[clug] some Firefox questions

[Kim Holburn]

On 2007/Aug/28, at 2:24 AM, Eyal Lebedinsky wrote:

> I have a few questions about configuring Firefox. I have RH/F9  
> here, Firefox 2.0.
>
> I had a look at about:config and could not clearly see it there.
>
> 1) I want to get the download prompt when I click a link to a non  
> html filetype,
>    and never launch an application (I will then configure some  
> application
>    helpers myself). For example, pdf files now launch a viewer and  
> I want to
>    stop this. My preferences show that no file types are configured.

It's not in about:config it's about MIME handling.
In Firefox 1 there was a mime extension.  It doesn't work in Firefox  
2.  Preferences->Content->Configure how firefox handles certain types  
of file ?

That said there are 2 separate issues.  When you click on a link that  
has an extension that extension could mean anything to the server, it  
is defined in the server.  The client is told by the first line of  
response from the server what mime type the URL actually is, then the  
file follows.  I forget the exact format of this but it's something  
like:
"html/plain\n\n"

for a normal html file.

For a file ending in .pdf it mostly is a PDF file but the browser  
only knows this because of the mime type the server has told it.

To view a PDF as a PDF rather than download it, requires a plugin.  I  
hate that too.  Find and ditch the plugin.

> 2) Typing a bad URL activates a search. I want this to never happen.

there are 2 settings in firefox:
keyword.URL
keyword.enabled

set keyword.enabled to false

> 3) Whenever I update Firefox it goes to a Mozilla webpage rather  
> than to my
>    configured home. I do not like this "call home" feature, is  
> there an option
>    to disable this?

For my system I think this is a once off for each upgrade.  After the  
first upgrade page my firefox reverts to it's normal "home page".  I  
just shut it.


--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
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Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961