Firefox – New One Click Search review – How to use, disable and manage it

Hello dear readers and followers! Sorry for this delayed post, I didn’t scheduled it last week! O_o

Today’s article is about Firefox new One Click Search feature.

If your browser is up-to-date and it’s Firefox, you must have noticed a few changes since the last updates. One of those is the different search system.

I thought I’d do a quick review since my first impression was not so good and after doing some research and tests, I’ve concluded that it’s a bit better, but still needs improvement.

What about speed?

My first searches using the new system were a real pain in the a$$: I couldn’t use my usual keyboard shortcut to change the search engine! (Alt+Arrow_Down) So, after some research, I was finally able to adjust and get back on track.

Lemme show you!

Let’s search 3 terms in 3 different tabs using 3 different search engines; the first search is made using the browser’s default configured search engine (Ex. : Ixquick).

Here’s how it goes, without using the mouse of course :

Old Search Box

Ctrl+E, search_term1, Enter

Ctrl+T,Ctrl+E, search_term2, Alt+Arrow_Down, Arrow_Down, Arrow_Down, choose Bing, Enter, Enter,

Ctrl+T,Ctrl+E, search_term2, Alt+Arrow_Down, Arrow_Down, Arrow_Down, Arrow_Down, choose Google, Enter, Enter,

One Click Search steps

Ctrl+E, search_term1, Enter

Ctrl+T,Ctrl+E, search_term2, Arrow_Up, Arrow_Up, choose Bing, Enter

Ctrl+T,Ctrl+E, search_term2, Arrow_Up, Arrow_Up, Arrow_Up, choose Google, Enter

What about old school?

If you prefer the old version, it’s very simple to switch back :

Type about:config in the URL bar

Search for (Ctrl+F) : “oneoff” which will find “browser.search.showOneOffButtons”

Double-click it to turn it to False

Restart Firefox

BUG – Removing search providers

With the new search system, you can’t “remove” search providers, only disable them. If you’re like me and prefer removing things completely, you’ll need to switch to the old search system and then remove the search providers you don’t want. BUT, if you have the new One Click Search, I DON’T recommend you do that; you won’t be able to add again the “removed” search providers as they will NOT be removed from Firefox. It’s a bug.

Good news everyone

Finally, one of the cool feature, is you can add website search strait in your browser’s search bar. When it detects a search box on a website, you can add it to your search engines! For example, if you want to quickly search articles on this blog without loading the blog every time, you simply add it to your search engines. Problem is, you can’t rename them… it’s sometimes hard to tell which icon is for which website.

In conclusion, Firefox’s Once Click Search is nice, but it’s far from ready. IMO, it’s an incomplete system that should’ve been delayed before being pushed to the public…

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

Firefox Quick Tip – Close it without losing any windows and tabs!

Here’s a nifty trick when you’re in a hurry and need to close Firefox and/or shut down your computer but have several windows opened with plenny of tabs in each windows you don’t wanna lose. Usually, there would only be a few ways to save your browsing session:

Friggin too long methods

1. The PITA method: you manually bookmark each individual pages of each windows in your Bookmarks in folders. Have fun with that.

2. The monk method: You manually move/transfer all tabs one by one in a single windows, then exit, which will save the session and re-open all the tabs the next time you launch Firefox. Have fun with that too.

3. The pro method: you install a session manager add-on, then save the session and windows. You’re awesome.

Now, even I who DO use a session manager in Firefox, there’s often times I need to close Firefox quickly AND keep all my browsing sessions. The aforementioned methods just don’t cut it.

KISS method

Here’s my ultra-fast-lazy-simple method: kill Firefox from the Task Manager:

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del > Click End task

There ya go. Let it handle the crash. Firefox is so awesome it’ll prompt you to “restore” your “lost” session. I do it all the time. :D

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

How to – Change default Contact Search scope in Outlook 2013

This week’s post is about Outlook (again). This tip was one hard to find information, because that information is simply nonexistent: nowhere will you find in Outlook 2013 settings to change its default contact search scope.

Help is here

But don’t worry, I finally figured it out. Microsoft Office devs sure are a lazy bunch, I can tell you that. In my Outlook, my contacts are sorted in different groups/folders. By default, when searching contacts, Outlook searches only in the CURRENT folder, thus omitting a lot of results, since in my case I also have contacts in other folders. It was really getting on my nerve: EVERY single time I searched a contact I had to change the search scope to All Contacts. After doing some research, I finally found how to change once and for all that pesky search scope to All Contacts by default.

Mailbox settings

Believe it or not, Outlook’s search settings are found in the Search tab of Outlook’s options. Now guess what? There are no settings for contact search; only for the mailbox. And that’s what the problem is all about: the mailbox search options are ALSO those of your contacts. No wonder you can’t find anything about it! Some say it’s obvious and makes sense since your outlook file (.pst) contains your e-mails AND your contacts. I’m sorry, but managing e-mails is different than managing contacts. Microsoft should’ve seperated the settings to behave independently of each other.

Anyway, simply put, changing your mailbox search settings also changes contact search settings.

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

Reference
-http://www.msoutlook.info/question/735