Quick tips. On 9 January 2009, Google started to use new favicon on its sites. In this post, you will find how to change the old Google's favicon to the new one in Firefox and Opera, if you feel like changing it.

Mozilla Firefox

You can update the Firefox’s default Google search plugin to show the new Google search icon:

1. Download this updated version of the Google search plugin (right click to save).

2. Copy it to your searchplugins folder in your Firefox install folder (usually in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins on Windows), and overwrite the existing google.xml file.

3. Save the file and restart Firefox.

[via: Mozilla Links]

Opera

1. Make sure Opera is not running. Go to the directory where Opera is installed (usually in C:\Program Files\Opera). Open search.ini with Notepad to edit it.

2.

Most of us usually have our own favourite web browsers that we use to access the world wide web. Each of these browsers have their own characteristics and features that made us love them. For November 2008, 49.13% of TMS Network's blog visitors use Mozilla Firefox to visit this blog, 39.2% uses Internet Explorer, 5.13% uses Opera, 3.33% uses Google Chrome and 1.7% uses Safari. As for me, I like to take my favourite web browser in my pendrive so I can use it if I go to internet cafe or at work. This allows me to use the browser with my own settings, addons and any customizations that I've done. In this post, I will list a few portable web browser that we can install and run from a portable USB drive.

Opera@USB

Since this is my favourite web browser, I will start with Opera. The portable version of Opera has the same features as the normal desktop version, surf the web, write emails, or use IRC. In fact, with Opera Link, you can synchronize your bookmark, notes, history and speed dial. Opera Link works very well with the portable version of Opera. You can expect it to be functional as the desktop version. However, the portable version cannot run directly from network (using \\192.168.1.10\Opera Portable\ path for example). You need to mount the directory as network drive first.

If your Google Chrome do not show Mozilla Firefox in the ‘Import Bookmarks and Settings’ browser list, don’t panic. Here is a simple trick to show back Mozilla Firefox in the browser bookmarks & settings import list.

Open notepad, and paste the following registry script.

As we all know, Mozilla has recently released the alpha 2 version of the latest Mozilla Firefox 3.1. Some changes from Mozilla Firefox 3 to Mozilla Firefox 3.1 alpha 2:

Changes in alpha 1:

If Mozilla Firefox is the browser that you use most for your daily web browsing, then mastering the navigation shortcuts can enhance your web browsing experience.

*Very* useful keyboard shortcuts:

Installing lots of extensions on a single Firefox installation can turns Firefox into a bloated, heavy and memory hogging browser for web surfing. If you love to use Firefox in your web development and design, you should install the addons for web development to a separate Firefox installation, not the one that you use for daily web browsing.

One of the features that I love in Opera is its mouse gestures. The gestures that I use most is right click + right/left which enables me to go Back and Forward a web page. Ever since I migrate to Flock (Firefox based web browser) I somehow miss those features.

FireGestures is a great Firefox add-on that allows you to have the Opera-like mouse gestures in Firefox. It works outside of the box without the need to change any settings. If you are someone that love to tweak a software to its full potential, here are the features of FireGestures:

While Firefox 3 will arive soon tomorrow, 17th June 2008, Flock 2.0 beta 1 is also available for test drive. Flock 2.0 will be based on Firefox 3 technology. Flock is a web browser that specializes in providing social networking and other Web 2.0 features built into its interface. The browser is built on Mozilla’s Firefox codebase.

However, I experienced random crashes with Flock 2.0 beta, especially when organizing or dealing with Favorites (Windows XP SP3). I also lost my bookmark during the update. So, better backup your configuration first if you are planning to test Flock 2.0 beta. It is still in beta stage. Just a small cosmetic change in Flock 2.0 beta.

Flock 2.0 beta is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

[Flock 2.0 beta]

Prevention is better than cure. SiteAdvisor can warn you if you are trying to enter websites that may make you victim of malware or spam. The plugin is available for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

SiteAdvisor plugin will display these color rating for each site visited: