Last windows question and then I'll quit

[Lennyjoe]

Since I've downloaded SP2 I keep getting all these little red X boxes.   Driving me nuts.  Did it before and I went back to SP1.  I'm guessing its in my settings somewhere.  Can someone show a dumb ass where to go.  

[cosine]

Best thing I can think of to do is check all your settings after you've installed SP2. I don't know if upgrading to SP2 from SP1 would automatically change any of your settings, but it may. (i.e., it changes settings it thinks are left too lax for security)

[garrettwc]

Which little red x boxes? The ones on web pages where images should be? Or error messages from the OS?

If the former then cosine is on the right track. Click Tools | Internet Options and check the security and advanced tabs. There should be a checkbox or security setting you can adjust to "allow images".

[Lennyjoe]

I tried to check all that applies but some things still don't come up.  

It seems to be only some web pages that it does it on.  Like 10MM talk.  I get a whole slew of red x's were images should be on the web page.  

Under the advanced tabs the box is checked to "show pictures"

Confusing.

[garrettwc]

If it only occurs on some web pages it may not be all you. Some websites have some wonky code on them and the links to their images get broken. Try clearing the cache and cookies and going to the website again. It may have been updated and your browser is not loading the updates.

[Lennyjoe]

Odd thing is, it never happened with SP1 but since updating to SP2 it's doing it.  Maybe its time to go to mozilla or Firefox

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

Yes, it certainly is time for Firefox.

[Lennyjoe]

So give me the full speal on Firefox.  What am I looking at to switch over.

[crt360]

Pretty much just go to this site:  http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ and download it.  It's only about 5MB, so it doesn't take too long.  You can import your "favorites" from IE.  There are tons of extensions you can add to customize your browser (I'd start with Adblock).  If you don't like Firefox, you can always go back to IE (or use both at the same time).

[Guest]

One of the biggest non-security differences between Firefox and IE is browsing tabs. Instead of having 10 seperate windows while you navigate THR, TFL and APS, you can have them all open in one window. All you have to do is use a simple keyboard command to open a new tab. (I think it's ctrl-t on Windows - I use a Mac.)

Firefox will probably seem strange at first. I bet you'll even want to stay with IE at first. Don't. Get used to Firefox. Not only is it more secure and stable, but with tabbed browsing and the gazillion different plugins you can get it is also more efficient and customizable.

[garrettwc]

One of the biggest non-security differences between Firefox and IE is browsing tabs. Instead of having 10 seperate windows while you navigate THR, TFL and APS, you can have them all open in one window. All you have to do is use a simple keyboard command to open a new tab.

Tabbed browsing rules!! I use Firefox at work and at home. Besides the keyboard command Jason gave which opens a new blank tab, if you have a 3-button mouse, or one of the wheel mouses where the center wheel is clickable, you can use that on links.

For example if you click the new threads search thing at THR or TFL you can just go down the page and center-click all the threads you want to read and they open up as new tabs in the background.

Another good firefox extension is Paste Quote, which is available here: http://www.cusser.net/extensions/pastequote/

I used it to quote Jason at the beginning of this post. You just highlight the part of the post you want to quote and click copy, then right click and select PasteQuote and it will put the quote tags in automatically in your post.

[Lennyjoe]

I am using firefox right now.  Any tips other than the Paste Quote?

By using firefox, all of the little red boxes that didnt load with SP2 are now loading.  Must be something in the settings on SP2.  So far I like firefox.

[garrettwc]

Any tips other than the Paste Quote?

You can click the find more extensions tab in the Tools|Extensions menu. There are lots of them. Some will appeal to you and some may not. Do a search on Firefox here in APS. There's a whole bunch of threads dedicated to extensions and such.

Another user tip: on the bookmarks menu you will find a "Quick searches" menu. Right click those and look at the properties for each one and you will see a keyword. You can search directly in the address bar by typing keyword followed by what you are looking for. For example type "google firearms" without the quotes into the address bar and hit enter. It will open up google and do a search for the terms you entered.

I know you can do that in the search box at the upper right, but I like keyboard shortcuts so I can Alt-D into the address bar and then just type my search in.

Another great thing about Firefox is built in RSS feeds. When you are on a website that supports RSS feeds, newspapers for example, you will see an orange box with some curved lines in the lower right. Click the icon to bookmark the feed. Then everytime you log on the headlines from that page will appear as a menu of bookmarks in your bookmarks menu. Then just click the headline to go to the story.

So far I like firefox.

After you are totally in love with Firefox, then it's time to check out Thunderbird the matching email client. Then you can dump Outlook/Outlook Express.

[Calumus]

Now that you have firefox, and someone's explained extensions I'd recommend "tweak network settings"  install it, click on "power" and hit apply. It will speed up your browsing quite a bit. The only other one I use is "paste and go" it just speeds up a copy&paste. That came out in Opera 1st and I got used to it so I applied it to Firefox as well. That being said, Opera is still my favorite browser and I usually only use FF for pages that won't render in Opera. Cheers,
Shawn