Although the history functions of Firefox and Internet Explorer are not perfect, they do offer some settings to allow customization. Firefox lets you tweak the number of days history is kept, whether to remember data entered in forms, and whether to track downloads. Internet Explorer also lets you set the days history is kept, and how much disk space is allocated to history. For more details on how to change these options, read CNET’s Worker’s Edge.

Two ways to keep your browser’s search history private are to turn off auto-complete (also called auto-fill) and to clear your search history. Google provides step-by-step instructions for three popular browsers, and Leo Notenboom tackles the problem with plenty of screenshots.

For the back-to-school season, Mozilla has created a Campus Edition of Firefox bundled with three pre-installed plugins aimed at students. FoxyTunes lets you control your music player within the browser. Zotero collects and manages research citations. StumbleUpon introduces you to new websites based on your interests. If, you already have Firefox, you should download the plugins individually instead of getting the bundle.

Although it is my favorite browser, when left in its default configuration, Firefox often mangles the size of popup windows (so that some of the content is hidden) and disables manual resizing of the offending window. To change this, type “about:config” in the Firefox address bar. Then filter the results to “dom.disable” and scroll down to “dom.disable_window_open_feature.resizable”. Click on this entry to change the value to “true.” For a video demo, visit AllBusiness.

Many browsers offer dynamic as-you-type spell check on any text you enter. In Firefox 2.0, misspellings are underlined in red, and right-clicking on them will pop-up suggestions. In Safari, dynamic spell checking can be activated by placing your cursor in any text field, then selecting Edit/Spelling/Check Spelling as You Type. Internet Explorer does not include its own spell check, but can be upgraded with the free IESpell or the low-cost JSpell Toolbar .

StumbleUpon is a browser toolbar that introduces you to new websites based on your interests and preferences. As you rate websites, StumbleUpon compares your interests with other similar StumbleUpon users and finds new websites for you to “stumble upon.” Works with both Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Clicking on a link with the scroll wheel (or middle button) of your mouse will open the link in a new tab in both Firefox and Internet Explorer 7. In the same browsers, a click of the scroll wheel (or middle mouse button) on any tab, will close that tab. For more short cuts, try these reference pages for Internet Explorer and Firefox .

When surfing the Web from a list of links, it is often handy to view each site in a new tab or browser window. Most browsers let you specify this behavior as the default. In Firefox, go to Tools/Options/Tabs. In Internet Explorer, look in Tools/Internet Options/Advanced. For more detailed instructions, read this tip from Oregon State University.

If you have a wheel mouse, here’s a handy browser navigation tip. Hold down the Shift key and scroll the nav wheel backwards to return to your previous web page. Scroll two clicks, and you are two pages back in your history. Moving forward in history is just as easy: hold down Shift and roll the wheel forward.

Many people do not realize that their browser address bar can act as a search engine. For example, instead of a URL, you can enter a search query, such as “Who is Barbara Feldman?” Here are instructions from Google on how to change your default search engine. Of course, these instructions assume you are changing your default to Google (http://www.google.com ) . To change to MSN Search (http://search.msn.com ) or Yahoo! ( http://www.yahoo.com ) just use their URL instead.