Extreme Messenger for AIM

Extreme Messenger is a program that makes AOL Instant Messenger easier, more powerful, and more fun! The first thing you'll notice is the enhanced organization of the IM and chat room windows. Every Instant Message and chat room has its own tab and label and are compiled into one feature-rich window, making your IMs and chat rooms more powerful and accessible.

You can also add colors to your chat and IM conversations with the built-in automatic fader! Other features such as automatic conversation logging and accessible options from the IM and chat window enhance the usability and power of AIM.

Extreme Messenger Features:

• Enhanced IMs & Chat Rooms - With Extreme Messenger, all your IMs and chat conversations are organized into one easy window with a multitude of features at your fingertips!
• Color Fade your IMs, Profile, and Away Messages - Extreme Messenger has a color fader so you can blend your text colors in your IMs, chat conversations, profile, and even away messages!
• Completely Customize your Buddy List - Extreme Messenger hides the annoying ads on the buddy list, and allows you to hide nearly every useless button on the AIM Buddy List for a clean uncluttered look!
• IM and Chat Logging - Automatically record your conversations with our logging features!
• Transparent Windows - Make your Buddy List, IMs, or chat a see-thru window!
• Away Message Scheduler- Schedule your Away messages to appear at any time, even when your away from your computer!
• AIM Profile Fading - Now you can add faded colors and colorized text to your personal AIM Profile!
• AIM Today Toolbar - Now AIM today is more useful than ever! Navigate to anywhere on the web using the AIM Today toolbar!
• News in your IM Window - With the click of a button you can have the latest late-breaking news right inside your IM window!
• Send Files Easier - Want to send a file to a friend? Simply drag and drop the file onto the IM tab and Extreme Messenger fills out the path for you!
• Save Buddy Email Addresses - Using the Buddy Notes feature, you can now save the email addresses of the people you talk to.
• Extensive Customization Options - Extreme Messenger comes packed with tons of customization options, so you can adjust it to your preferences.
• Buddy Nicknames - Assign Nicknames to your friends - A fun tool and an easy way to remember people online!

You Must Know Yahoo! Messenger

Yahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo! ID" which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when they receive new email. Yahoo! also offers PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service, file transfers, webcam hosting, text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories.

In addition to instant messaging features similar to those offered by ICQ, it also offers (on Microsoft Windows) features such as: IMVironments (customizing the look of Instant Message windows, some of which include authorized themes of famous cartoons such as Garfield or Dilbert), address-book integration and Custom Status Messages. It was also the first major IM client to feature BUZZing and music-status. Another recently added feature is customized avatars.

You Must Know IRC

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a vast network of clients (users) and servers and can be thought of as a mass text based teleconferencing system. The clients are connected to the servers, which are connected to each other in a kind of expanding tree like structure so that all points on the network are linked. Some of the servers don't have clients connected to them but act as hubs and routers for switching and relaying the data to other servers.

When you sent text to a channel on IRC, the message is sent to each server that has clients on the particular channel, and each server then relays the message to its clients. The message will only be sent to the servers that have clients on the particular channel, and only those clients on the channel will receive the message.

Thinking about the path that these messages have to take to get to all the servers and the fact that it must be relayed to all servers with clients on the channel and then to all clients on the channel, it is easy to understand why the concept of "lag" occurs. If one or more of these servers isn't doing the job of relaying properly, it can take considerable time for all clients to see the message. not to mention that there can be lag along the path the client is connected to the IRC server itself, as often there are many hops (routing servers) in the path to get to the IRC server from your ISP. Typically, your chat messages must pass through 10 or more hops just to get to the IRC server.

How to Upgrade Your Computer's RAM

To increase the random-access memory (RAM) of your computer, you must know the type of RAM it uses, how the RAM is presently configured and how many open RAM slots are available.

Instructions

1. Step 1

Check the owner's manual or motherboard manual to determine if RAM is parity or non-parity. The

website of the company you purchased the computer from usually will tell you what kind of memory

your computer needs as well.

2. Step 2

Find out the speed of RAM (for example, 60 nanoseconds).

3. Step 3

Determine whether the computer uses single in-line memory modules (SIMMs) or dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs).

4. Step 4

Find out whether the computer uses regular, FPM, EDO, or Synch DRAM.

5. Step 5

Determine the number of pins on the motherboard: 30, 72 or 168.

6. Step 6

Remove the cover from the machine to find the number of open RAM slots. Look for between two

and eight same-sized parallel sockets on the main circuit board. Usually at least two of those

sockets will contain RAM - ruler-shaped circuit boards with chips on one or both sides.

7. Step 7

Purchase additional RAM that matches existing memory specifications.

8. Step 8

The RAM can also get it installed

Article source: http://www.ehow.com/

Twitter, Facebook May Pose Security Risk for Users

Israel Hyman runs an online video business from his home in Arizona. While he and his wife were on a recent vacation, they posted regular updates about their travels and itinerary on Twitter - and anyone that cared to pay attention would know that they were not at home for a long period of time. Hyman returned home to find that his home had been robbed and that the burglars were quite selective in what they stole. They took primarily his work-related equipment, not the typical consumer electronics that most people have stolen from their homes.

"My wife thinks it could be a random thing, but I just have my suspicions," he said. "They didn't take any of our normal consumer electronics." Now that his video equipment has been stolen, Hyman has started to question the wisdom of posting such detailed information about his family's whereabouts online.

In much the same way that people don't leave voice messages saying that they're out of town for 3 weeks or that they continue to have their mail collected while away, posting detailed information online may pose some risks.

Most people use Twitter and Facebook to communicate with friends, both old and new, and to stay abreast of the minutiae in their friends lives. So it's not typical that too many strangers are lurking, looking for information that could be used for malicious purposes. But there are also many people that use both Twitter and Facebook - and other services - to grow vast personal and professional contacts. These are the people who may be at much greater risk, as they may present more attractive targets for people willing to rob and steal.

Article source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/twitter-facebook-may-pose-security-risk-for-users.html

Ping Spam - Free Blogging Advice Tips

Free blogging tips about checking if ping service has not blocked your blog or blogs for ping spam. Learn how to make sure that you get the most from your blogging for money, profit or hobby.

Pinging can make true wonders when running a blog. However, when blogging for money or hobby, most of the bloggers don't know that they are playing with fire and can be called ping spammers.

Every time you click 'Save and Continue Editing' button, or edit the previously published post and click 'Save' - you are sending a ping. And now imagine that when working with a new post you click 'Save and Continue Editing' 10-15 times; this is not much when you are working with a long post, do many changes in fonts and colors, etc. But for the ping services it means you pinged them 10-15 times. An attempt for ping spam? Who knows: each of the ping services can have its own inner policies about what ping exactly to start thinking that your blog is a ping spammer. But this is definitely the game not a single blogger would like to play.

Because it can result in a ping service to simply block your blog and stop taking the new post feeds from it. We can talk a lot about if this is fair or not, but ping services are definitely not interested to re-digest one and the same content (or almost the same content) all the time!

NB: This ping spam issue is peculiar to WordPress blogs, however other blog platforms seem to have most of the problems with ping spam unsolved as well.

Ok, How to Check If My Blog Crossed the Line?

Ping services don't say when exactly they are sure you are ping spammer, but these 2 signs can be very useful for you.

#1. Check the online accounts of your blog in ping services.

Some ping services, like Technorati, have a very useful feature of running "account" for each of the blogs on their server. When you know the URL to this account, you can check the account of your blog and see how quickly the ping service is gulping your new posts from this blog.

For example, if previously this service has been catching the fresh posts from your blog every 24 hours and was publishing their digest on the server, and now got stuck for 3-4 days - this is a possible sign of the blog getting ping spam penalty. It's crucial to note that this is a POSSIBLE sign, because there are some factors that can also explain this sudden "gap in love" from a ping service.

#2. Check your ping list service messages.

If you are reading your ping messages (that say "pined successfully" or other tech messages), this information is another proof factor for you. The strategy is the same: if after no problems for a long time with a ping service all of a sudden you start getting messages that say that you have not been pinged successfully and no other traits of the problem (like a message saying that you have incompatible format of the ping signal or anything else) - this is another possible sign of the ping spam penalty.

These two simple blogging tips will help you to catch the problem on the early stage of its development. But if you want to prevent it, then you need either don't click 'Save and Continue Editing' at all (which is possible) or look for the special ping spam protecting solutions on the market.

Author: Nickolay Bokhonok

Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ping-spam-free-blogging-advice-tips.html

4 Ways to Protect Your Email From Spammers

Anyone who has an email address has likely experienced some form of spam at least once. However, it’s safe to say that the average emailer probably receives dozens of these junky messages everyday in their various accounts. It can be very frustrating to have your inbox inundated with chain letters, jokes, medication offers, lottery winnings, etc. If you are fed up with this garbage junking up your accounts, there are things you can do to protect them.

The following are 4 ways you can help prevent spammers from invading your emails with their trash.

1 - Don’t post your electronic mail address on the web unnecessarily – Avoid using your digital address as a username for any website, forum, social network, etc. Emails that are used in this way are easily scraped from the net and harvested by spammers.

2 - Check out the privacy policy before you enter a sweepstakes, mailing list or any other website - When you are required to give your email-address to enter into a contest, create an account and so on, be sure to read the site’s privacy policy before you commit to anything. Sites that have unclear terms, are lacking a policy, you have an uneasy feeling about or who say that your data may be resold, should be avoided. You only want to deal with those that clearly state they will not rent, sell or give away your personal info to third parties.

3 - Don’t respond to spammy messages – Any time you receive SPAM never respond to it, click links in the message or download any attachments. Not only can you subject your computer to viruses but you can also make the mistake of letting the nefarious sender know that your web-mail is active, which means lots more bulk mail will be on its way.

4 - Use the different security features offered by your webmail provider – Most providers allow you to mark messages as junk, by doing this, anything else sent from the same account will be automatically placed in your bulk message folder.

Last but not least, you should keep in mind that when you come across spam-messages you can run a reverse email search on the senders e-address to find out more about them and report them to their Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/4ways-to-protect-your-email-from-spammers.html

How to Back Up a Hard Drive

It's important to back up your critical files on at least a weekly basis. The following explains how to install and run Microsoft's built-in Backup utility in Windows XP.

Instructions

Things you’ll need:

• CD-R Discs
• CD-RW Burners
• CD-RW Discs
• Blank DVD Discs
• Hard Disks
• Microsoft Windows XP

Step 1

Insert your Windows XP CD into the drive and double click it when it pops up on your desktop.

Step 2

In Windows Explorer; double-click the Value Add folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup.

Step 3

Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.

Step 4

Click Backup to run Microsoft's Backup program.

How to Run the Backup Utility

Step 1

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup to start the wizard.

Step 2

Click “Next” to skip past the opening page, choose Back up files and settings from the second page, and then click Next.

Step 3

Decide whether you want to back up everything or just certain things.

Step 4

Decide where you want the backups saved to.

Step 5

Set a schedule for regular backups.

Source http://www.ehow.com/how_2459_back-up-hard-drive.html

Windows Defender

Windows Defender is a Microsoft security software product that is included in the Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating system. It is also available as an option download for the Windows XP system. The program is a anti-spyware program that can scan a computer system for malicious software and delete or quarantine the findings.

Windows Defender comes with the usual options to automatically update the program and schedule regular system scans to protect the computer system. Default actions for low, medium and high alerts can be defined that will be executed by the anti-spyware program automatically.

Microsoft’s anti-spyware solution comes with the interesting advanced tool Software Explorer which can display extensive information about startup programs, currently running programs, network connected programs and Winsock service providers.

Each program and provider is sorted by company which makes it easier to find non-Microsoft programs that are running or connected to the computer system.

Microsoft has improved Windows Defender over the years. The company did receive lots of criticism in the beginning which can be attributed to a low spyware detection rate. Several anti-spyware products have performed better in tests.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/29/windows-defender/

Free Spyware Removal Tools

There are hundreds if not thousands of free spyware removal tools for the Windows operating system. The choice ranges from to popular spyware removal tools such as Windows Defender, Spybot Search and Destroy or Spyware Terminator to lesser known anti spyware software programs and even so called rogue applications that look like spyware removal tools but are in fact malicious in nature.

This article will concentrate on two lesser known free spyware removal tools. The first program is called Roguefix. It has been designed to counter so called rogue applications. The tool has been specifically designed to remove rogue scanners, desktop and homepage hijackers, trojans, codecs and miscellaneous malware.

Roguefix comes as a simple batch file that has to be executed in Windows safe mode.

The tool will then scan the operating system for spyware and remove detected spyware automatically from the computer system. The free spyware cleaner is only compatible to the Windows XP operating system according to the software developer.

SmitfraudFix on the other hand can scan a Windows XP or Windows 2000 operating system directly. The user needs to boot into safe mode for the removal process though. The program will generate a report after the scan which will list all the malicious files found after the spyware scan.

Both tools have been designed to detect and remove rogue applications only which does limit their usefulness in day to day spyware scans. It is however a good idea to have them at hand in case the computer system gets infected by rogue spyware.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/02/free-spyware-removal-tools/

Network IP Addresses

To keep all of these machines straight, each machine on the Internet is assigned a unique address called an IP address. IP stands for Internet protocol, and these addresses are 32-bit numbers, normally expressed as four "octets" in a "dotted decimal number." A typical IP address looks like this:

          216.27.61.137

The four numbers in an IP address are called octets because they can have values between 0 and 255, which is 2⁸ possibilities per octet.

Every machine on the Internet has a unique IP address. A server has a static IP address that does not change very often. A home machine that is dialing up through a modem often has an IP address that is assigned by the ISP when the machine dials in. That IP address is unique for that session -- it may be different the next time the machine dials in. This way, an ISP only needs one IP address for each modem it supports, rather than for each customer.

If you are working on a Windows machine, you can view a lot of the Internet information for your machine, including your current IP address and hostname, with the command WINIPCFG.EXE (IPCONFIG.EXE for Windows 2000/XP). On a UNIX machine, type nslookup at the command prompt, along with a machine name, like www.howstuffworks.com -- e.g. "nslookup www.howstuffworks.com" -- to display the IP address of the machine, and you can use the command hostname to learn the name of your machine. (For more information on IP addresses, see IANA.)

As far as the Internet's machines are concerned, an IP address is all you need to talk to a server. For example, in your browser, you can type the URL http://209.116.69.66 and arrive at the machine that contains the Web server for HowStuffWorks. On some servers, the IP address alone is not sufficient, but on most large servers it is

Article source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-server5.htm

Clients and Servers

In general, all of the machines on the Internet can be categorized as two types: servers and clients. Those machines that provide services (like Web servers or FTP servers) to other machines are servers. And the machines that are used to connect to those services are clients. When you connect to Yahoo! at www.yahoo.com to read a page, Yahoo! is providing a machine (probably a cluster of very large machines), for use on the Internet, to service your request. Yahoo! is providing a server. Your machine, on the other hand, is probably providing no services to anyone else on the Internet. Therefore, it is a user machine, also known as a client. It is possible and common for a machine to be both a server and a client, but for our purposes here you can think of most machines as one or the other.

A server machine may provide one or more services on the Internet. For example, a server machine might have software running on it that allows it to act as a Web server, an e-mail server and an FTP server. Clients that come to a server machine do so with a specific intent, so clients direct their requests to a specific software server running on the overall server machine. For example, if you are running a Web browser on your machine, it will most likely want to talk to the Web server on the server machine. Your Telnet application will want to talk to the Telnet server, your e-mail application will talk to the e-mail server, and so on...

Source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-server4.htm

Free Download Ahead DVD Ripper v3.4.5

Ahead DVD Ripper v3.4.5 | (2.35 MB)

Ahead DVD Ripper is a small tool that allow you backup DVD to VCD2.0, SVCD1.0 or AVI (divx...). It produces good quality movies in AVI, MPEG1/2 format that take nearly only 1/10 of original size. Ahead DVD Ripper supports chapter encode mode so you can split or rip DVD by chapters in one or several MPG/AVI files. You can also split the movie by time.

After setting the start and stop time position, it will start and stop conversion between the times that you want. Ahead DVD ripper also allow splitting movie by size, the output files will automatically split and fit the destination size. Ahead DVD Ripper has been designed especially for inexperienced users; it is a simple and easy program. In the step by step mode, you will really find it just takes three steps clicks to accomplish the entire job. Special free VCD, SVCD Burner for registered user to back the file to CD/R Disc.
http://anonymz.com/?http://rapidshare.com/files/261155084/Ahead_DVD_Ripper_v3.4.5_www.softarchive.net.rar

Article source: http://www.idonbiu.com/2009/07/free-download-ahead-dvd-ripper-v345.html

Windows 2000 Registry Cleaner

As of 1995, every Microsoft Windows operating system has a registry, and without a doubt your system's registry is certainly one of the most important components on your PC. Information such as your computer setup and configuration are stored by your registry.

Unfortunately, the registry can develop problems that will cause your computer to work against you. Things such as redundant files and broken links over time will cause your Windows 2000 registry to have errors and system crashes. The reason why these bad files and links build up over time is because your registry will sometimes keep files or programs you deleted from your computer and won't remove it. As a result, your computer system will begin to perform sluggish and will eventually cause severe system complications, system crashes, and malfunctions.

Before your registry gets filled with all these invalid data and errors, you must run a reliable Windows 2000 registry cleaner on a regular basis. Fixing registry errors and keeping your registry up to date at regular intervals will allow your system to run a lot faster, as well as run error free. In order to accomplish this, you need a registry cleaner that matches the Window version you are using. So, if you are using a Windows 2000 operating system, you need a Windows 2000 registry cleaner to keep the registry of your PC free from errors.

The way the registry cleaner removes these invalid entries and allows your computer to run smoothly is by scanning your registry and finding incorrect or obsolete information. Also, most registry cleaners come with a back up function that will let you back up your whole system so you can restore your registry to it's original status, just in case you encounter some sort of system failure.

It is important to seek out a registry cleaner that provides you with safe and simple registry fix. A good registry cleaner should display and mark items safe to remove. Your registry cleaner should also provide you with a back up just in case something goes wrong after deletion; you can easily and quickly restore the removed files

Click Here and take a closer look at what causes these problems, in your registry and the best registry cleaner that will fix your PC errors and Speed up your PC within minutes.

Article source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Bill_Castle

Optimize Windows 7/Vista with the Ultimate Windows Tweaker

For users of Windows 7 or Windows Vista and want to change the settings-settings that are hidden can use the Ultimate Windows Tweaker. Free portable tools and this works for tweaking and optimization, so the operating system to create faster, more secure and stable with just a few clicks.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker will automatically detect if Windows is used by Windows Vista / Windows 7, so that the options that appear automatically adjusted. What are the features of this program?

System Information:

- Displays operating system information, version + build no, rating system, processor, RAM, and other description of the computer.

Personalization

- Windows Explorer, various options related to the display / menu in the Windows Explorer.

- Customize Start Menu, such as hide some menu items and more.

- Disable Taskbar Appearance as Aero peek preview, lock taskbar, disable windows preview (thumbnails), and eliminate some other icon.

UAC & User Accounts

- Change some of the menu in the Welcome Screen

- Change the text effect in Welcome Screen, the background

- Some settings in the User Account Control

System Performance

- Changing Tool tip display the actual value in milliseconds

- Repairing "Action Menu"

- Tweak to the system performance, such as auto responding non-end applications, automatically restart the shell, Unload DLL from memory, and other.

- Optimization services, such as Disable Super fetch service, Windows Security Center, Windows Time service, printer spooling, Tablet PC, Windows Update and Windows Aero user interface.

Security Settings

- Administrative Restriction, such as disable Registry editor, command prompt, Task manager, MMC snap-ins, Win Key Control, System Restore, color conversion and display, control panel, and other auto play.

- Windows Explorer Restriction: Disable folder options, the security tab, and burn the CD features the contact menu default explorer.

- Windows Application Restriction, such as disable the Windows media center, sound recorder, Windows Defender, Sidebar, and the windows error reporting Mobility center.

- Windows Update Settings

Network Tweaks

- Various tweak on the network

- Optimally bandwidth

Internet Explorer

- Reset IE to default settings (default)

- General, such as change window, download directory and other

- Many of the settings in the advanced tab and configuration

Additional Tweaks

- Displays a context menu for the drive and folder and file folder also.

- Various other tweak, such as disable Hibernation, windows startup sound, page file, encryption and other.

Article source: http://ebsoft.web.id/2009/07/17/optimasi-windows-7-vista-dengan-ultimate-windows-tweaker/

Firefox Problems and Concerns

Does Firefox mean anything more than another option for users fed up with what they perceive as slow development and rampant security problems with Internet Explorer? It might. As Firefox grows in popularity, Microsoft feels more pressure to compete with added features of its own. In a move that industry analysts attribute to Firefox's success (but Microsoft attributes to IE6 security risks), Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7 separately from the newest version of the Windows operating system, Windows Vista.

Now that Firefox has a healthy share of the browser market, it will start getting a lot more attention and not all of it welcome. The efforts of hackers focusing on the upstart browser could cause security problems. The result might be an ongoing, ever-escalating arms race as programmers race to patch security holes and hackers find new ones -- much like the current situation with Internet Explorer. Higher usage rates will also remove one of the benefits of using Firefox that appeals to many users -- it's something different.

The fact that Firefox is based on open source code also has implications. Not only is the program free to download and use, but the code is also freely available -- to look at, develop independently and release in an altered form. It's likely that some developers will grow dissatisfied with the direction of Firefox and splinter off to form their own version. Already, there are alternate builds of Firefox available, though they lack the stability of the official release.

Another possible problem with Firefox is its ability to block advertisements on Web sites. Although some ads are obtrusive and annoying, they also pay for the huge amount of information available on many sites (like this one). If people can quickly and easily avoid seeing those ads, Web sites will have to find a new business model for providing content while turning a profit.

One survey indicates that Firefox users are less likely to click on Web ads than users of other browsers, but this seems to be more an indication of greater Internet savvy than of ad-blocking [source: Marson]. One solution to the problem: Advertisers need to create better ads, ones that aren't malicious or deceptive. Ads that mimic Windows error messages or system dialogue boxes are universally hated, while flashing, blinking and scrolling ads are distracting for almost everyone.

The problem may not be as serious as some think. Removing all banner ads on Web pages doesn't come built into Firefox -- users have to install an extension. If Firefox's market share grows, it will reach more users who are less technically inclined -- users who are less likely to seek out and install extensions.

Article source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/firefox7.htm

Firefox Security

Firefox simply handles security differently than Internet Explorer. Where Internet Explorer uses security zones, which can sometimes be confused by malicious software, Firefox does not rely on zones. Also, Firefox doesn't use digital signatures, which are verifications programmers can purchase. If you try to install software on your computer, Internet Explorer checks to see if the digital signature matches the actual vendor of the program. Peter Torr, a program manager at Microsoft, pointed this out as a serious flaw in Firefox's security. However, a digital signature doesn't guarantee safe software, either. It just means that someone paid for the signature, and there have been cases of fraudulent signatures being issued.

Another security issue involves ActiveX controls. ActiveX is built into Internet Explorer and allows certain Web sites to automatically download scripts or execute small applications. While the absence of ActiveX in Firefox does mean that some sites will not be viewable, it also closes many security holes; in this case, Firefox chooses security over functionality.

Another aspect of Firefox vs. Internet Explorer security is the fact that Firefox is an open source program. This means that anyone can access the code in which the program is written. That might sound like a bad idea, because you're giving potential hackers access to the code; but in fact, the opposite is true. There are far more people who want to close security holes than there are hackers who want to exploit them. Having thousands of people looking over your code and helping to spot problems means that most security flaws will get fixed very quickly. In fact, the developers of Firefox even offered a "bounty" of $500 and a t-shirt to anyone who successfully spotted a bug in the program.

Article source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/firefox5.htm

Firefox Features

Firefox comes with a few useful features that set it apart from earlier versions of Internet Explorer -- so useful, in fact, that Microsoft included a lot of them in Internet Explorer 7 (released in October 2006). One of the most noticeable is tabbed browsing. If you're browsing in Internet Explorer 6, and you want to visit a new Web site while keeping your current one open, you have to open a completely new browser window. Intensive Web surfing can result in browser windows cluttering up your taskbar and dragging on system resources. Firefox solves that by allowing sites to open in separate tabs within the same browser window. Instead of switching between browser windows, a user can change between two or more different sites by clicking on the tabs that appear just below the toolbar in Firefox.

Firefox features "tabbed browsing."

You can open a new, blank tab from a menu or by clicking on the "New Tab" button that you can add to the toolbar.

Firefox also has a built-in pop-up blocker. This prevents annoying ads from popping up in front of the browser window. You can configure it to let you know when pop-ups are blocked and to allow certain pop-ups from certain sites. This lets you enable pop-ups that are useful windows as opposed to unwanted ads.

One feature of Firefox that's vital to some users is that it is a cross-platform application. That means that Firefox works under several different operating systems, not just Windows. For now, all versions of Windows after Windows 98 are supported, along with recent versions of Mac OS X and Linux.

There's another notable Firefox feature that might be the coolest. It's like when someone asks you what you'd wish for if you could only have one wish, and you say, "I'd wish for unlimited wishes." Firefox extensions mean the browser has an almost unlimited number of features, with new ones being created every day. Still, the program remains fairly small, because users only add the extensions they want to use.

Firefox features include tabbed browsing, a built-in pop-up blocker, cross-platform capabilities and security advantages.

Junior high school students probably don't need stock market tickers, while people doing serious research don't necessarily need an MP3 player built into their browsers. If there's a feature from another browser that you really like, chances are someone has made an extension so that it can be included in Firefox.

Article Source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/firefox3.htm