Summary: Firefox is a free Internet web browser that works on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. It is feature-filled and extensible, which means you can add functionality to Firefox by installing “Add-ons” (plugins). Read on to find out why you should use Firefox, or go immediately to the page where you can download it.
Why You Should Use Firefox
Reason #1 – Tabbed Browsing – You can have multiple websites open in one browser. Like tabbed folders in a file drawer, you can click on a tab and bring that web page immediately to the front. You can even set multiple tabs (web pages) for your starting page when you open Firefox. To see these features in action watch the video demonstrating “tabbed browsing”.
Reason #2 – Built-in Google Search – You don’t even have to go to the Google home page any more. Just type your search terms in the Google search field and experience Google search heaven. To see the Google search features in action watch the Built-in Google Search for Firefox video.
Reason #3 – Search Popular Sites from Firefox – You can also search other web sites from Firefox such as Wikipedia, Flickr, and the Weather Channel.
Reason #4 – Built-in Spell Check – Great for checking those words as you blog, or write in your Wiki. It gives you a red underline for unrecognized words, just like MS Word (only less obnoxious in my opinion). Right-click the word for suggestions or too add it to your dictionary.
Reason #5 – Session recovery – What that means is when you’re doing your research and you have fourteen tabs open and something causes Firefox to crash, when you restart Firefox it will ask you if you want to recover your previous session.
Reason #6 – Plugins! – Extend Firefox’s functionality with plugins. Here are some “must haves”:
- Delicious Bookmarks
- Download Statusbar
- IE View
- Video Download Helper
- Fire FTP
- Zotero
- PDF Download
- Google Gears
- Hyperwords
For even more added functionality:
Greasemonkey
Old and outdated version of “Why You Should Use Firefox website”
How Firefox Detects Webpage Forgeries
Andy Rush is the New Media Specialist at the University of Mary Washington. 
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