Category Archives: Browser

no menu bar on ie7

Computer Aid Posted on by

This PC had an infection… but after the infection was cleared, Internet Explorer 7 still would not work.

I eventually did an offline malware scan, to be sure of removing any sneaky infections.

Eventually, I could receive emails, and I could browse the internet with Firefox… but still no IE7.

Next, I tried: Start -> control panel -> internet options -> Advanced -> Reset internet explorer settings.

I was surprised that I still couldn’t browse the net, and also couldn’t get the menu bar to appear… I usually right-click on a blank part of another bar, and select “menu bar” on the context menu… but no context menu would appear.

I eventually made it appear by pressing the Alt key (on the keyboard), then view -> toolbars -> menu bar

After that I managed to get to the microsoft website, do an update (particularly the update to ie8 ), then everything fell into place and worked correctly!

I’ve since noticed that pressing Alt will make menu bars appear on many other applications like Microsoft Messenger. very useful keyboard shortcut!

Review of the tab kit add-on for firefox

Computer Aid Posted on by

The tab kit add-on for firefox has many features that allow you to customise the way that tabs look and behave.

tabkit

Here is how I have setup the various options (tools -> addons -> extensions -> tab kit -> options)

tabkit1

The most obvious change I make is to have the tab bar along the top, and to show up to 4 rows at once (useful while using entrecard).

tabkit2

In this section, I like to have a minimum tab width of 80 pixels, tick all the appearance options.

tabkit3

Here, I disable all mouse gestures, and I like having scrollbars instead of arrows.

tabkit4

In this option window, I make sure I automatically group new tabs, but I don’t like collapsing inactive groups. I also like having ungrouped tabs to the right of the current tab.

tabkit5

And I tick all the options under open tabs by default.

Top Firefox add-ons

Computer Aid Posted on by

Since switching to Firefox, there are a few add-ons that I found essential to making Firefox quick and easy to work with.

I thought I’d share my list of addons, and explain how some work very well together.

First, to get the addons, you need to start Firefox, then go: tools -> add-ons

From the addon window (which I have resized to full screen height), click on the “get add-ons” button, then enter the add-on name in the “search all add-ons” box.

  • Adblock Plus abp blocks annoying advertising. Just remember that some websites rely on advertising to survive… so if you use Adblock Plus, you should feel a certain level of guilt… but not too much 🙂
  • Close Tab By Double Click. puzzle You don’t have to waste time closing a tab by aiming to click on the tiny “x”. Now you can close a tab by just double-clicking anywhere on the tab. This addon works well with the tab kit add-on (by activating: options -> tabs -> close buttons -> don’t show any close buttons)
  • Flashblock flashblock blocks flash objects, yet lets you re-enable the flash objects with just a click. Great for blocking ads that Adblock Plus cannot block. Also good for making a “busy” website look easier on the eyes.
  • Menu Editor. puzzle I’ve only used this to change the right-click on a link action to: popup the a menu that has the option: “Open Link in New Tab” option at the top of the menu.
  • QuickDrag: puzzle when you highlight a few words on a page, then drag the words a few pixels away, a new tab opens with the search results on those works (ie no need to copy and paste them into google). If you highlight and drag a url (eg: computer-aid.com.au ), then that url is opened in a new tab.
  • Remove New Tab Button puzzle will remove the annoying “new tab” button that hangs around at the end of the tab bar. Works perfectly with the tab kit add-on and the close tab by double click add-on.
  • SearchStatus searchstatus will display some ranking information about each site you visit. Once installed, I “move” it to the menu bar (at the top of the window), by right-clicking on the “q” logo, I select “highlight nofollow links” so all nofollow links show up as pink. I also enable pagerank, alexa, compete, mozrank.
  • Split Browser splitbrowserwork well on widescreen monitors. You can view 2 websites side-by-side, and I often enable the “sychronously scroll” option when comparing 2 versions of the same website.
  • Tab History Menu tabhistorymenushows the tab history. Its just like the drop-down list near the forward – back buttons on the top-left, but you get the list when you click on the tab instead.
  • Tab Kit tabkit is like a Swiss army knife of tab organisation. There is too much to explain here. I’ll probably make a separate post that shows my tab kit options and how they make firefox easier to use. In the mean time, you can install it and try it out yourself.
  • TabRenamizer tabrenameizer renames tabs to something more reasonable that what the website decides for you. This might not work well for most people. Why? I use it to automatically rename tabs based on my bookmarks. But when I create a bookmark, I give it a short name (eg If I bookmark computer-aid.com.au, I make sure I call the bookmark “ComputerAid”… but I suspect most people don’t rename any bookmarks that they save. Otherwise you can manually rename tabs, or even have them renamed automatically to a “random” name!
  • Undo Closed Tabs Button undoclosedtabs just makes it easy to recover a tab that you might have accidentally closed (I seem to do it often). its just easier than going to history -> recently closed tabs -> then pick the tab you want resurrected.

You will probably notice that some add-ons will duplicate some functionality (eg remove tab close button). I’m not sure if I should make sure these duplicated options should all be set the same way, or if only 1 add-on needs to have the option set… but so far, I’ve not seen any add-on conflicts.

Firefox: a (not so) quick evaluation

Computer Aid Posted on by

This is another of my browser quick evaluations.

This time, I’m evaluating Firefox, to see if its a suitable candidate in my quest to replace Maxthon as my default browser.

I’ve been using Firefox while working with Entrecard blogs, so I know it lacks multi-threaded tabs… its annoying, but not a huge problem.

The border width is the standard windows width… good.

firefox

Now for customisability:

At first, there doesn’t seem to be the ability to create your own toolbar, but I eventually find it: view -> toolbars -> customise -> add new toolbar.

OK, I’ll start by installing a pagerank add-on…  I install SearchStatus, and it can be placed on any toolbar/menu bar available to firefox… its an excellent addon.

Now onto advert blocking: I installed adblock plus, and flashblock, and using the standard settings, I hardly saw and adverts and all flash content was blocked until I pressed the “play” button. This is the best ad blocking I’ve seen so far, with hardly any training required from the start, and a simple ABP “button” to switch ads on and off.

RSS feeds worked, but the built-in feed reader (looks like an extension to bookmarks) doesn’t allow you to “mark bookmarks as read”… so I can’t be sure what I’ve already seen and what I haven’t. Looks like I’ll need to use an “external” feed reader (I’d rather use the reader built in to the browser).

Unfortunately, typing a URL into the address bar, and pressing enter caused the website to be loaded into the current tab… Alt Enter will open it in a new tab, but will activate the new tab… I tried the tabnavigator addon, but it didn’t do anything that I wanted. Next, I tried the “tab kit” addon. It worked, and it has some nice features (tabs on multiple lines, typing a URL in the address bar opens it in a new tab, grouping tabs, etc)

I wanted to switch between tabs by using ctrl-right arrow & ctrl left arrow. I tried tabnavigator, tab kit, and keyconfig (to remap the keys), but none worked. Its disappointing, but not a major problem

I wanted to close tabs by double-clicking on the tabs, and found a plugin to do just that (close tab by double click).

I also added an “undo closed tabs button” … nice.

drag and drop urls from a web page only works if you drag the url all the way to the address bar… I’d like to just drag it slightly, and it looked like it couldn’t be done, until I accidentally found what I was after (QuickDrag).

spellcheck: like opera, FF will check spelling in input boxes… but it only started working once I installed a dictionary (Australian).

I also installed the SearchStatus add-on… it displays pagerank (plus a few other ranking figures) on the toolbar… great for SEO work.

I installed firebug (web developer tools)… its nice, but I’ve found that Operas “developer tools” (dragonfly) is just so smooth and seamless. Dragonfly is so good, that I’ll happily switch browsers every time I need to do some website development/alterations.

Other add-ons I added are: “Menu Editor”.. when right-clicking on a link, I have now moved the option to “open link in a new tab” to be the first option in the context menu…. Remove New Tab Button” removes the unneeded “+” button at the end of the bar of tabs.

Exporting favourites from Maxthon & importing them (into Opera & Firefox) is a simple process.

So far, the biggest advantage of Firefox, has been the wide range of plugins… but that’s also its biggest problem, as its difficult to know what FF can do unless you’ve heard about a feature before.

Finding the quickdrag add-on is a good example of this… I knew what I wanted, but it took a day of idle searching before I found what I wanted.

I’ve heard that Firefox still has problems with memory leaks and memory bloat, but I didn’t really look carefully enough to make a conclusion.

But I can say that Firefox 3.5.3 has crashed, locked up, frozen, or just simply disappeared (gone from task manager as well) more times than all the other tested browsers, combined.

So, the final verdict: (Many people will say “I told you so”) I’ll be switching to Firefox as my main browser(with Opera as a website development aid). Its not perfect, but its my best option.

Opera Browser V10.0: a (not so) quick evaluation

Computer Aid Posted on by

This started as a quick evaluation of the Opera browser, to see if its a suitable candidate in my quest to replace Maxthon as my default browser… but it ended up being a lot longer, given that Opera is a lot more capable than I originally thought.

I’ve used it on the Nintendo Wii, my windows mobile “smart phone”, and on my XP PC. In each case, it seems Opera had customised the browser to suit its environment (which must have involved a huge amount of effort from the developers).

It passes my first test: the window border is the standard windows border width, which changes whenever the appropriate setting is changed in display properties.

The second test is its ability to be customised to suit my browsing style. Yep, I can add a pagerank “widget”… but its awkward to use… Maxthon had a plugin that automatically displayed pagerank and alexa rank whenever you visited a website…

Opera has a great and easy way of blocking adverts… just right-click somewhere on the page, select “block content”, then click on the ads you want to block… easy. I also added Flash Blocker, so I could also block any flash code, unless I specifically click on the flash logo to run it.

RSS feeds: it works (barely), but after installing the latest version of Opera (10.0), feeds work in a much easier way (there’s a feeds menu!)

If I type a URL in the address bar, I usually want it to open in a new tab (if I didn’t want the current tab, I would have closed it)… Instead, most browsers (Opera included) assume I want to move away from the currently active tab… wrong assumption, and I find it annoying. But I can get around it by entering the URL and then pressing  ctrl-shift-Enter (instead of just the enter key)… unfortunately, the Enter key alone, cannot be “reprogrammed” to open a URL in a new tab 🙁

I soon discover that Opera can customise keys and mouse actions (tools -> preferences -> shortcuts)… But as you will see below, most actions I want to perform, cannot be done (or are not documented). The one nice thing I could program, was Ctrl right arrow, and ctrl left arrow to navigate the tabs.

I like to be able to double click to close a tab… But Opera cannot be configured to do this. The closest is to use ctrl-W … but that closes the currently active tab… not one I choose arbitrarily. And I hate closing tabs by playing “hit the target” with those small x’s. Note: after some more searching, I found that I can shift-click to close a tab… good enough for me.

I often find multiple links on a page, and I’d like to open them (each in a different tab), and then read through the content of each tabs I had opened:

This means when I right-click, then select “open in a new tab”, then I don’t want that new tab to “activate”, so that I can go and right-click on a few more links… but Opera (and many other browsers) like to make the new tab active… so then I need to go back to the previous tab, and then click on other links… time consuming, and I don’t like it.

But there is a workaround: Ctrl-Shift (left)Click will open a hyperlink without activating it, but again, this cannot be made the default behaviour for “open in a new tab” 🙁

Another nice feature of Opera 10.0: the undo button (its called “closed tabs”). This lets you re-open tabs that you might have (accidentally) closed recently. It would be nice if the history of closed tabs could survive a browser restart (the way Linux shell history does), but few applications seem to consider the simple task of maintaining a persistent “history” nowadays. Its often a case of “once the application shuts down, then erase all history”.

I like the built-in developer tools. For me, its very very useful in website development.

While editing this article, I noticed that Opera automatically detects text input boxes, then spellchecks words in the box, and underlines misspelt words. Right click on a misspelt word to correct it (or even to change the dictionary… its the UK dictionary for me!).

A minor omission is: no option to set Opera as the default browser… there is only an option to “check if opera is the default browser on startup”… which sometimes wouldn’t work… depending on what kind of startup options were selected (in my case: “continue saved sessions”).

A disappointment, is not being able to drag  a highlighted url/link from a web page, and drop it into the tab bar, to open the link in a new tab. Maxthon has this feature really well organised (where you can just drag and drop it on the same page, and it still opens the URL in a different tab… very convenient!).

Another problem I’ve encountered (but it might be a google problem, rather than an Opera problem), is that I cannot login to gmail… but I can sidestep the problem by logging into google contacts, and then using the link at the top, to get to gmail.

After using Opera for about a week, I started noticing more websites that would not work. Most notable was Google Adwords… that website actually says: “We’re sorry, the new AdWords interface does not work with Opera”

I’d like to be able to create my own “favourites” toolbar, and place it next to the menu bar (to the right of the “help” menu), but but again, Opera is not that customisable. At least I can use the “personal bar” toolbar for my favourites/bookmarks, but not for widgets… Grrr.

Something in Operas favor, is its memory usage. It seems to have no memory “leaks”, and with 100 websites open, it doesn’t crash, and doesn’t seem to slow the computer much (obviously the slowdown you get depends on how much RAM you have… but Opera seems to use it more efficiently).

operaMaybe I’m expecting too much? Maybe I’m part of  a minority of browser users who value function (and customisability) over form (like pretty buttons, colours, and “sexy” effects) ?

In summary: Opera has almost all the functionality I would want from a browser. Its the best browser I’ve evaluated so far… similar to Maxthon. The biggest disappointments were:

  • A very limited number of widgets and plugins which might have allowed me to overcome the annoyances I encountered.
  • Websites that just refuse to work with Opera (and I wasn’t interested making Opera “impersonate” another browser would solve the issue.

Next, I’ll take a look at firefox… does it deserve its huge popularity? Stay tuned…

Google Chrome: a quick evaluation

Computer Aid Posted on by

This is another of my browser quick evaluations.

This time, I’m evaluating Google Chrome, to see if its a suitable candidate in my quest to replace Maxthon as my default browser.

Since Chrome and Safari are closely related, I suspect that Chrome will end up like Safari, and will be dropped from my list.

First up: border width. I must say that the border width is thicker than Safari. But a quick change in screen resolution reveals the truth… Chrome does have a thicker border than Safari, but like its cousin, its a fixed width that is independent of the thickness set in the windows display preferences. For me, that’s a no-no.

chromeI can see that it also lacks any way of customising the look and locations of “toolbars”… in fact I cant see any way of customising Chrome.

Again, I just can’t see myself (as a browser power user) using Chrome for any length of time.

Safari Browser: a quick evaluation

Computer Aid Posted on by

I just did a quick check of Safari, to see if its a suitable candidate in my quest to replace Maxthon as my default browser.

I like some of its features (particularly the multi-threaded tabs, similar to chrome).

apple-safariHowever, the first dislike is the border width… its very thin, which makes it difficult to resize on a large monitor. Its one of the reasons I’m leaving Maxthon.

Next, I want to see if I can place some toolbars (eg the bookmarks bar) next to the menu items. I like to make the most efficient use of empty space on the browser, since I like having the maximum possible space available for actually viewing websites.

Hmmm, that’s not possible either.

To me, Safari seems to be a toy browser. If I use Safari, them my browsing “experience” will be crap… the search continues.

The decline of Maxthon (myie2)

Computer Aid Posted on by

I have been using Maxthon from back when it was called MyIE2 (probably around 2001… so about 8 years in total).

For most of that time, it provided features (and customisability) that no other browser had. For that reason, I had used it in preference to IE, firefox, Opera, Safari, and Chrome.

Sadly, since the release of version 2.5, some of the customisability has been removed.

Its become increasingly obvious to me, that most of the removed features will not be re-instated.

Instead, the words that I keep hearing are: “it’s by design”.

To me, it like saying: “its not a bug, its a feature”… and its the sort of thing that immediately annoys me.

As an example: the new layout features a fixed window border width that totally ignores the width specified in the windows control panel display properties.

If you are still using a monitor that displays 640 x 480, then you won’t care… but most modern monitors have such high resolutions, that any application that doesn’t follow the display properties border width will immediately go into my “death row” list.

On top of that, the menu bar has now been  moved into the title bar… with no way to move it elsewhere (reminds me of IE7 and the unmovable “stop” and “refresh” buttons… a bad move by Microsoft).

Maxthon2I had been using an older version of Maxthon for nearly a year now… in the hopes that things would improve.

I eventually got tired of the occasional lockups, slowness, and huge memory leaks, so I upgraded to 2.5.7… only to find that the “new” version freezes after a few hours… Grrr

Back when it was called MyIE2, it was small, lightweight, fast, and reliable… but now it has lost its way.

Now, I’ll be seriously evaluating Firefox, Chrome, and Opera over the next few months, and eventually decide on one that suits me best… stay tuned as I keep you updated on my “Browser Wars”.