Some websites out there just can’t get the message: we don’t want
them to do things with our computer without our permission. The best
policy is usually to avoid them, but unfortunately we still get
embroiled in a debate on Slashdot or have to research something and the
only way to complete the task is to go to that site and attempt to read the data. Here’s the list of cute tricks that any Firefox user can wield to take back control of their desktop.

Problem: Opening too many browser windows. This especially drives you crazy on Windows, where you only have one desktop.
Solution: Go to “Edit-$gt; Preferences” and select the “Tabs” menu. In here, check “New pages should be opened in a new tab”.

Problem: The dreaded chained-page article. What would barely be
enough content to fill one page is scattered across ten pages with tons
of ads. PCWorld is a prime offender.
Solution: First, be sure you have Adblock-Plus
turned on before you click the link. Next, scour the page looking for a
“print” button. This won’t actually activate your printer - instead, it
will make the whole article display on a single page.

Problem: The whole page is printed in a tiny micro-font that you can’t see, even with your nose mashed against the monitor.

Solution: The hotkeys for text size are Ctrl-+, ctrl– (control
plus and control minus - underscore) and Ctrl-0 (the number zero). Plus
makes the text bigger, minus makes the text smaller, zero returns the
text size to default.

Problem: Bad page style in general, whether because it’s
impossible to read or because the template is taking hours to load in
your browser.
Solution: Just go to the “View” menu and select “page
style-> No Style”. The page will refresh and usually be aligned
without CSS boxes so you have to scroll more, but it gets rid of the
garbage that was slowing you down.

Problem: A site that’s locked shut to non-members, but lets
Google in. So you have their results pop up in a search, but go to
click on the link only to get a page demanding you pay or join to see
the content. Expert Sex Change (I couldn’t resist) is famous for it.

Solution: Use the User-Agent switcher. Switch your user-agent to something with a little more liberty, like:
“Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)”. experts-exchange.com magically cooperates. Also great for raving lunatics who block Firefox.

Problem: MySpace. What more needs be said? But here I’m talking
about pages loaded with images and animations which take forever to
load from their crawling server.
Solution: In the “Edit-> Preferences” menu again, select the
“Content” menu and simply uncheck the box that says “Load images
automatically”. You can also disable Javascript from here, for sites
that are killing your memory with huge scripts.

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