Category: Software

Late last week Mozilla dropped the latest version of their fantastic browser Firefox. With the beating that Internet Explorer has taken in the past couple of weeks over that whole China/Google war; if you haven't made the switch, you really should now. With an updated javascript engine, Firefox runs better and loads websites faster than before. For example, Gmail and Hotmail users will notice a difference for sure.

One of the more interesting features of 3.6 is the ability to skin your browser via Personas. Firefox has a huge (and by huge, we really mean massive) collection free skins to make your browser more interesting to look at. If you can’t find one you like you have a problem because there are 36,000 to choose from.

Over the weekend, I poked through the gallery and pulled out a few that I liked. I will admit that with 36,000 skins it’s hard to really scratch the surface and the vast majority were really, really ugly. Here are a few outdoor themed skins that I liked:

If you are new to the Firefox world take advantage of their free add-ons. It’s what really sets Firefox apart from anything Microsoft has put out. These are the few non-nerdy add-ons are installed on all my machines at home:

Ad Block Plus - Fantastic ad blocker.
Better Gmail 2 - Great little tweaks for gmail interface.
Echofon - Nice little twitter add-on
FireGestures - Control your browser with your mouse. Trust me, you won’t be able to live without it

There are a few more and I can post if people are interested but it’s time to get back in the water and go paddling now.