Firefox Upgrade benefits Windows Vista Users
On my Windows Vista Premium loaded Toshiba notebook I use Firefox as my browser quite a bit. It had some quirks in Vista, and some of them were recently fixed with the Firefox 2.0.0.2 upgrade. When my Firefox was upgraded, I found in the release notes the following:
- Windows & Windows Vista
- Clicking links in some applications (e.g. some instant messaging programs) might not open them in Firefox, even if you have set it as your default browser. To workaround this problem, go to Start -> Default Programs -> Set default programs for this computer, expand custom, select the radio button next to the app you want to set as the system wide default app (e.g. Firefox, etc.), and apply.
- Using the context menu (right-clicking on the Firefox icon) to start in Safe Mode, doesn’t work. As a workaround, use the “Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode)” menu item that appears in the Start Menu instead.
- A Windows Media Player (WMP) plugin is not provided with Windows Vista. As a workaround, in order to view Windows Media content, you can follow these instructions. Note that after installing you may have to get a security update and apply it before you can see the content in the browser.
- Vista Parental Controls are not completely honored. In particular, file downloads do not honor Vista’s parental control settings. This will be addressed in an upcoming Firefox release.
- When migrating from Internet Explorer 7 to Firefox, cookies and saved form history are not imported.
I was consistently having problems when clicking links with Firefox set as my default browser – they would always load in IE. I also had problems with no WMP (Windows Media Player) Plugin in Firefox on Windows Vista. The link above will help you load it.
