Computer Hope

Software => Internet browsers => Topic started by: Allan on March 22, 2011, 05:55:37 AM

Title: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on March 22, 2011, 05:55:37 AM
The final version of Mozilla Firefox 4 has been released and is available for download Here. (http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/4.0/win32/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%204.0.exe)
 
  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/29wood/Capture-9.png)              
Title: Firerfox 4.0 goes gold
Post by: 2x3i5x on March 22, 2011, 02:56:20 PM
Firefox 4 RTM (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/) has  been released.

Mozilla's Firefox 4 Bags a Million Downloads in 3 Hours (http://www.pcworld.com/article/222835/Mozilla_s_Firefox_4_bags_1M_downloads_in_3_hours.html#tk.rss_news)
Title: Re: Firerfox 4.0 goes gold
Post by: BC_Programmer on March 22, 2011, 03:16:29 PM
Is firerfox anything like Firefox? :P

Allan already posted this: http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,117472.0.html

Title: Re: Firerfox 4.0 goes gold
Post by: 2x3i5x on March 22, 2011, 03:34:10 PM
Is firerfox anything like Firefox? :P

Allan already posted this: http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,117472.0.html

Please merge this into the topic Allan already posted. Thank you.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: lectrocrew on March 23, 2011, 09:57:20 PM
I like it so far. It will take a few hours to get use to the new navigation bar arrangement but I've had no negative browsing issues, yet.
I did need to enable the menu bar, which I'm fairly sure was already enabled upon install (default) with the previous versions I've been using.
 It's still an X86 browser, and I run Vista X64, but I've had no issues in the past years running FF on either of my X64 PC's.
 :) So far...
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: lectrocrew on March 23, 2011, 11:52:18 PM
I'm going out on 1 limb further. I just installed Mozilla Minefield 4.0b9pre.
I'll post here if I see any issues with either browser. 
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: 2x3i5x on March 24, 2011, 12:05:40 AM
I'm going out on 1 limb further. I just installed Mozilla Minefield 4.0b9pre.
I'll post here if I see any issues with either browser.

Why install Mozilla Minefield 4.0b9pre? Isn't FF 4.0 the final version and the minefield you installed a older beta version?
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: lectrocrew on March 24, 2011, 12:10:47 AM
I can use either. I'm testing both. So far Minefield is not happy with me or vise-versa. MF results = Adobe Flash Player
Flash Player 10.1 is not currently available for your 64-bit web browser.  :(
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: lectrocrew on March 24, 2011, 12:19:22 AM
Why install Mozilla Minefield 4.0b9pre? Isn't FF 4.0 the final version and the minefield you installed a older beta version?
& yes. But minefield is x64 browser.
Why does Mozilla state "Final Version"? One thing I've seen in computer technology more than anything else is that 'nothing' is final, other than yesterdays hardware/software... new version available tomorrow.  ???
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: BC_Programmer on March 24, 2011, 01:32:39 AM
& yes. But minefield is x64 browser.
Minefield is actually the name for the Trunk Builds of Firefox. They will always be newer then any "released" version. Also, that is the reason it is the only 64-bit version, since they haven't "released" the 64-bit builds.

In any case, that is generally why it doesn't work with flash. Although it works fine with Flash on my laptop (Linux Mint 9, Minefield 4.0b13pre (2011-03-22)) and it's 64-bit, to my understanding (I don't know how to check)

Quote
Why does Mozilla state "Final Version"?
They don't, to my understanding.


Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on March 24, 2011, 02:36:56 PM
Well, I've been using FF4 for the past couple of days on two systems and am switching back to FF3. Too many things don't work as I like them (Google Toolbar doesn't work properly, text boxes don't retain history when clicked on, main forum pages of other sites don't retain topic highlighting when returning to the main topic page, etc). I'll keep both versions installed though and wait for updates to see what happens in the future.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on March 24, 2011, 02:45:03 PM
it's 64-bit, to my understanding (I don't know how to check)

Does about:buildconfig tell you anything?
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: lectrocrew on March 24, 2011, 03:03:01 PM
In any case, that is generally why it doesn't work with flash. Although it works fine with Flash on my laptop (Linux Mint 9, Minefield 4.0b13pre (2011-03-22)) and it's 64-bit, to my understanding (I don't know how to check)
They don't, to my understanding.
Thanks BC, I have flashplayer working now. I installed Minefeild 4.2a1pre (2011-03-24) and Shockwave Flash Plugin 10.3d162. (my OS is Vista Business x64)


Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: BC_Programmer on March 24, 2011, 04:11:53 PM
Does about:buildconfig tell you anything?

Thanks for that:

target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu; look like it is 64-bit.

I didn't think there were 64-bit Flash plugins yet... I must have missed something.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on March 24, 2011, 04:55:06 PM
I didn't think there were 64-bit Flash plugins yet... I must have missed something.

There's been "Square" since last September, is that relevant? Or am I way off beam?

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/09/16/0340226/Adobe-Releases-New-64-Bit-Flash-Plugin-For-Linux


Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on March 24, 2011, 05:25:46 PM
Well, I've been using FF4 for the past couple of days on two systems and am switching back to FF3. Too many things don't work as I like them (Google Toolbar doesn't work properly, text boxes don't retain history when clicked on, main forum pages of other sites don't retain topic highlighting when returning to the main topic page, etc)...
Uninstall and reinstall fixed it for me for 1 day, now it's back to not working properly.  Still trying to get used to tabs above instead of below.  It does seem to operate noticeably faster.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: reddevilggg on March 24, 2011, 05:33:54 PM

Been using it since Allan posted it, no problems !!
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on March 24, 2011, 05:37:30 PM
Found this, but no solution, yet.
http://support.mozilla.com/my/questions/796021
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: lectrocrew on March 24, 2011, 05:58:38 PM
There's been "Square" since last September, is that relevant? Or am I way off beam?
Square is correct. Information and link on this Adobe page (http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/000/6b3af6c9.html).
When installed my version shows up in 'Add On Manager' as "Shockwave Flash 10.3.162.28".
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on March 25, 2011, 05:30:48 AM
Uninstall and reinstall fixed it for me for 1 day, now it's back to not working properly.  Still trying to get used to tabs above instead of below.  It does seem to operate noticeably faster.
You can easily put the tabs below the menu bar if you like.

Found this, but no solution, yet.
http://support.mozilla.com/my/questions/796021
Yep, thanks.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: moro on March 25, 2011, 06:42:22 AM
Some things do not work with FF4
(http://www.ask-pcup.com/uploads/1301137498.png)
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: patio on March 25, 2011, 07:02:35 AM
The plugins are always behind the developer builds...
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: reddevilggg on March 25, 2011, 07:33:48 AM
The plugins are always behind the developer builds...

I thought that would be obvious..........more crazy talk?!?
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on March 25, 2011, 02:39:46 PM
pdf viewing within the browser no longer works.  Too many bugs in this version, I've reverted back to v3.6.16
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on March 25, 2011, 02:56:27 PM
pdf viewing within the browser no longer works.

I didn't know that...

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/Firefox4-PDF.jpg)
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: reddevilggg on March 25, 2011, 02:57:44 PM

pdf viewing within the browser no longer works.  Too many bugs in this version, I've reverted back to v3.6.16

Works for me too!
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on March 25, 2011, 03:00:40 PM
Maybe no problem for Win7?  WinXP didn't work.
See 1st review dated yesterday:  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pdf-download/
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on March 25, 2011, 03:21:59 PM
Quote from: Computer Commando
Maybe no problem for Win7?  WinXP didn't work.

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/xp-Firefox4-PDF.jpg)
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on March 25, 2011, 03:24:47 PM
In both WinXP and W7 I am using Firefox 4 and also Adobe Reader X

http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/10.x/10.0.1/en_US/AdbeRdr1001_en_US.exe
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: lectrocrew on March 25, 2011, 03:59:10 PM
You can easily put the tabs below the menu bar if you like.
Thanks, I did that. But I'd also like the 'Home' button in the navigation bar back on the left side like it was with previous versions. Can that be done?
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on March 25, 2011, 04:02:39 PM
Of course. Right click on the bar, customize, move the icons wherever you like.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: lectrocrew on March 25, 2011, 04:35:43 PM
Of course. Right click on the bar, customize, move the icons wherever you like.
Cool!, That's better. Thanks Allan.  :)
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on March 25, 2011, 04:36:37 PM
Sure, no problem.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on March 25, 2011, 05:20:19 PM
Thanks, I did that. But I'd also like the 'Home' button in the navigation bar back on the left side like it was with previous versions. Can that be done?

This is one of the first things I did. Right click the tool bar, select "Customise...", and the "Customise Toolbar" box appears. It's full of little icons representing toolbar elements. Now you can drag toolbar elements (including the Home button) into and out of the box, but you can also drag them to other locations on the toolbar. It actually spells "Customise" the British way with an 's', I don't know if that's because of my Windows locale settings or whether it's standard for all English language versions.

Another thing I missed was the drop down history arrow on the back and forward buttons. You can get the same menus to appear by either right clicking the buttons or by a left click and hold, but if you hanker after the old dropdown arrow there is an addon called Backward Forward History Dropdown which I got here http://kuix.de/mozilla/backforedrop/

Yet another thing I did (which some people might think was retrograde) was to install Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4, available here http://ffaddons.game-point.net/ff3ff4/

Quote
This theme restores the look of Firefox 3 to the Firefox 4 interface. In Firefox 4, the default GUI has been changed dramatically to favour a 'minimalist' UI. Even if one restores large icons, the theme on Windows forcibly resizes the icons so that they stay small. The default icon glyphs provided with the Firefox 4 theme are also rather dull and lifeless, with all the colour sucked out of them.

I agree with some of this - I like small icons but I do find the default FF4 theme a bit lifeless.

Quote
With this theme installed and the Firefox 3 look and feel restored, you will once again be able to display large toolbar icons at their correct size. The default icons have also been restored to their Firefox 3 equivalents. The rest of the Firefox 4 interface by and large stays the same, as it's not as dull and minimalistic as the toolbar. For example, the icons for categories along the top of the 'Options' dialog have not been changed.

Finally I checked "Menu Bar" in View - Toolbars.


Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Broni on March 25, 2011, 08:09:11 PM
Been using beta versions on my laptop, upgraded from 3.6 to 4.0 on a very first day.
Zero problems.

As for add-ons not working, see here how to fix it: http://www.smartestcomputing.us.com/topic/40828-how-to-bypass-firefox-40-betas-incompatible-add-on-error-and-install-extensions-anyway/page__p__150811__hl__firefox__fromsearch__1#entry150811
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Accessless on April 18, 2011, 06:18:36 PM
Did anyone else have problems with temporary freezes? Every now and then I would open a new tab or 12 and firefox would appear to freeze temporarily (only firefox, everything else worked fine during freezes). Also I lost a significant amount of performance, I mean back to firefox 1 style.

I've been looking at Japanese lately and I think that I can translate this statement from Mozilla:

"We’re always looking for ways to make your browsing easier and more efficient." = We are idiots and have ruined the interface to create a more stressful browsing experience.

I know as with everything in firefox layout is customisable, but I had problems with the Menu bar... If I wanted it I had to turn it on every time I started firefox. It got old... fast.


So all in all Firefox 4 gets a thumbs down from me. Back to 3.6. Hoping for better luck in the future.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: mar.and65 on April 25, 2011, 10:56:25 PM
Did anyone else have problems with temporary freezes? Every now and then I would open a new tab or 12 and firefox would appear to freeze temporarily (only firefox, everything else worked fine during freezes). Also I lost a significant amount of performance, I mean back to firefox 1 style.

I've been looking at Japanese lately and I think that I can translate this statement from Mozilla:

"We’re always looking for ways to make your browsing easier and more efficient." = We are idiots and have ruined the interface to create a more stressful browsing experience.

I know as with everything in firefox layout is customisable, but I had problems with the Menu bar... If I wanted it I had to turn it on every time I started firefox. It got old... fast.


So all in all Firefox 4 gets a thumbs down from me. Back to 3.6. Hoping for better luck in the future.

I got the freezing problem few times right after upgrading to firefox 4.0.1  :o, I am thinking about a rollback. but I don't think it's good idea to got 3.6 because 4.0 is speed and better looking than 3.6. I have notified Mozilla about this freeing issue and hope they'll fix it soon. I suggest you to hold on it few more days and look for a fix.  8)
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: geek hoodlum on April 26, 2011, 03:14:45 AM
done ;)
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: 2x3i5x on April 27, 2011, 01:24:07 PM
Probably want to let FF update itself thru its autoupdater.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on April 28, 2011, 04:31:21 PM
4.01 is released and all seems to be working properly.
1.  Google Toolbar dropdown list.  http://support.mozilla.com/my/questions/796021
2.  pdf viewing within the browser now works without reinstallation.

Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on April 29, 2011, 06:16:18 AM
Well, I just tried 4.01 and still have the problem with the Google Search box. Yes, the dropdown box opens as I type, but if I click on one of the selections in that box nothing happens. Back to 3.6. Again :(
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on April 29, 2011, 08:38:40 AM
Well, I just tried 4.01 and still have the problem with the Google Search box. Yes, the dropdown box opens as I type, but if I click on one of the selections in that box nothing happens. Back to 3.6. Again :(

Well, I normally customize the toolbar by removing the Google search box (if I want to go to Google, I'll go there) but to find out about this, I just now, in FF 4.0, re-enabled it, and it worked fine for me, Google Suggest drop down appeared, and I was able to select one and get a Google page open up with that search (this is what we are talking about, right? Or is it the Google Toolbar?).

While I was doing this, Firefox offered to update itself to 4.01. I accepted, and afterwards it still works.

I initially typed "pretty girls"...

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/gbox1.jpg)

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/gbox2.jpg)



Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on April 29, 2011, 08:39:50 AM
Yep, that's what I'm talking about. Tried it on an XP system and a W7 system and it did not work properly for me on either one. But it appears you're using a different version of Google Toolbar than I am. I'm using 7.1.2...
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: BC_Programmer on April 29, 2011, 08:59:08 AM
But it appears you're using a different version of Google Toolbar than I am. I'm using 7.1.2...

I don't think he is using google toolbar at all, but rather the integrated Firefox Searchbar.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on April 29, 2011, 09:00:45 AM
Ahhhh - yes, you are correct.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on April 29, 2011, 09:08:07 AM
Yep, that's what I'm talking about. Tried it on an XP system and a W7 system and it did not work properly for me on either one. But it appears you're using a different version of Google Searchbar than I am.

I don't know about any Google Searchbar. This is just the standard "Search" box that is part of the standard Firefox Navigation Toolbar which is there by default, but which I always remove by right clicking the Navigation Toolbar and selecting "Customise..." and dragging it into the box of stuff that appears. I just dragged it back out again. You can set it to a preferred search engine by left-clicking on the search engine icon. Mine is Google.

Are you talking about this, or some kind of add-on? If you are talking about the Google Toolbar add-on, I suggest you try clearing recent search history.

(http://support.mozilla.com/media/uploads/gallery/images/searchbar-title-en.png)

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/gbox3.jpg)

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/Toolbar.jpg)

Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on April 29, 2011, 09:14:18 AM
While I was typing, screen-grabbing and uploading to Photobucket, it seem that BC_P spotted what was going on. I still say try clearing the recent search history for Google Toolbar, and will only add that personally I have this deep aversion to installing toolbars from Google, when the Mozilla supplied search thing would probably do what I wanted, if I wanted it, which I don't, if that makes sense...


Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Broni on April 29, 2011, 09:31:55 AM
Surely, no separate search box is needed since any search can be done in Firefox just from address bar.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on April 29, 2011, 09:42:28 AM
Surely, no separate search box is needed since any search can be done in Firefox just from address bar.

You mean like this?

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/gsearch.jpg)
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: 2x3i5x on April 29, 2011, 11:43:05 AM
firefox seems to automatically do a standard google search for keyword terms. (At least, my pc has it that way).

For giggles, I keyworded "Broni" in the address bar and "Broni is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombard" so the first hit (from wikipedia) says....  :P
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: soybean on April 29, 2011, 11:59:09 AM

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/gbox3.jpg)

ST, how do you get screen captures like that?  In other words, what tool are you using that captures the screen without closing a drop-down box as soon as you hit any key or do anything with the mouse? 

BTW everyone, no problems with FF4 here, including viewing PDF documents.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on April 29, 2011, 01:05:18 PM
ST, how do you get screen captures like that?  In other words, what tool are you using that captures the screen without closing a drop-down box as soon as you hit any key or do anything with the mouse? 

When the screen is how I want it, I press the PrtScrn key. This copies the whole screen to the clipboard. It does not affect any drop downs or dialogs. Then I open MS Paint and paste it into the new document and crop it how I want. Finally I save it (usually as a jpg).

(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff56/BlitzKragor/een-printscreen-maken1.jpg)




Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: soybean on April 29, 2011, 02:02:41 PM
Gotcha.  I've been using the Snipping Tool in Windows 7 for months and forget about this advantage of using the PrtScrn key.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on April 29, 2011, 04:34:36 PM
I don't think he is using google toolbar at all, but rather the integrated Firefox Searchbar.
Exactly right!  Google Toolbar Add-On.  I have no idea why mine is working with this new version.
BTW, Fastone Image Viewer has a variety of screen capture options: foreground, window, object, rectangle region, freehand.


[recovering disk space - old attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Broni on April 29, 2011, 04:50:26 PM
Quote
You mean like this?
Exactly...

I compacted FF even more, by moving all "Navigation bar" items to "Menu bar" and then I disabled "Navigation bar" altogether.
One toolbar less:

(http://209.85.48.8/228/109/upload/p4479489.gif)
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Accessless on April 29, 2011, 11:01:55 PM
I know as with everything in firefox layout is customisable, but I had problems with the Menu bar... If I wanted it I had to turn it on every time I started firefox. It got old... fast.

So did anyone else have this problem or was it just me with a bizarre glitch?
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on April 29, 2011, 11:38:43 PM
BTW, Fastone Image Viewer has a variety of screen capture options: foreground, window, object, rectangle region, freehand.

I have got Snagit! which has those.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on April 30, 2011, 05:02:14 AM
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/796021
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on April 30, 2011, 05:08:24 PM
New Google Toolbar might fix it:  Version 7.1.20110316W
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 03, 2011, 07:16:36 AM
I compacted FF even more, by moving all "Navigation bar" items to "Menu bar" and then I disabled "Navigation bar" altogether.
One toolbar less:
On my menu bar are the Google Search Toolbar and Roboform. Below that is the nav bar. No room to compact / combine any further for me :)


New Google Toolbar might fix it:  Version 7.1.20110316W

I uninstalled Google Toolbar and FF4 completely, then reinstalled FF4.01 and the new release of Google Toolbar. So far two issues:

1) With Google Toolbar, I cannot clear the search history. Everything else seems to work as expected.

2) Some delay / lag when switching between some of my tabs (not all, just some). I've tried disabling and re-enabling hardware accelerations (as suggested on some Mozilla Forum posts for the beta) with no success.

Other than that, things seem to be okay so for now I'm back to FF 4.01
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Broni on May 03, 2011, 06:20:27 PM
Personally, I never understood any need for some Google Search Toolbar.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: soybean on May 03, 2011, 07:26:47 PM
Personally, I never understood any need for some Google Search Toolbar.
Me either.  Anyone can use the standard browser search box and just set Google as the default search engine.  Or, make google.com the home page and/or a link on the Bookmarks toolbar. 
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: patio on May 03, 2011, 08:13:58 PM
I never met a toolbar i had any use for...or liked.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Broni on May 03, 2011, 08:15:32 PM
+1
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on May 03, 2011, 11:51:33 PM
+2
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 04, 2011, 06:00:27 AM
You know, I've been using it so long I forget why I installed it in the first place. I've just switched to the Firefox search box on this computer. If I'm happy with it I'll switch the others.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 04, 2011, 06:36:34 AM
Is there a way to display search history (a list of recent searches) with the Firefox search box? Google Toolbar has a dropdown arrow - don't see any such option.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on May 04, 2011, 11:48:51 AM
Is there a way to display search history (a list of recent searches) with the Firefox search box? Google Toolbar has a dropdown arrow - don't see any such option.

I can't (on a quick Google search) find any easy way; there may well be a Firefox extension to do this. Anyhow this is how I did it just now:

Note: before I did the below I enabled the Firefox search box, cleared the search history, and then successively searched for "bacon", "eggs", "ham" and "cheese". Maybe I'm getting hungry?

1. The search history (along with, I guess, a lot of other stuff) is stored in an Sqlite database in your Mozilla Profile folder. The database file is called formhistory.sqlite.

2. You need to query this database with the following sql query

Code: [Select]
SELECT value FROM moz_formhistory WHERE fieldname='searchbar-history';
3. You can do this with a command line program called sqlite3.exe. This program is quite common; it is installed with quite a lot of apps so you may have it already. If not, you can get it from here in a 237 kB zip archive:

http://www.sqlite.org/sqlite-shell-win32-x86-3070600.zip

Extract sqlite3.exe and place it either in your Mozilla profile folder or else somewhere on your PATH.

4. You can view the search history manually like this

at the command prompt type sqlite3.exe followed by the database name. This starts sqlite3 and loads the database.

Code: [Select]
sqlite3 formhistory.sqlite
Now you see the sqlite welcome message and prompt and you type the query and hit Enter and you see your search history listing and you type .exit to get back to the Windows command prompt.

Code: [Select]
C:\Users\Mike\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\k65vu6mr.default>sqlite3 formhistory.sqlite
SQLite version 3.6.22
Enter ".help" for instructions
Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"
sqlite> SELECT value from moz_formhistory WHERE fieldname='searchbar-history';
bacon
eggs
ham
cheese
sqlite> .exit
C:\Users\Mike\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\k65vu6mr.default>

5. If this seems tedious then here is a batch file to put in the Profile folder which will do it for you and open the search history in Notepad. You could make a shortcut to this on your desktop, or Quick Launch or wherever, or maybe there is some kind of Mozilla extension to let you run it from inside Firefox.

Code: [Select]
@echo off
echo SELECT value FROM moz_formhistory WHERE fieldname='searchbar-history';>searchbarhistory.sql
sqlite3.exe formhistory.sqlite < searchbarhistory.sql > searchbarhistory.txt
start "" "notepad" "searchbarhistory.txt"

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/badoit/ff-search.jpg)

I should EMPHASISE that what I know about sql I have learned in the last half hour, and it is quite possible that others who are used to working with this kind of stuff can advise about some better method. There may be some kind of Firefox addon that can do all this. And probably other things you might want to do with the recent search list besides viewing it in Notepad, but at least you now know one way to get at it.






Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 04, 2011, 12:08:37 PM
Thanks. I can also download a simple program that shows the search history, but I want to be able to do it from within the search box. I'll stay with the toolbar - but I appreciate your help.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on May 04, 2011, 04:33:51 PM
Tools---Clear Recent History, Forms & Search History, seems to be the only way to clear the Google Toolbar Search History.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 04, 2011, 04:38:07 PM
Looking to SEE the search history, not c
Tools---Clear Recent History, Forms & Search History, seems to be the only way to clear the Google Toolbar Search History.
CC - appreciate the response, but we're talking about seeing the search history, not clearing it..... unless you were responding to an earlier post. I know how to clear it, I was just saying that the "clear search history" option in the Google Toolbar Search box doesn't work with FF4.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on May 04, 2011, 04:43:38 PM
...I was just saying that the "clear search history" option in the Google Toolbar Search box doesn't work with FF4...
I'm saying the same thing, doesn't work for me, either.  Just pointing out one way to clear it.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 04, 2011, 04:47:18 PM
gotcha
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Broni on May 04, 2011, 05:16:11 PM
Allan...
Why exactly do you need search history?
...and where exactly do you find Google search history?
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Salmon Trout on May 04, 2011, 11:52:16 PM
Allan...
Why exactly do you need search history?
...and where exactly do you find Google search history?

Maybe...

http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/topic.py?topic=14148&hl=en

Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 05, 2011, 06:47:13 AM
Allan...
Why exactly do you need search history?
...and where exactly do you find Google search history?
When using Google Toolbar there is a search box that has a down arrow on the right side. Clicking on that arrow opens a dropdown that lists your most recent searches in chronological order. It's a handy function for me - one I didn't know I'd use until I started using Google Toolbar several years ago. When researching an error message or simply trying to recall something I wanted to look up (a few days later), it's a nice feature to have. Try it and see for yourself - you can always uninstall it.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 05, 2011, 07:46:06 AM
Okay, I give up. I'm back to 3.6 to stay. Just too many issues with version 4, not the least of which is a lag when switching among certain tabs. I'll live with the memory leak.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: BC_Programmer on May 05, 2011, 09:13:36 AM
I haven't even upgraded to 4.0 on my windows machine. Using FF 3.6.17 at the moment. Linux machine is using Minefield 4.1 if I remember correctly. Just don't want to be bothered to go through the hassle of upgrading my many addons yet.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Allan on May 05, 2011, 10:07:44 AM
Well, the addons will upgrade automatically - that's not a problem. But I just find it too buggy (for me).
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: 2x3i5x on May 05, 2011, 11:15:59 AM
Firefox 5.0 Beta 1 (http://filehippo.com/download_firefox/) is already out  :o

I bet 4.0 took too long to get out the door ...  so they're trying to push the gas pedal some more :-X
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on May 05, 2011, 06:04:19 PM
4.01 has issues & they are working on 5.0?  What about 4.02?
BTW, you can install the 3.6 Theme on 4.01, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-3-theme-for-firefox/
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Broni on May 05, 2011, 06:14:40 PM
Mozilla decided to change their policy regarding releasing new Firefox versions.
It'll pretty much match Google Chrome.
More info: http://www.ghacks.net/2011/03/18/life-after-firefox-4-whats-next/

Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: BC_Programmer on May 05, 2011, 06:24:51 PM
4.01 has issues & they are working on 5.0?  What about 4.02?
I have 4.1 installed.


Also, my 3.6.15 recently updated to 3.6.17.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: geek hoodlum on June 23, 2011, 09:56:10 PM
Firefox 5.0 was pure kewlness!  ;D
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Linux711 on June 24, 2011, 04:48:25 AM
Quote
Firefox 5.0 was pure kewlness!

I don't see much difference in speed between 4.0 and 5.0. It seems as though they decided to increase the version numbers faster without changing much to persuade more people to download. That's just my opinion.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: soybean on June 24, 2011, 08:29:37 AM
I don't see much difference in speed between 4.0 and 5.0. It seems as though they decided to increase the version numbers faster without changing much to persuade more people to download. That's just my opinion.
Firefox 5 Changes (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/5.0/releasenotes/buglist.html)

Summary:
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on June 27, 2011, 04:49:33 PM
See here:  http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,120639.15.html
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: patio on June 27, 2011, 05:33:22 PM
Have zero issues with both new releases,,,
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: Computer_Commando on June 27, 2011, 05:36:36 PM
Allan & I did.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: bretwt91 on July 04, 2011, 03:41:08 AM
The final version of Mozilla Firefox 4 has been released and is available for download Here. (http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/4.0/win32/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%204.0.exe)
 
  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/29wood/Capture-9.png)

thanks allan for this post it is really well.
Title: Re: Firefox 4 FINAL Released
Post by: soybean on July 04, 2011, 09:53:30 AM
thanks allan for this post it is really well.
Umm, Firefox 5 has been released since Allan's post that you quoted.  ::)