Mozilla is soon to release a new version of the popular browser, Firefox 4, many add-ons will stop working. A big hurdle for people is switching to the new browser is that some plugins are not compatible with the new browser version. Luckily there are few workarounds to make old plugins work with Firefox 4

The first one is an extension called Add-on Compatibility Reporter After installing the Add-on Compatibility Reporter, your incompatible extensions will become enabled for you to test whether they still work with the version of Firefox or Thunderbird that you’re using. If you notice that one of your add-ons doesn’t seem to be working the same way it did in previous versions of the application, just open the Add-ons Manager and click Compatibility next to that add-on to send a report to Mozilla.

Another method is to simply add a new configuration to Firefox. Here is how its done:

In the address bar type: about:config
Right click on the setting page and select: New->Boolean
Type: extensions.checkCompatibility.4.0 and set the value to false

[Via: Free Website Builder]

As Mozilla released a new version of the popular open source browser, Firefox 3.6 many add-ons will stop working. Previous workarounds to enable extensions may not work. However there are two new workarounds that will make your favorite plugins work with the new version of Firefox.

The first one is an extension called Add-on Compatibility Reporter After installing the Add-on Compatibility Reporter, your incompatible extensions will become enabled for you to test whether they still work with the version of Firefox or Thunderbird that you’re using. If you notice that one of your add-ons doesn’t seem to be working the same way it did in previous versions of the application, just open the Add-ons Manager and click Compatibility next to that add-on to send a report to Mozilla.

Another method is to simply add a new configuration to Firefox. Here is how its done:

In the address bar type: about:config
Right click on the setting page and select: New->Boolean
Type: extensions.checkCompatibility.3.6 and set the value to false

Windows enthusiasts are excited over the discovery of a hidden “GodMode” feature that lets users access all of the operating system’s control panels from within a single folder.

Enabling God Mode is very simple all you need to do is to create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once that is done, the folder’s icon will change to resemble a control panel and will contain dozens of control options.

When you upgrade you version of Firefox some extension might stop working, however most of the times they will work fine with the new version of Firefox. There is an easy way to make Firefox stop checking for compatibility.


1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the address bar. Then click the button promising to be careful.

2. Right-click anywhere on the screen, choose: New > Boolean and name this boolean:

extensions.checkCompatibility

Press OK. Then set it to false and press OK again.

3. Now right-click again anywhere choose New > Boolean and make the name of this one:

extensions.checkUpdateSecurity

and set the value of that one to false.

When you run a server or even you own desktop you probably do not want to restart your machine during work hours, this especially concern servers which should run 24/7. However sometimes when you install a new program or after you run Windows Update you need to restart the machine in order to complete the installation. Fortunately you can schedule the time your machine restart by using Windows own task scheduler.

Here is how you do it:

• Go to Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Scheduled Tasks
• Double-click Add Scheduled Task
• Click Next and on the next screen click Browse
• Under %SystemRoot%\System32 folder, select the program called Shutdown.exe
• In the next screen choose the name and select One time only
• Click Next and fill in the time you want this shutdown (and restart) task to run
• Click Next and fill in your user name and password
• Click Nextand CHECK the box named: “Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish”
• Click Finish - Now the advance screen will appear
• This is very important step: In the Run box you need to add parameters to the command line in order for the system to restart. After shutdown.exe add the parameters -r -t 00 so you’ll end up with something like this in the Run box: C:\WINDOWS\System32\Shutdown.exe -r -t 00
• Click OK and you are done. (You may need to enter your user name and password again)

If you are a power user you probably know Windows XP power toy called “Open Command Prompt Here” which adds a context menu item to open a command prompt at the selected folder in the windows explorer.

In Windows Vista and also in Windows 7, you can simply hold the Shift key down while selecting the context menu (right click on a folder) to see this option. If the current working directory is a network location, it will automatically map a drive letter for you.

I’m experimenting with VirtualBox, and having Ubuntu 8.04 running on it I could not find an easy way to increase the screen resolution higher than 800X600.

Note: Although this guide was originally written for Ubuntu 8.04 it also works on Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu 9.04, Ubuntu 9.10

Luckily I found this great tip that shows how to configure the screen resolution in Ubunto 8.04 running as a virtual machine under VirtualBox.

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Start up your Ubuntu 8.04 guest. In VirtualBox, click Devices->Install Guest Additions and your virtual Ubuntu should recognize a new CD. Open a terminal and run this command:
sudo /media/cdrom/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

The installer should prompt you that it’s time to restart the virtual machine once it’s done. Just logging out and back in should work.

This is where things get sticky. For Ubuntu 8.04 guests, the VirtualBox video driver will not be enabled because of the minimalistic xorg.conf file.

Open your guest machine’s xorg.conf file:
gksu gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the device section, which should look like this:

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

And replace it with this to enable the VirtualBox driver:


Section "Device"
   Identifier   "Configured Video Device"
   Driver    "vboxvideo"
EndSection


Changing screen resolutions in Ubuntu 8.04 is done with RandR, which is not supported by VirtualBox. So you’ll also need to set a resolution manually. Find the screen section, which should look like this:


Section "Screen"
   Identifier    "Default Screen"
  Monitor    "Configured Monitor"
  Device    "Configured Video Device"
EndSection


And replace it with this, but change 1024×768 to your preferred resolution:


Section "Screen"
   Identifier    "Default Screen"
   Device    "VirtualBox graphics card"
   Monitor    "Generic Monitor"
   DefaultDepth    24
   SubSection "Display"
     Depth    24
     Modes      "1024x768"
   EndSubSection
EndSection


Save, exit the editor, and log out. You should now have a large virtual machine window, as well as mouse pointer integration.

Active Virus Shield is an AOL rebranded Kaspersky anti virus. Recently AOL stopped offering the anti virus and starting September people who installed AVS can not obtain signature updates since AOL do not post them on their servers.

Since AVS is basically a Kaspersky anti virus you can make a simple hack that will make AVS to update the signature files from Kaspersky servers instead of the AOL server, thus keeping your anti virus program updated with the latest virus signatures.

All you need to do is update your HOSTS file. Follow these steps:

• Open your file explorer and navigate to: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
• In the etc folder you’ll find a file named hosts. Edit this file in Notepad
• Add the following line to the bottom of the hosts file:
  127.0.0.1 download.newaol.com
• Save the hosts file and close Notepad
• Right click your Active Virus Shield tray icon and select Update in the menu

That is it. Now AVS will obtain the updates from Kaspersky server

Microsoft released an update via windows update which causes your windows to reboot after the update is installed. This causes lost of work to many users who did not plan to restart their computer. I just wanted to remind you about a way you can Disable Reboot After Windows Automatic Update

Windows Vista’s Backup and Restore tools are completely different from the Backup program that came with Windows XP and so the backup files are incompatible. What do you do if you need/want to restore a Windows XP backup in Windows Vista?

Fortunately, Microsoft took this scenario into account and provided a supplemental utility called the Windows NT Backup - Restore Utility that you can download and install in Vista. You can then use it to restore a backup made in Windows XP from within Windows Vista.

Before you actually install and run the Windows NT Backup - Restore Utility, you must enable the Removable Storage Management feature. (If you don’t, you may receive an NTSMAPI.DLL error.) To do so, access the Control Panel from the Start menu and click the Programs item. Once the Programs window appears, locate and select the Turn Windows Features On or Off command under the Programs and Features heading. When you do, you’ll encounter a User Account Control (UAC) dialog box and will need to respond accordingly.

When you see the Windows Features dialog box, locate and select the check box next to Removable Storage Management option to turn the feature on. Then, click OK. When you do, you’ll see a progress dialog box and it may take a minute or two to turn on the Removable Storage Management feature.

Once the Windows NT Backup - Restore Utility is installed, you can launch it from the Start menu. Oddly enough, Vista doesn’t recognize the utility at all and displays a UAC that calls it an unidentified program. To continue, just click the Allow button.

You’ll then see the main Windows NT Backup - Restore Utility. The Utility window contains two tabs allowing you to either use the Restore Wizard on the Welcome tab or to perform a manual restore operation on the Restore and Manage Media tab.

Source: techrepublic

When firefox gets updated some of the extensions gets disabled. The reason for that is that Firefox extensions need to define in what version of Firefox they work. But in many cases extensions authors don’t update their extension version, or it takes some time after a new version of Firefox is introduced until a new version of the extension is out.

Firefox by default disables extensions that do not match the version, although they can still work without problems.

The first thing that you can try is to use the Nightly Tester Tools extension.

This extension adds a few extras useful to those that regularly test nightly builds of Firefox and Thunderbird.

Features:

• Allows you to force the application to believe an extension is compatible with the current version and enable it.
• Allows copying the build identifier and a list of installed extensions to the clipboard.
• Adds a toolbar button to let you insert the build identifier into the current text box (Not supported in the Application Suite).
• Lets you customise the title bar to include the build identifier and other information.
• Provides talkback integration allowing you to quickly view recent incidents as well as a sidebar that shows all incidents still on your machine (you may be surprised at just how many there are).
• Adds a simple interface for parsing nspr log files for leaks.
• Lets you take a screenshot of any open window and save it as an image, copy it to the clipboard or submit it to Imageshack (not yet fully functional in cairo builds).

If this does not work you can try to tell Firefox which versions of extension to work with by changing the browser’s settings