Get started with Firefox - An overview of the main features
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- Creator: Tonnes
- Comment: some typos and commas
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- Reviewed by: Verdi
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New to Firefox? Well you’ve come to the right place. This article covers all the basics and will get you up and running in just a few minutes. It also has tons of links to other great articles that you might want to explore later.
Table of Contents
Browsing the web
Setting your home page
Setting your home page in Firefox is easy. Just drag the site's icon to the Home button. For more about your home page and to set what tabs show when you open Firefox, see How to set the home page.
One-click bookmarking
To create a bookmark, click on the star icon in the Location bar. That's it! For more about using bookmarks, including tagging and organizing, see Bookmarks in Firefox
Finding everything with the Awesome Bar
We like to call Firefox’s Location bar, the "Awesome Bar" because when you start to type the name or address of a website you’ve been to before, it finds it for you in an instant. And the more you use it, the better it gets. To learn more Awesome Bar tricks, including searching through your open tabs and searching the web, see Address bar autocomplete suggestions in Firefox.
Searching the web
Search the web with your favorite search site in Firefox’s built-in Search bar. Just click the icon on the left to switch search engines. Learn more search tricks with the Search bar - add, change and manage search engines on Firefox article.
Tabs tabs tabs!
Tabs let you have multiple websites open inside a single window keeping your screen clutter free and making it easy to switch between sites.
To make a new tab, click the new tab button (+) on the right side of the last tab.
To learn more about working with tabs, see Use tabs to organize lots of websites in a single window.
App Tabs
App Tabs let you keep your favorite web apps like Facebook, Gmail and Twitter open and just a click away. To create an App Tab, right-clickcontrol-click on the tab and select from the menu. To learn more about how App Tabs work, see Pinned Tabs - keep favorite websites open and just a click away
Tab Groups
Tabs are great and Tab Groups (also known as Panorama) are a great way to keep them organized. With Tab Groups you can visually group related tabs, switch between groups and quickly search through all of your tabs.
To create a tab group, click the all tabs button at the far right end of the tab strip and select . For details, see Use Tab Groups to organize a lot of tabs
Staying safe
Instant website ID check
Firefox has a color-coded system that makes it easy to check on suspicious sites and avoid Web forgeries. Just click the button to the left of a site’s address. A green site identity button indicates that your connection is secure and that the owners of the website are who you would expect them to be. Your bank, for example, should have a green button. See How do I tell if my connection to a website is secure? to learn more.
Tell websites to stop tracking you
Many major websites track their visitors' behavior and then sell or provide that information to other companies (like advertisers). Firefox has a Do-Not-Track feature that lets you tell websites you don't want your browsing behavior tracked. For more information about tracking and how to turn this feature on, see How do I turn on the Do Not Track feature?
Private Browsing
Firefox’s Private Browsing feature allows you to browse the Internet without saving any information to your computer about which sites and pages you’ve visited.
To start Private Browsing, go to the top of the Firefox window, the menu bar, click the menu ( menu in Windows XP), menu menu and select . Read the Private Browsing - Use Firefox without saving history article to learn more.
Customizing Firefox with Add-ons
Add-ons are like apps that you install to add bells & whistles to Firefox. You can get add-ons that compare prices, check the weather, change the look of Firefox, listen to music, or even update your Facebook profile. To learn more about Add-ons and how to install them, see Find and install add-ons to add features to Firefox.
Personas
Personas let you easily personalize the look of your Firefox. Try some on at getpersonas.com.
Staying in Sync
Firefox Sync lets you securely access your history, bookmarks, tabs and passwords across all of your devices. See How do I set up Sync on my computer? to learn more or just go straight to syncing your computers, your Android device or iPhone.
Staying up to date
Keeping everything up to date is an important part of keeping Firefox and your computer running in top shape. And while Firefox is configured to automatically check for updates, you can always check to see that you have the latest by going to the top of the Firefox windowthe menu bar, click on the menu, go over to the menu and select menu, and select .
For Windows XP: At the top of the Firefox window, click on the menu and select .
For more info, see Update Firefox to the latest release.
Check those plugins
Don’t forget to check to see if your plugins need to be updated. Out-of-date plugins can cause all sorts of problems. Go to Mozilla’s Plugin check now.