When you start Firefox for the first time it will ask if you would like to import your Internet Explorer settings into Firefox. If you had Firefox installed previously it may not ask you to import settings or make it your default browser. If this is a new installation you will be presented with a screen similar to the one below:

Select the radio dial labeled Microsoft Internet Explorer and then press the Next button. It will then import the settings from Internet Explorer, such as Favorites, start page, etc into Firefox and then present you with the browser. If Firefox is not set as the default browser for Windows it will also show you a screen similar to the one below.

If you would like Firefox to be the default web browser that Windows knows about, select the Yes button. If you would like to keep Internet Explorer as the default then press No.

Firefox is now fully installed on your computer with your Internet Explorer settings imported. Read the next section to explore the screen layout of Firefox so you are more familiar with it.

Exploring Firefox


The interface of Firefox is very similar to Internet Explorer. For those who find it a bit confusing or would like to understand it a bit better, I have explained the different sections of the browser. Please see the figure and explanations below:


At the very top of the browser window will be the Title Bar. This will state the title of the current web page you are at as well as containing the Maximize, Minimize, and Close buttons.

Below that, designated by the red box, is the File menu. The file menu contains commands that will print the current page, exit the browser, change the options, and a myriad of other options. One of the most important functions that can be found in this menu bar, is the Bookmarks menu. This is where any web site you bookmark, or save its location for later viewing, will be able to be found.

The section designated by the blue box contains the buttons, address field, and search bar. The buttons from left to right are go back to the previous page, go forward to a previous page, refresh a page, stop the loading of a page, and go to your home page. To the right of the buttons is the address field that will allow you to manually type in a web address and have Firefox go to that page. The final field, to the right of the address field, is the search bar. This field allows you to type any keyword you want and Firefox will use the configured search engine to search for that keyword.

The section designated by the green box is the Bookmarks Toolbar. This toolbar contains those bookmarks that have been stored in a special bookmark folder called 'Bookmarks Toolbar folder'. By placing a bookmark in that folder, a button that corresponds to that bookmark will appear on the toolbar for easy access. Sites that you put on this toolbar should be sites that you frequent often or want easy access to.

The section designated by the yellow folder is the Tab bar. Any web pages that you open up inside a tab will appear on this bar.

The last section, and definitely the most important, is the large section, which we have trimmed, below the tab bar. This will contain the contents of the web page you are currently visiting.

Importing Internet Explorer settings into Firefox


Firefox comes with a built-in Internet Explorer settings importer for those who switch from IE. When you install Firefox it will attempt to transfer your Favorites, cookies, stored passwords and other settings. If in the future you would like to transfer these settings again to Firefox you can find the importer by clicking on the File menu and then click on the Import option. You will then be presented with a screen similar to the one below:


Firefox Internet Explorer Compatibility Mode


You should then make sure the radio button for Microsoft Internet Explorer is selected and press the Next button. You will then be presented with a screen similar to the one below:


Select the options that you would like imported into Firefox and press the Next button. You will then see a screen saying that the settings are being imported. When it is done you will see a screen similar to the figure below.


Firefox Explorer


You can then press the Finish button and now your settings have been imported into firefox. To see your imported favorites you should click on Bookmarks and then look for the Bookmark folder called From Internet Explorer. Inside that folder are your imported favorites.

Warnings and Caveats

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It is important to note that even though these browsers are excellent and in some ways superior to Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer is still the dominant web browser being used today. With this said there are many sites that have been created for the viewing by Internet Explorer and they may not look or function as intended when using other browsers. Therefore if you visit an site and have trouble using the resources of that site, you may want to switch back to Internet Explorer while using it. This is not as much of a problem as it used to be, but there are still plenty of sites out there that do not work correctly unless you are using Internet Explorer.

Another issue is that many of the popular toolbars that people use with Internet Explorer are not available for Mozilla based browsers. Though this is slowly starting to change, it may be some time before toolbars like the Yahoo Toolbar or the EBay toolbar are available for Mozilla. Currently there are many projects established create clones of these toolbars that work with Mozilla, some of which are even better than the originals. If not having these toolbars will not pose a problem, then be patient until they are available, otherwise continue to use Internet Explorer for these features.

Is it also important to note that the Microsoft Windows Update site, http://www.windowsupdate.com, does not work with any browser other than Internet Explorer based browsers. Due to this if you want to update your system, and not wait for them to be downloaded to your computer by Windows automatic update, then you should use Internet Explorer to connect to windows update in order to update your system.


Conclusion


Now that you know how easy it is to switch to another browser, there should not be anything holding you back. Explore and try out the alternative browsers and see if there is one out there that fits your personal style. There is nothing to worry or be concerned about. If you do not like the new browser, just simply switch back to Internet Explorer. In a follow up to this tutorial you can read about Enhancing Mozilla based browser with browser extension which will discuss using extensions provide additional functionality to your browser.
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Lawrence Abrams
Bleeping Computer Internet Applications Tutorial
BleepingComputer.com: Computer Support & Tutorials for the beginning computer user.
The Mozilla project was created in 1998 with the release of the Netscape browser suite source code. It was intended to harness the creative power of thousands of programmers on the internet and fuel unprecedented levels of innovation in the browser market. Within the first year, new community members from around the world had already contributed new functionality, enhanced existing features and became engaged in the management and planning of the project itself.
By creating an open community, the Mozilla project had become larger than any one company. Community members got involved and expanded the scope of the project’s original mission — instead of just working on Netscape’s next browser, people started creating a variety of browsers, development tools and a range of other projects. People contributed to Mozilla in different ways, but everyone was passionate about creating free software that would enable people to have a choice in how they experienced the internet.
After several years of development, Mozilla 1.0, the first major version, was released in 2002. This version featured many improvements to the browser, email client and other applications included in the suite, but not many people were using it. By 2002, well over 90% of internet users were browsing with Internet Explorer. Not many people noticed at the time, but the first version of Phoenix (later renamed to Firefox) was also released by Mozilla community members that year with the goal of providing the best possible browsing experience to the widest possible set of people.
In 2003, the Mozilla project created the Mozilla Foundation, an independent non-profit organization supported by individual donors and a variety of companies. The new Mozilla Foundation continued the role of managing the daily operations of the project and also officially took on the role of promoting openness, innovation and opportunity on the internet. It did this by continuing to release software, such as Firefox and Thunderbird, and expanding to new areas, such as providing grants to support accessibility improvements on the web.

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Firefox 1.0 was released in 2004 and became a big success — in less than a year, it was downloaded over 100 million times. New versions of Firefox have come out regularly since then and keep setting new records. The popularity of Firefox has helped bring choice back to users. The renewed competition has accelerated innovation and improved the internet for everyone.
In 2013, we launched Firefox OS to unleash the full power of the web on smartphones and once again offer control and choice to a new generation of people coming online.

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Mozilla also celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2013. The community has shown that commercial companies can benefit by collaborating in open source projects and that great end user products can be produced as open source software. More people than ever before are using the internet and are experiencing it in their own language. A sustainable organization has been created that uses market mechanisms to support a public benefit mission and this model has been reused by others to create open, transparent and collaborative organizations in a broad rangeof areas.

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The future is full of challenges and opportunities equal to those of our past. There’s no guarantee that the internet will remain open or enjoyable or safe. Mozilla will continue to provide an opportunity for people to make their voices heard and to shape their own online lives. Of course, we’re not alone in doing this. The Mozilla community, together with other open source projects and other public benefit organizations, exists only because of the people who are engaged in making our common goals a reality. If you want to join us in our mission, please get involved.
For more information about Mozilla’s history, see the following:

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