• Disable Tab Scrolling — browser.tabs.tabMinWidth — set this to’0′
• Make Close button on individual tabs go away — browser.tabs.closeButtons — Set this value to ’2′
  Note that this will not make the close button on the far right appear, as it did in Firefox 1.5. I don’t need any because I either hit ctrl+f4 to close the active tab or middle click a non-active tab to close it
• Alt+S within a form will submit the form:
  ui.key.chromeAccess to 5
  ui.key.contentAccess to 4

I found these tips at:

• LifeHacker
• http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=446830

Here is a list of the Firefox extensions that I use.

Normally Active Extensions:

• Adblock Plus
• BugMeNot
• Copy Plain Text
• CustomizeGoogle
• FireBug
• Gmail Skins
• Google Browser Sync
• Google Toolbar for Firefox
• Greasemonkey
• Image Zoom
• NoScript
• Nuke Image
• PwdHash
• RefControl
• ResizableTextarea
• Tabbrowser Preferences
• VideoDownloader

Normally Disabled Extensions: (these are useful in certain cases, but I don’t load them until I need them)

• FireBug
• UserAgentSwitcher
• Web Developer

Core Setup:

• Alcohol 120% — When you have a large hard disk, emulation is the way to go when playing games.
• AVG Free — Free for non-commerical juice.
• AnyDVD
• CuteFTP Professional
• CutePDF Writer
• DVD Shrink
• FireFox
• Flash
• Foxit PDF Reader (mirror)
• Klite Codec Pack
• MD5 command line utility
• PowerDVD
• PGP Desktop — Sadly it doesn’t seem to work on Vista. =(
• Quicken
• Real Alternative
• Shockwave
• TurboPasswords — I’ve been using this for a while but it has no FireFox integration. I think it’s time for me to look for something else.
• UltraEdit32
• WinRar
• iTunes — I used WinAmp for years. Once I learned to use iTunes it’ll take something monumental to get me to switch away.
• MultiMonTaskbar (mirror)
• NTFSLink (mirror)
• uTorrent
• Unlocker — God I hope this works in Vista. It’s so nice to be able to find out what’s preventing you from deleting that “one last file” … and then doing something about it!

Scripting Engines:

• PHP 5
• ActivePerl

Custom Deployments:

• Custom Ultraedit Wordfile
• XP Dog Killer
• My PGP Keys
• Firefox extensions
  • AdBlock
  • Copy Plain Text
  • GreaseMonkey
  • NukeImage
  • PwdHash
  • RefControl
  • Resizable Text Area
  • VideoDownloader
  • WebDeveloper
• Firefox search extensions

Misc Utils:

• Flickr Uploader
• JungleDisk
• Ethereal
• NetworkActiv
• Windows Desktop Sarch
• RegEx Coach
• Beyond Compare
• NSIS
• Filemon
• RegMon
• Process Explorer
• Dependency Walker
• PGP Command Line
• Nero Burning ROM
• Partition Magic
• TeamSpeak Client/Server
• TeamSpeak Overlay
• Rasterbator
• URLSnooper

No Longer Needed:

• Quicktime Alternative – I don’t use this because it used to be a way to bypass quicktime’s bloat. Since I’ve succumb to the whims of iTunes I don’t really have a choice now.
• DVDDecrypter – I still keep a copy handy. Perhaps it’s just for the stake of nostalgia, though. AnyDVD does the same thing and so much more …

What I usually do:

• Set System Name then reboot (to prevent network conflicts)
• Turn off system restore (that’s what revert is for!)
• Enable Classic GUI mode (if on an XP machine)
• Assign IPs (if necessary)
• Install Ultraedit and latest word file, and uedit.ini
• Set automatic updates to notify rather than auto download
• Set recycle bin to 1%
• Set keyboard repeat rate to fastest setting
• Create Desktop shortcut to VMWareDND
• Set Background as an instant visual remidner at to the purpose of the machine
• Disable IIS’s webserver and FTP Server
• Disable Built in Firewall

Must-Haves

• FireFox
• Java
• Macromedia Flash
• Ultraedit w/ Notepad replacement
• WinRar
• NTFSLink – (local mirror) - Create symbolic links in NT/XP!
• Adobe Acrobat*

Covnenience:

• TurboPasswords – My PIM of choice. Probably because I really haven’t tried much else.
• Google Desktop – Easy way to search for damn near anything
• GMail Notifier – So I know when I have new mail
• CoolMon – System statsat a glance on your desktop

Developer Stuff

• MD5 Command Line – If you don’t know what it is then you don’t need it
• RegEx Coach – Wonderful program for putting together complex regular expressions
• BeyondCompare – AWESOME file comparison utility.
• NSIS Installer -
• ActivePerl -
• PHP -
• NetworkActiv PIAFCTM 1.5.2 – Easy to use general purpose packet sniffer
• FileMon -
• RegMon -
• Process Explorer -
• TCPView -
• Dependency Walker -
• PGP Commandline 6.5.8 -
• PGP 8.1 -
• SQL Enterprise Manager -
• Visio -
• MS Project -
• VMWare 5.0 -
• InstallShield Developer 7 -
• InstallShield Professional 6.31 -
• StarTeam – Source Control
• Visual Studio 6.0

• Service Pack 5 (yes, 5 — not 6 for various and sundry reasons)

• MS Platform SDK
• Processor Pack

• .NET Framework

Media Stuff

• CyberLink PowerDVD
• QuickTime Alternative -
• Real Alternative -
• DVD Decrypter – Now out of business AFAIK
• K-Lite Codec Pack Basic -
• Winamp
• DVDXCopy – Now defunct. Be glad if you have a registered copy.
• Zen Media Explorer – Software for Zen Micro MP3 player
• Nero Burning ROM -

Security

• McAfee Antivirus
• Spybot Search and Destroy
• Ad-Aware

Misc

• CuteFTP Professional
• SQLyog
• RAdmin or Remote Desktop
• Putty
• XP Power Toys
• TweakUI
• CCleaner
• Dup Detector – Detect duplicate images with different filenames
• touch.exe

Reluctantly

• MS Word
• MS Excel
• Powerpoint