“I am only allowed 5GB per month with my current internet plan. Are there some settings you can recommend I change in Firefox to decrease the bytes I’m downloading while surfing the web?”
I’ll write this out as best I can...
1. go to http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman and download hostsman.
2. install hostsman
3. run hostsman
4. In the menu bar go to Hosts->manage Hosts
add the following sources for host file automated updates:
In alphabetical order:
Cameleon
* Site: http://sysctl.org/cameleon/
* Updated: August 8th, 2010
* Source: http://sysctl.org/cameleon/hosts.win
hpHosts
* Site: http://www.hosts-file.net/
* Source: http://support.it-mate.co.uk/downloads/hphosts.zip
* Mirror: http://hphosts.gt500.org/hosts.zip
hpHosts (Ad and tracking servers only)
* Source: http://www.hosts-file.net/ad_servers.asp
* Mirror: http://updates.it-mate.co.uk/hphosts/ad_servers.asp
hpHosts (Partial)
* Source: http://www.hosts-file.net/hphosts-partial.asp
* Updated: Frequently
* Mirror: http://updates.it-mate.co.uk/updates.asp
MVPS Hosts
* Site: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
* Source: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.zip
5. in Hostsman menu bar go to Hosts-> Optimize Hosts
Open Firefox browser...
6. go to http://netticat.ath.cx/BetterCache/BetterCache.htm and install BetterCache
7. go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2489/ and install CacheViewer. (This is NOT required, however it simplifies working with your firefox cache.)
8. go to http://flashblock.mozdev.org/ and install flashblock
extension
9. go to http://noscript.net/ and install noscript extension
10. go to http://code.google.com/p/uctb/ and download Undo Closed Tabs Button extension
11. go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9609/ and install ghostery extension
Note that hostsman will control the HOSTS file and remove 95% of all advertisements on the internet. Drastically reduces your bandwidth use on textbased browsing. However it will also block some websites you might use regularly... such as facebook.com, you need to use the Hostsman HOSTS editor to remove any url from the blocklist ....
Note that BetterCache is extremely aggressive in default settings... you will have to decide on the caching options... it takes some time to find what works for you.
Excellent, thank you very much for that!
Hope you are using windows.
Depending on which windows version you use you might have to give hostsman rights to run as administrator... right click the desktop icon, go to properties-> compatibility-> run as administrator tick box, apply.
you can also add it to your Startup folder so it starts when windows starts. So the UAC doesn’t pop up every time you open hostsman.
Absolutely necessary in Vista, a best option in Win7, and not needed in WinXP.
I’m trying to understand Mi-Me. Can you explain? I’m trying to add a site to Better Cache which will allow it to always cache, but instead of just being able to enter the URL, it asks for Mi-Me. I checked Wikipedia for more on Mi-Me, but I still don’t understand.