Instructions for downloading portable Firefox

In some situations such as software conflicts and/or  malware, Internet Explorer may not function properly.   As a short-term solution, a portable version of Firefox can be used.   The advantage of a “portable” application is it does not modify any system files or folders on your computer.   These types of programs are designed to run from an USB thumb drive.

The instructions below describe how to download and extract the portable version of Firefox.  If your Internet Explorer version is too unstable to complete these tasks, another computer will need to be used.   The web site to find the portable version of Firefox (and other portable applications) is http://portableapps.com/.

In the example below, Microsoft Vista was used, so the screen may appear somewhat different if you are using another operating system such as Windows XP.   But the concepts are the same.   In our example, we will save the .EXE file to our Desktop. But any location will work as long as you can remember the path to the .EXE.

The main download page may appear similar to the screen capture below.

Once the download process has completed, double-click on the .EXE file. Click on the Run button.

Click on the Next button.

Click on the Browse button and select your Desktop folder.  If you wish to use an USB thumb drive, select the path to the device.

You can select another folder path if you wish.   Click on the Install button.

Click on the Finish button once the extraction process has completed.

Once the extraction process has completed, a folder named FirefoxPortable should be present.   At this point, you can copy this folder to an USB thumb or flash drive if you are using another computer.   Under this folder should be an .EXE file named FirefoxPortable.exe.

When the application is first launched, use the default parameter.

To remove the application from your computer or USB thumb drive, simply delete the FirefoxPortable folder.   One disadvantage of Portable Firefox is some common plug-ins such as Adobe Flash is not present by default.   In the example below, simply click on the hyperlink to install Flash.