Tze Chuen’s Weblog

my inner geek unleashed…

Accessing Internet Explorer-only Sites on a non-Windows PC

Recently, a friend asked me if there was a way to access IE-only sites on his Mac. Off the top of my head, there are two options - one is to use IE itself thru virtualization methods and secondly is to spoof your User Agent in Firefox.

Every browser has its own designated user agent that tells the website what browser you’re using. Therefore, you can actually trick the website to think that you’re actually using a different browser such as Internet Explorer.

Enter User Agent Switcher - this Firefox add-on does just that.

This add-on is extremely easy to use. First, download it here

After installing, you will see the option to switch between different user agents in Tools => User Agent Switcher

useragent1.png

As you can see, there are 3 different user agents to choose from. The add-on itself is also easy to use.

useragent2.png

Here, using IPChicken to check my user agent and indeed the add-on spoofed it to IE7. Neat stuff.

This tip works on any computer that has Firefox. Doesn’t matter if it’s running Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD etc.

Hope you found much use with this tip. Cheers ;)

May 1, 2008 Posted by tzechuen | tech tip | , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Adblock Plus 0.7.5.4 is Finally Out

Changes

  • Locales added: Hebrew, Malay
  • Improved Firefox 3 compatibility
  • Changed default keyboard shortcuts to Ctrl+Shift+E (preferences) and Ctrl+Shift+V (blockable items)
  • Removed “Check banner links” option

Download Adblock Plus here

* Adblock Plus is an ad blocker addon for Firefox. You should get this addon if you hate ads.

April 10, 2008 Posted by tzechuen | news | , , , , , | No Comments

Adblock Plus for Firefox 3 Beta 5

abpdev.png

Looking for a working version of Adblock Plus for your Firefox 3 Beta 5? Then head on to the Development Builds page and download the latest dev build (The dates may differ from the one you see on this screenshot). Enjoy!

April 7, 2008 Posted by tzechuen | tech tip | , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Firefox 3 Beta 5 is Up

firefoxb5.png

Notable changes: Address bar filter thingy seems to be more responsive and less laggy + some cool fade effect for hovering over tab buttons.

Download (US English):

Windows

Mac

Other languages/OS

Adblock addon seems to be broken with this beta. Let’s hope an update is being released soon.

April 3, 2008 Posted by tzechuen | news, thoughts | , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Read Your Emails in Style with Gmail Redesigned (Firefox)

blackgmail.png

Bored of the plain white Gmail theme? Then you should try Gmail Redesigned. With a black and stylish theme, Gmail will never be the same again.

Interested?

1) Install Stylish

2) Install Gmail Redesigned Stylish theme

3) ???????

4) Profit!

In other news, my Gmail account is celebrating its 666th spam mail. Hooray!

April 2, 2008 Posted by tzechuen | thoughts | , , , , , , , | 4 Comments