firefox

Clippings makes browsing and online shopping easier

Clippings is a superhandy Firefox browser extension that allows you to easily paste text from a list of saved clipboards. It may sound boring, but using Clippings for Web forms and multiple e-mail signatures lets you complete those tasks more quickly, saving your keystrokes for something more important, such as actual communication.

Clippings installs as a contextual menu. Right-clicking an empty form or writing area lets you select a saved snippet from your clipboard. It took me only a minute or two to set up a fairly extensive list of commonly used entries.

The big question: How is Clippings better … Read more

Adobe Reader Open Parameters XSS

In a conference paper titled "Subverting Ajax," security researchers Stefano Di Paola and Giorgio Fedon identified multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. One flaw in particular, the open parameters vulnerability, is quite easy to execute on vulnerable versions of Adobe Reader. A malicious attack can be carried out by referencing any Web-based PDF file and supplying potentially malicious JavaScript code as an open parameter to any Web-based PDF file. For example

http://www.(domain name).com/file.pdf#whatever_name_you_want=javascript:your_code_here

The researchers contacted Adobe in October with their findings and only recently made their work public. Adobe has … Read more

Facebook's Firefox extension is either awesome or annoying. We can't really tell yet.

Although the once-exclusive social networking site Facebook has since opened up to the general public, its user base still largely consists of high school and college students who are prone to procrastination. In fact, Facebook's facilitation of voyeuristic procrastination is one reason that it probably caught on so virally in the first place. And now, Facebook users can integrate procrastination right into their Firefox 2.0 browsers, with the just-announced Facebook Toolbar. It really gives the service an always-there presence on your Web surfing experience. Paranoiacs might find it a little Big Brother-ish, kind of like they did when … Read more

Leave the laptop behind with PortableApps

Most Webware.com readers who use Windows are familiar with two kinds of software: applications that run within the Windows framework, and Web-based applications. Using the former requires access to your own computer; using the latter requires password management and an Internet connection.

Now, the growing availability of software that runs off portable devices makes schlepping your laptop home for the holidays less of a necessity. PortableApps Standard Suite turns your memory device--iPod, Darth Vader Flash drive or even your digital camera's memory card--into a software and personal file manager.

Here's how to get started: Grab the PortableAppsRead more

Me.dium: One part social networking gizmo, one part spy tool.

Last week, as I recounted yesterday, I went to the TechCrunch NYC meetup and was consequently barraged by all kinds of Web 2.0 esoterica. Some were not-so-innovative (do we really need more social bookmarking and link annotation sites?) and others were pretty darn cool. In the "pretty darn cool" category lies Me.dium, a Firefox extension that aims to let you visualize traffic on the Web as though you were "walking down Main Street," according to co-founder David Mandell. It takes the form of a sidebar on your browser (see screengrab at left) and shows … Read more

MS Firefox--Microsoft purchases Mozilla?

Clearly this is a hoax, but someone mashed up the Microsoft Internet Explorer home page with that of Mozilla Firefox to create the MS Firefox page. It's not too far fetched; Mozilla Firefox is open-source software and already Hacktivismo has based their TorPark browser on Mozilla Firefox 1.5, and Microsoft recently said it is exploring open-source solutions--but this is too much. For example, under the Security tab, the MS Firefox site says: "A robust new Microsoft security architecture known as TakeOver helps to protect the Windows Kernel from malicious, damaging and viral software such as Symantec and … Read more

Top 10 list of Top 10 Firefox add-on lists

A lot of us want to live in Firefox 2. But we also want to bend it to our will, to customize it so it's just right. Our visions of the ideal Firefox are different, though. The Web surfer will want one thing, for example, and the programmer another. So check out this Official Webware Firefox Top 10 List. Not of extensions. Of other lists.

Download.com: Best extensions for Firefox 2 Webware.com's brothers at Download.com have a good general list, as covered in this post.

About.com: Top 10 Firefox extensions A collection of some … Read more

Best extensions for Firefox 2

One of the greatest facets of Mozilla Firefox (download it from CNET Download.com) is the ability to tweak the interface and browser features to your heart's content via application settings (such as about:config) or via add-ons such as extensions and themes.

Version 2 added some of the best features from some of the best extensions for 1.x, such as session saving, spell checking, and search-engine management, but it's not enough. Where's my weather forecast and tool for downloading videos from YouTube? Well, those features and much, much more are available via extensions, and we'… Read more

Internet Explorer 7's new line of defense

Robert Vamosi just posted a full review of the stellar Firefox 2, which was officially released moments ago. We've added the full review (complete with video and a slide show) to the CNET home page, but Internet Explorer 7 did everything it could to crash the party.

Usually, the well-oiled CNET editorial machine posts big stories on our home page within seconds of them publishing. Our content-management system runs a bit better on IE, so that's the browser we normally use when updating the site.

But when I added the Firefox 2 review, IE 7 decided it wasn'… Read more