This document explains all of the &pref.plural; available in the &pref.pluralCaps; window of &brandFullName;.
When you open &brandShortName;, by default your home page is displayed. Your home page might be a commonly-visited web site, a search engine, or perhaps your email account, but the choice is up to you. You can change your home page or choose to display a different page or set of pages on startup in this section.
When &brandShortName; starts
By default, when &brandShortName; starts it opens your home page (listed in
the textbox immediately below), which corresponds to the Show my home
page option. Alternately, you can choose to display a blank page on
startup (perhaps to eliminate the time required to load that page from the
Internet) by selecting the Show a blank page option.
As a final alternative, you can have &brandShortName; reopen the windows and tabs you had open the last time you ran &brandShortName;, effectively restoring you to where you were when you last stopped browsing the Internet. This can be a handy way of saving what you were doing when you close &brandShortName;, perhaps to install an operating system update. You can choose this option by selecting Show my windows and tabs from last time.
Home Page
If you've set &brandShortName; to show your home page when you start
&brandShortName;, you specify your home page by typing it here. You can
also click any of the buttons below the textbox to choose a special home
page:
This section contains &pref.plural; determining how &brandShortName; downloads files.
Show the Downloads window when downloading a file
With this &pref.singular; selected, &brandShortName; will open the Downloads window when you start
downloading a file.
Close it when all downloads are finished
Select this &pref.singular; to have &brandShortName; close the Downloads
window when all downloads currently in progress finish.
Save files to
By default downloaded files are automatically saved to the Desktop,
eliminating the hassle of specifying a download location for every file you
download. You can choose a different folder by clicking the Browse...Choose...
button.
Always ask me where to save files
With this &pref.singular; selected, &brandShortName; will ask you where
you would like to save every downloaded file (instead of using the default
location specified above).
Always check to see if &brandShortName; is the default browser on
startup
Select this option if you want &brandShortName; to check whether it is the
default browser at startup. This will ensure &brandShortName; is used
whenever an application tries to display a web page. You can also click the
Check Now button to do a check right now.
Manage Add-ons
To install or uninstall, update or configure add-ons, click the Manage
Add-ons button to open the Add-ons manager. This is also accessible
from . A detailed
description of add-ons and the Add-on manager is available here.
New pages should be opened in:
This &pref.singular; controls whether links from other applications or from
web pages which request to open them in new windows are opened in a new
window or a new tab in the most recent window.
Note: If you have chosen to open pages in new tabs, &brandShortName; will ignore this &pref.singular; and will open a new window from a link if the page author specified that the new window should have a specific size, because some pages can only be displayed correctly at a specific size.
Warn me when closing multiple tabs
When you close a window with multiple tabs, &brandShortName; will ask you
to confirm your choice. This prevents you from accidentally closing the
whole window when you intended to only close the current tab. Uncheck this
&pref.singular; to disable this warning and have &brandShortName;
automatically close the window.
Warn me when opening multiple tabs might slow down
&brandShortName;
When you open a large number of tabs at once, &brandShortName; will ask you
to confirm your choice. This prevents you from accidentally slowing down
your system while the pages are loading. Uncheck this &pref.singular; to
disable this warning.
Always show the tab bar
If you're only viewing one web page in a &brandShortName; window, the tab
bar is not normally shown. Check this &pref.singular; to always show the tab
bar, including when only the &brandShortName; window contains only one
page.
When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately
When you middle-click on a Web link (or hold down &accelKey; while clicking
with the left mouse button), the page will be opened in a new tab. That page
will not be displayed and will load in a background tab. Check this
&pref.singular; to load and display the page in a new foreground tab
instead.
Block Pop-up Windows
By default, &brandShortName; blocks annoying pop-up windows on web sites.
Unchecking this &pref.singular; will disable pop-up blocking.
Some web sites make legitimate use of pop-up windows. Therefore, you can allow these sites to open pop-ups anyway. To do so, click Exceptions..., enter the site name, and click Allow. To remove a web site from the list, select it and then click Remove Site. To clear the list completely, click Remove All Sites.
Load images automatically
&brandShortName; displays images in web pages by default. Uncheck this
&pref.singular; to disable images in web pages.
If you enable loading images automatically, the Exceptions... button lets you select sites from which images will not automatically load. The Exceptions... button lets you specify web sites that you wish to load (or not load) regardless of the setting of this preference. In the exceptions list, enter the site from which you want to allow or block images and click Allow to allow images, or click Block to block the images.
Enable JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting language commonly used to make web pages
interactive. However, it also makes certain annoying behaviors much easier to
perform. To disable JavaScript, uncheck this &pref.singular;. However, note
that disabling JavaScript may cause some sites to not work properly. For more
fine-grained control over what JavaScript can and cannot do, click
Advanced....
Enable Java
Java is a popular programming language for the Web. A single Java program
can run on many different kinds of computers, thus avoiding the need for
programmers to create a separate version of a program for each kind of
computer. Uncheck this &pref.singular; to disable Java applets in
&brandShortName;. Note that in order for Java applets to work, you must
install the Java plugin.
Default font and Size
Web pages are usually displayed in the font and size specified here.
However, web pages can override these choices unless you specify otherwise
in the Fonts dialog. Click the Advanced... button to access the
Fonts dialog and to change this and other fonts &pref.plural;.
Monospace fonts.You can also set the minimum web page font size. This is useful to prevent sites from use overly small fonts that are barely readable.
Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections
above
By default &brandShortName; uses the fonts specified by the web page
author. Disabling this &pref.singular; will force all sites to use your
default fonts instead.
Character Encoding
The character encoding selected here will be used to display pages that
do not specify which encoding to use.
Text and Background
Here you can change the default text and background color to be used on
web pages that haven't specified that information. Click on the color
samples to select colors.
Use system colors
Check this &pref.singular; to use the colors defined in your operating
system settings instead of the colors specified above.
Link Colors
Here you can change the default colors for Web links. Click on the color
samples to select colors.
Underline links
By default, links are underlined on web pages. Uncheck this &pref.singular;
to disable this. Note that many sites specify their own styling rules
and this &pref.singular; has no effect on those sites.
Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections
above
By default, &brandShortName; uses the colors specified by the web page
author. Disabling this &pref.singular; will force all sites to use your
default colors instead.
Some web pages are offered in more than one language. Click the Choose... button to specify your preferred language or languages.
Languages Dialog
To add a language, click Select a language to add..., choose the
language, and click the Add button. Remove a language by
selecting it in the list of active languages and clicking the
Remove button. You can also reorder languages using the Move
Up and Move Down buttons to determine the most preferred one
in case a page is provided in multiple languages .
The Applications panel lets you choose applications and other handlers to handle different types of content (e.g. PDF documents). It shows you a list of content types and lets you select a handler for each type.
You can choose a local application to handle any type. For some types, you can also choose a web application to handle the type, choose a feature (like Live Bookmarks for feeds) or a plugin in &brandShortName; to handle the type, or save the type on your computer.
To choose a handler for a type, select the type from the list. The current handler for the type will turn into a menu. Open the menu and select the handler you want to handle the type.
Note: When a plugin is available to handle a type, and you choose another handler to handle that type, &brandShortName; will only use your chosen handler when you access the type directly. When the type is embedded inside a web page, &brandShortName; will continue to use the plugin to handle the type.
Remember visited pages for the last ... days
Here you can specify how long you want &brandShortName; to remember what
pages you have visited. The default is 9 days.
Remember what I enter in forms and the search bar
When you enter information in web forms or the search bar in
&brandShortName;, that information is saved so that &brandShortName; can
give suggestions when you enter information in forms in the future. To stop
this behavior, uncheck this &pref.singular;.
Remember what I've downloaded
This &pref.singular; controls whether or not past downloads show up in the
Downloads window. The Downloads window (accessible from or by pressing &accelKey;+J&accelKey;+Y) displays a list of your recent
downloads. Downloads &pref.plural; are available in the Main panel.
A cookie is a file created by a web site that stores information on your computer, such as site-specific preferences when visiting that site.
Accept cookies from sites
By default cookies are enabled. Uncheck this &pref.singular; to disable the
use of cookies. Note that some sites may not work properly when cookies are
disabled.
Keep until:
To control which sites may or may not set cookies, click the Exceptions... button.
To display the Cookie Manager click Show Cookies....
Learn more about cookies, the individual &pref.plural;, and how you can gain control over what sites are allowed to store cookies on your computer by reading about Managing Cookies.
Always clear my private data when I close &brandShortName;
You can choose to have &brandShortName; clear your private data when you
close it. To configure what data is cleared, click the Settings...
button.
Ask me before clearing private data
With this &pref.singular; selected, &brandShortName; will ask you before
before automatically clearing the data specified by clicking
Settings....
If you wish to clear your private data right now, you can click the Clear Now... button to do so. To clear your private data from outside the preferences dialog, either press &accelKey;+&shiftKey;+Del or select .
Warn me when sites try to install add-ons
&brandShortName; will always ask you to confirm installations of add-ons.
To prevent unrequested installation prompts which may lead to accidental
installations, &brandShortName; warns you when a web site tries to install
an add-on and blocks the installation prompt. To allow installations from
a specific site, click Exceptions..., enter the site name, and click
Allow. Uncheck this &pref.singular; to disable the warning for all
sites.
Tell me if the site I'm visiting is a suspected forgery
Check this &pref.singular; if you want &brandShortName; to actively check
whether the site you are visiting may be an attempt to mislead you into
providing personal information (this is often referred to as phishing).
Note that the absence of a warning does not guarantee that a site is trustworthy.
If you come across a "phishing" site which is not marked as such, please report
it using , as
explained in the menu reference.
Check using a downloaded list of suspected sites
With this &pref.singular; selected, &brandShortName; will check the current
site against a frequently updated list stored on your computer. No data about
the sites you visit is transferred to third-party anti-phishing providers
during normal browsing. Since phishing techniques and sites evolve quickly,
this mode of protection may not be as effective as having an anti-phishing
provider check every site you visit.
Check by asking ... about each site I visit
With this &pref.singular; selected, &brandShortName; will send the address of
the current page over an encrypted connection to the selected third-party
anti-phishing provider in order to verify its identity. This method offers the
greatest protection, but information such as your IP address and browser
version may be transfered and stored by the selected provider. You will be
prompted to review and agree to the selected data provider's privacy policy
after selecting this &pref.singular;.
Remember passwords for sites
&brandShortName; can securely save passwords you enter in web forms to
make it easier to log on to web sites. Clear this checkbox to prevent
&brandShortName; from remembering your passwords.
Even with this &pref.singular; checked, however, you'll still be asked whether to save passwords for a site when you first visit it. If you select Never for This Site, that site will be added to an exceptions list. To access that list or to remove sites from it, click the Exceptions... button.
Use a master password
&brandShortName; can protect sensitive information such as saved passwords
and certificates by encrypting them using a master password. If you create a
master password, each time you start &brandShortName;, it will ask you to enter
the password the first time it needs to access a certificate or stored
password. You can set, change, or remove the master password by
by checking or unchecking this &pref.singular; or by clicking the
Change Master Password... button. If a master password is already
set, you will need to enter it in order to change or remove the master password.
Show Passwords...
You can manage saved passwords and delete individual passwords by clicking
the View Saved Passwords button.
Click the Settings... button to configure the security warnings &brandShortName; displays while you browse the web.
The advanced panel contains many &pref.plural; that are less likely to be used by most people but are useful and sometimes critical &pref.plural; for some people.
Always use the cursor keys to navigate within pages
When this &pref.singular; is enabled, &brandShortName; will display a
movable cursor in web pages, allowing you to select text with the
keyboard. You can toggle this mode by pressing F7.
Search for text when I start typing
When this &pref.singular; is enabled, &brandShortName; will find within
the current web page what you type as you type it. While you are finding
typed text in the page, the Find Toolbar will automatically display at the
bottom of the window to show information about what you've found.
Use autoscrolling
Autoscrolling is a useful feature which allows you to scroll the page by
clicking the middle mouse button (usually the scroll wheel) and moving the
mouse up or down. Some people find this annoying, so autoscrolling can be
disabled with this &pref.singular;.
Use smooth scrolling
Smooth scrolling can be very useful if you read a lot of long pages.
Normally, when you press Page Down, the view jumps directly
down one page. With smooth scrolling, it slides down smoothly, so you can
see how much it scrolls. This makes it easier to resume reading from where
you were before.
Check my spelling as I type
When this preference is enabled, &brandShortName; will check your spelling
and offer possible corrections as you type in web forms. Note that you
may need to download a dictionary; to do so, right-clickpress &ctrlKey; and
click on any text field, enable spellchecking if necessary, and
then use the provided menu to
download a dictionary.
Your organization or Internet service provider may offer or require you to use a proxy. A proxy acts as an intermediary between your computer and the Internet. It intercepts all requests to the Internet to see if it can fulfill the request using its cache. Proxies are used to improve performance, filter requests, and hide your computer from the Internet to improve security. Proxies are often part of corporate firewalls.
Pages you view are normally stored in a special cache folder for quicker viewing the next time you visit the same page. You can specify the amount of disk space the cache can use here. You can also immediately clear the contents of the cache.
Use up to ... MB of space for the cache
Allows you to specify the maximum size, in megabytes, of the cache on
your computer.
Clear Now
Immediately clears the current contents of the cache, freeing the disk
space used by the cache.
&brandShortName; can check whether updates to installed add-ons or to &brandShortName; itself are available.
Automatically check for updates to:
By default &brandShortName; automatically checks for updates to itself, to
add-ons, and to search engines so you'll always know you have the most
up-to-date version. You can change this behavior by changing the
appropriate checkboxes here.
When updates to &brandShortName; are found,
Show Update History
&brandShortName; automatically records the updates you have installed.
You can view information about these updates by clicking this button.
Note: You must be running &brandShortName; as an administratorroot or as the user who originally installed &brandShortName; to install &brandShortName; updates.
Use SSL 3.0
Specifies whether you want to send and receive secured information through
SSL3 (Secure Sockets Layer, Level 3), a standard protocol for
communicating securely with web sites. Disabling it will prevent you from
visiting some sites.
Use TLS 1.0
Specifies whether you want to send and receive secured information through
TLS (Transport Layer Security), a security standard similar to SSL3
(Secure Sockets Layer). Disabling it will prevent you from visiting some
sites.
Certificates help perform encryption and decryption of connections to secure sites.
When a web site requires a certificate:
Some servers ask you to identify yourself with a personal certificate. In
order to do so, they ask &brandShortName; to generate one for you. When
you visit the site in the future, &brandShortName; selects the certificate
without asking you by default. If you wish to manually choose a
certificate (for example, if you have multiple certificates stored for
multiple web sites), select the Ask me every time &pref.singular;
and you'll be in complete control of what certificates are being sent to
web sites while browsing.
View Certificates
Click this button to view stored certificates, import new certificates,
and back up or delete old certificates in &brandShortName;.
Revocation Lists
&brandShortName; can use Certificate Revocation Lists (also known as
CRLs) to ensure that your certificates are always valid. Click the
Revocation Lists button to manage the CRLs installed on your
computer.
Validation
&brandShortName; may ask an OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol)
server to confirm that a certificate is still valid. By default,
&brandShortName; validates a certificate if the certificate provides an
OCSP server. Alternately, you can choose an OCSP server against which to
validate all certificates. Click the Validation button to manage
these &pref.plural;. You will most likely only need to change this if your
Internet environment requires it.
Security Devices
Security devices can encrypt and decrypt connections and store
certificates and passwords. If you need to use a security device other
than the one in &brandShortName;, click the Security Devices
button.
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