Firefox installation

I will step through the replacement of Firebird 3.5.5 with Firefox 3.5.7. If you do not have Firebird installed, installation is almost exactly the same. Leave the deletion of Internet Explorer until after you are completely satisfied with Firefox. Microsoft will not let you entirely delete IE because they built artificial links into IE from their other software to force you to keep IE.

Download Firefox

Download Firefox for your operating system from www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html. There are versions for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X with all versions available in many languages.

Install

For Windows Professional version, the version that inherits some security from NT, log off the Internet and log in as the administrator. Select the file named Firefox Setup 3.5.7.exe and install.

Welcome

The Welcome screen reminds you to close other programs. I close all browsers, email clients, everything related to Mozilla, and everything connected to the Internet. In Windows 2000 professional edition I then use the administrator logon for the installation so that the installation program can write to the Program Files directory. Select Next.

Setup Type

You can select Standard or Custom installation. On the first time through, I suggest Custom. Select Custom then Next. Custom options should default to exactly what you get when you select Standard. When you are happy with the defaults, you can use Standard in all future installations.

Choose installation location

This screen appears only in custom installations. The default location is fine and is exactly what you get if you skip this screen by choosing the standard installation. Select Next.

If you are short of space on disk c: and have another disk available, you can place Firefox on the other disk. Firefox is not fussy. On my disk, Firefox used 26.6 megabyte including the rounding up space wasted by the file system. NTFS is more efficient with space than most file systems which means you may use more space in your file system.

Firefox lets you install different themes. The default theme uses 6 MB. If you try several themes, you can save space by deleting the ones you are not using.

Set Up Shortcuts

This screen appears only in custom installations. Firefox asks you if you want shortcuts set up on your desktop, in your Start Menu programs folder, or in your quick launch bar. The default is all three. . Select Next.

Choose start menu folder

This screen appears only in custom installations. Firefox asks you where to put your Start Menu programs folder and gives you a chance to rename it. The default is Mozilla Firefox. Select Next.

Summary

Firefox shows you the installation location and gives you the chance to decide if Firefox will be the default Web browser. The default setting is to make Firefox the default. Select Install.

you then get an installation progress bar for a few seconds.

Installation complete

Select Finish. Firefox will start so that you can check the settings.