Brief Definition
In order for most Web-based processes to function as desired, the following recommendations are suggested on the end-user's desktop computer. AIS recommends and fully supports the Firefox Web Browser for the Windows Operating System.
In order to verify the version of Firefox installed:
- Open an instance of Firefox and locate the toolbar on the top of the browser window with the following drop down menus:
File | Edit | View | Go | Bookmarks | Tools | Help
- From the Firefox toolbar, click Help, and then click About Mozilla Firefox...
- The version number will be listed in a new window. Verify that the version is Firefox 3.0.4
If the version is not Firefox 3.0.4, AIS recommends downloading the latest version of the Firefox web browser.
Once verified that Firefox 3.0.4 version is running on the desktop system, confirm that the following recommended settings be selected:
- Open an instance of the Firefox browser and locate the toolbar on the top of the browser window with the following drop down menus:
File | Edit | View | Go | Bookmarks | Tools | Help
- From the Firefox toolbar, click Tools, and then click Options...
General
The following four subcategories are under the General icon:
- Home Page
- Fonts & Colors
- Languages
- Default Browser
- Connection
- For "Home Page"
- Type desired home page in the "Location(s):" text box
- For "Fonts & Colors"
- Click on the "Fonts & Colors" button
- Verify that the following is selected:
- "Fonts for:" display box verify that the following settings are selected:
- Western from the "Fonts for:" drop down menu
- Serif from the "Proportional:" drop down menu
- 16 from the "Size (pixels)" drop down menu for the Serif typeface
- Times New Roman from the "Serif:" drop down menu
- Arial from the "Sans-serif:" drop down menu
- Courier New from the "Monospace:" drop down menu
- 13 from the "Size (pixels)" drop down menu for Courier New monospace
- None from the "Minimum font size:" drop down menu
- Click on the "OK" button to close the window
- For "Languages"
- Click on the "Languages" button
- Verify that the following is selected:
- "Languages in order of preference:" display box verify the following appear:
- English/United States [en-us]
- English [en]
- "Default Charactet Encoding:"
- Western (ISO-8851-1)
- Click on the "OK" button to close the window
- For "Default Browser"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
- For "Connection"
- Click on the "Connection Settings..." button
- Verify that the "Direct connection to the Internet" radio button is the only item selected
- Click on the "OK" button to close the window
Privacy
The following six subcategories are under the Privacy icon:
- History
- Saved Form Information
- Saved Passwords
- Download Manager History
- Cookies
- Cache
The "Clear" button next to each subcategory allows you to clean all saved information at any time.
- For "History"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
- For "Saved Form Information"
- Click on the arrow next to the title
- Deselect the "Save information I enter in web page forms and the Search Bar" check box
- For "Saved Passwords"
- Click on the arrow next to the title
- Deselect the "Remember Passwords" check box
- For "Download Manager History"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
- For "Cookies"
- Click on the arrow next to the title
- Verify that the "Allow sites to set cookies" check box is selected
- From "Keep Cookies:" drop down menu select "until I close Firefox"
- For "Cache"
- Click on the arrow next to the title
- Verify that the "Use up to: "text box reads "50000"
Web Features
Click on the Web Features icon.
- Select the "Block Popup Windows" check box
- Click on the first "Allowed Sites" button
- In the "Address of web site" text area type the site names for which you want to allow popup windows to be generated. Once the name site name is entered, click on the "Allow" button.
- AIS recommends adding the following sites:
- ais.usc.edu
- ais-sap.usc.edu
- ais-alt1.usc.edu
- ais.alt2.usc.edu
- ais-ss.usc.edu
- ais-troy.usc.edu
- ais-epi.usc.edu
- aisweb.usc.edu
- ppbs-dev1.usc.edu
- fismaser2.usc.edu
- fismaster4.usc.edu
- fismaster5.usc.edu
- mmoris-sun.usc.edu
- ais-alt2x.usc.edu
- ais-epix.usc.edu
- Click on the "OK" button to register the changes and close the window
- Deselect the "Allow web sites to install software" check box
- Select the "Load Images" check box
- Select the "Enable Java" check box
- Select the "Enable JavaScript" check box
- Click on the "Advanced..." button
- In the "Allow scripts to:" window verify that all check boxes are selected
- Click the "OK" button to register the changes and close the window
Downloads
Click on the Downloads icon. This will display the following three subcategories under the Downloads icon:
- Download Folder
- Download Manager
- File Types
- For "Download Folder"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
- For "Download Manager"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
- For "File Types"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
Advanced
Click on the Advanced icon. This will display the following seven subcategories under the Advanced icon:
- Accessibility
- Browsing
- Tabbed Browsing
- Software Update
- Security
- Certificates
- Validation
- For "Accessibility"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
- For "Browsing"
- Click on the arrow next to the title
- Verify that the "Resize large images to fit in the browser window" check box is selected
- For "Tabbed Browsing"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
- For "Software Update"
- AIS has no specific recommendations
- For "Security"
- Click on the arrow next to the title
- Verify that all three check boxes are selected
- For "Certificates"
- Click on the arrow next to the title
- In the "Client Certificate Selection" area select the "Select Automatically" radio button
- For "Validation"
- Click on the arrow next to the title
- In the "OCSP" area select the "Do not use OCSP for certificate validation" radio button
When finished with all of the categories and the settings contained within them, click the OK button from the Options window to register the changes.