Using Firefox2 and Firefox3 Together
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Not that there aren’t already several dozen reasons I prefer Firefox over Internet Explorer, but I really appreciate what Firefox has done to aid web professionals — mainly the ability to install multiple versions of the browser, all maintaining their own settings, add-ons, and preferences.
All you have to do is install the different versions into different folders, and then create unique and separate user profiles. Here’s how to do it:
- By default, Firefox installs into “%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox“. Odds are, that’s where your FF2 version is now installed. Download the latest 3.x version of Firefox. Install it into “%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox 3” by using the Custom installation method, but don’t launch it yet after it’s complete.
- Instead, run the following command from a shell prompt in order to start Firefox’s profile manager:
- Create another profile called “Firefox2″ — or choose your own.
- Create a third profile called “Firefox3″ — or, again, choose your own name.
- Optionally, uncheck the “Don’t ask at startup” box, then exit the profile manager.
- Open up the properties of your shortcut icon on your desktop and/or your taskbar to add a couple parameters to the target line. Obviously, the path must reflect your actual installation folder and the quote marks shown here are nonstandard, so don’t just automatically cut and paste what I have here! The “Start in” folder property should match appropriately, too (e.g. “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox” in this example)
- Make a copy of the shortcut icon.
- Modify the properties of the copied shortcut to reflect the second profile, and update its “Start in” folder to match:
“%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox 3\firefox.exe” -profilemanager -no-remote
“C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -no-remote -P “Firefox2″
“C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox 3\firefox.exe” -no-remote -P “Firefox3″
Whenever you use these updated shortcuts to launch Firefox, you’ll get the version you want with an appropriate profile already loaded. Executing any other shortcut should allow you to choose a profile manually. Just make sure you never use a profile with the wrong browser version, otherwise you will lose some settings and add-ons during its attempt to upgrade the profile automatically.
Even if you’ve already fully upgraded your Firefox to 3.x, it is not too late to reinstall an older version or two, and maintain them separately. Just use the same techniques for each version: create separate profiles, install Firefox in different folders, and hardcode your desktop and taskbar shortcuts to load version-specific profiles.
I’ve also created a couple of simple hi-res icons for FF2 and FF3 (based on the original Firefox icons created by Jon Hicks that I extracted from within the Firefox executable) to help differentiate them on your desktop or taskbar. I’ve not included low-res icon versions, so they might not work on your computer — they’re fine on my XP and Vista PCs, though.
If you’re a web pro and you want to get really creative, make up a few more profiles to reflect the way you want to browse/work:
- “Firefox2_dev” — this FF2 profile could automatically load up essentials like Firebug and Yslow, for example.
- “Firefox3_dev” — and a similar one for FF3.
- “Firefox2_clean” — set this one up like a virgin install; no add-ons, etc. Great for experiencing what a real user might see without all your favorite whiz-bang add-ons.
- “Firefox3_clean” — and, again, a similar pristine one for FF3.
Enjoy the flexibility and be as creative as you want — with Firefox. Try installing IE8 and IE7 at the same time as separate installations, and your computer may never work again! In a best-case scenario, IE8 will simply clobber IE7 and you’ll end up with megabytes of useless files and data to manually clean up.
My favorite (odd) recent experience with IE is on my older computer at work.
Figuring I’d have to turn the older computer back in and (as is inevitable even at work) it contained some personal information I carefully cleared stuff off it. Pretty much everything, actually, except the one application I hadn’t gotten installed/configured on the new computer yet.
Time goes by, the older computer is never taken away, and I find I need to use it to edit a Word document. So I open the doc and, Word having been one of the things I removed, Microsoft Office re-installs itself, Word comes up and I go merrily on my edit way.
Until I try to copy and past something. Hit Ctrl-C to copy the highlighted test and up pops a “You need to install IE 3 to use this feature” message. Whhaaa-TF?
After reading this I began to ponder: Why would I need/want to have two different versions of Firefox?
“Why would I need/want to have two different versions of Firefox?”
If you are a web developer or designer, doing QA for a web project, or publishing a blog, you need to test your content on different common browsers and versions — at a minimum FF2, FF3, and IE7 (IE6 is going away, and IE8 is coming around the corner.) Depending on your audience, you might also want to include Safari and Opera.
How quickly you have become corrupted by Coinstar!
Additionally, for reasons of security, I use a virgin FF3 browser with limited third-party add-ons (like Flashblock) to access my online banking accounts. I don’t want to trust many plugins with questionable privacy policies (like Alexa) that potentially record and transmit my secure passwords. When surfing on other websites, the benefits of the add-ons outweigh the minimal risks.