Permanently request desktop sites on Firefox for Android

Firefox for Android can request desktop sites, but you have to request it every time. We'll show you how to set it for desktop sites, once and for all

Desktop sites look a lot better on Firefox for Android than the mobile versions, especially on tablets.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 1: In the Firefox address bar, type "about:config" and press Enter.Firefox for Android can request desktop versions of sites, but you have to make the request every time you visit a site that loads a mobile version. You can use Firefox add-ons to change the browser user agent string, but if you don't want to install add-ons, you can make the change directly to Firefox. Here's how:

Step 2: Tap the "Add a New Setting" button, then select "String" as the type.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 3: For name, enter "general.useragent.override."

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 4: For value, enter the browser user agent string you want to use. You can do a Google search for the user agent strings of your preferred browser and OS. In this example, we're using the user agent string for the desktop version of Firefox 17 on Windows 7.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/17.0

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 5: Restart Firefox and confirm that Web sites are loading the desktop versions.

That's it. If you want to change the user agent later, go back to about:config and search for "general.useragent.override." Hit the Modify button to change the user agent or the Reset button to remove it.

Source: Cnet

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The Internet is like a fancy Hollywood party with lots of swag: You can get tons of stuff for free, but not all of it is good. Still, some of the Web services, apps, and downloads out there are great, and don’t require you to pay a cent. Our 17th annual roundup of free stuff includes dozens of no-cost services, apps, and programs that are worth your time. To help you find the most valuable freebies, we’ve categorized them based on which types of people they’ll help most. Enjoy the free life!

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