If you’re like most Firefox users, you probably use the browser’s user agent string to determine which websites are compatible with your device. But what if you want to change the user agent string? Here’s how to do it. First, open Firefox and click on the menu button (three lines in a row), then select “Preferences.” In the Preferences window, click on the “Advanced” tab. Under “User Agent,” type in a new user agent string, then click on the “OK” button. ..
Note: Works with Firefox, Flock, SeaMonkey, and Songbird.
Before
Before adding the extension to our browser we tested the user agent string at UserAgentString.com and got a positive I.D. result for Firefox.
After
Once you add the extension to Firefox you can access the alternate user agent string in two ways. The first is through the tools menu…
Note: The user agent string will automatically reset back to the default each time you restart Firefox.
And the second is using a toolbar button. Choose the method that works best for you.
For the first test we chose Internet Explorer 8.
Refreshing the page tested positive for IE 8.
Next we chose the Yahoo! Slurp search robot…once again a perfect result.
Moving on we chose iPhone 3.0. As before another positive identification.
To keep things interesting we set the user agent string for Internet Explorer 6. Testing positive for IE 6 and Windows XP here…
And also testing positive at the extension author’s website.
Options
You can create, edit, and delete current user agent strings or use the import/export functions.
Conclusion
The User Agent Switcher extension provides a quick and easy way to change the user agent string for those less than cooperative websites. For those wanting to add additional user agent strings visit this website (available in xml file format).
Links
Download the User Agent Switcher extension (Mozilla Add-ons)
Verify the User Agent String for your browser
