When do you need user profiles ?
- User profiles are mostly helpful when we need to use a single OS at work/home. In a single OS we can install a browser only once and hence all your colleagues and family members need to use the same set of bookmarks, passwords and addons as well as other settings too. This doesn’t secure your/their privacy.
- For a blogger or a person whose job requires internet addiction, browsers are the best loyal friends. But with time and with more and more usage it gets loaded with more and more bookmarks, addons and passwords. So while using the browser for a simple purpose(other than professional) you do not need those settings, addons or bookmarks anymore. In that case you may use another user profile that is less loaded with addons, which will ensure faster browsing experience of your browser.
Create an user profile for Mozilla Firefox
NOTE : Even if you haven’t created a profile yourself there is a profile by default named default. Creating a user profile for Firefox includes the following steps :
Open the Start > Run or just press Windows Key + R.
Now in the Run window type firefox.exe –P. Press Enter.
A window will open which looks like the screenshot below.
Now as we can see, there are three buttons to do three tasks. As you can see I have two profiles named default (that was already there) and full (that I created for professional purposes). Ok now that we know how to do this, lets create a sample profile named Soumen’s browser.
Press the Create Profile button.
Now you will see the Welcome Screen. Just press Next to proceed.
In the following step, you will be asked to enter the name of the profile. I have entered Soumen’s browser there.
From the button coined Choose Folder, you can select the location where you want these profile to be saved. I’m keeping the default location, which is, [system Drive Letter]:\Documents and Settings[windows user]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
Now press Finish and you will see you profile is created.
From now on, whenever you will try to open Firefox, you will get to see the box as shown in the start, in which you will have to select the profile and press the Start Firefox button to start that profile on Firefox.
Create an user profile for Google Chrome
Follow the steps to do the job
Go to the following address [system Drive Letter]:\Documents and Settings[windows user]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome
Now open the folder Application.
There you will find a .exe file named Chrome having a chrome Logo. Right-click on it & create a shortcut there within the folder. Now rename the new shortcut to New. Right-click on the newly created shortcut and click Properties. In the target field replace the address with, [system Drive Letter]:\Documents and Settings[windows user]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" –user-data-dir="[system Drive Letter]:\Documents and Settings[windows user]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\New"
Now drag the newly created shortcut to desktop. Now double-click this new shortcut and a new user profile named New will be created. This can be located at the following address where a folder will be present named New. [system Drive Letter]:\Documents and Settings[windows user]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data
from now on, any time you wish to start using Chrome with the newly created profile use this shortcut. That is all we have to do for creating new profiles in Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Repeat the above processes to create as many profiles as you want for yourself. If you have any difficulties feel free to ask and do not forget to share your experience with us via comments. Happy Browsing!!
