing that made me confused is that what size is enough for me? 50 MB is more than enough? Or is that too small? Do I need to clear frequently? Blah, blah, blah!!!

Now I’ve got the solution. You can type in the address bar “about:cache”. It will show you how much cache space is used and how much free space left. For me, I am using only half of cache size. So I shouldn’t worry about cleaning up again and again. But it will all depend on your browsing habits. If you’re using very high speed internet, you might browse a ton of flash sites and videos, so maybe your cache may full. It is ok to leave your cache as it is, but if you assign more cache space, in case if you revisited the old video or flash page, you don’t have to download it twice.

Reopen closed tabs in Firefox

Last month I share with you guys about the Firefox shortcuts that I frequently use. But right now, I found out this new, very nice shortcut again. I used to accidentally close tab in Firefox, sometimes in my favourite website or sometimes in totally first time new interesting site. To reopen, I have to dig down in my history list.

I don’t have to do that anymore. I can press Ctrl+Shift+T to reopen the tab I have just closed. More interestingly, you can press Ctrl+Shift+T as many times as you want to reopen many closed tabs. It’s quite handy for me indeed.

Firefox shortcuts I frequently use


I love Firefox. It’s fast, sleek and secure. Right now, my main browser is Firefox. I can’t use IE to browse internet anymore. It’s too noisy. The reason Firefox keeps quiet is due to Adblock plus.

  • Home Page Alt + Home
  • Full Screen View F11
  • Refresh Page F5
  • Find / Find Again F3
  • Add Bookmarks Ctrl + D
  • Bookmarks Ctrl + B
  • History Ctrl + H
  • Page Source Ctrl + U
  • Tab New Ctrl + T
  • Tab Close Ctrl + W
  • Window New Ctrl + N
  • Window Close Alt + F4

This list is ordered by the frequency of my usage. Of course, I don’t have any statistics about my usage. So it’s just a guess.

Adblock plus companion : Filterset G updater

I have shared with you guys about Firefox great plugin, adblock plus. I have enjoyed Adblock plus plugin so much that, I can’t browse without it anymore.

Now I have found a great companion called Adblock filterset.G Updater. That will automatically update the block list for Adblock plus. This tool is really cool.

If you want to notice a big change, visit bloggerwave.com before you installed that extension and after. It adds bloggerwave.com to the whitelist so you can see the option for advertiser to login. Go ahead and install that plugin, because it will update your list every 4 or 7 days.

How to make multiple homepage in Firefox

We all love Firefox and most of us are using Firefox. The reason I love most is because of Adblockplus plugin. I have got many websites that I want to make my homepage. One of my workmate teaches me how to do it.

It’s very easy.

Go to Tools–>>Options–>>Main
Type all the web addresses you want separated by |
For example : www.google.com|www.bridgetonova.com|www.yahoo.com

Every time I start Firefox, it open three tabs automatically with three of my favorite web sites open. I love Firefox.