1. Version update
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox-3.5
Then edited the Properties for the Firefox launcher in the Applications menu to invoke firefox-3.5 instead of firefox.
Fortunately, the Ubuntu Modifications for Firefox aren't compatible with this version, so there was no need to disable them manually.
2. Plugins
Went to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer to try and install Flash Player. (I've had problems with this in the past. Expectations are low.) Selected the .deb file option from the dropdown list. The installer complained about "wrong architecture." FAIL.
A search for "install flash 64-bit linux" found http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10_64bit.html, with instructions to download a tarball of a beta 64-bit version of Flash Player 10. Adobe provides no help about what to do with the tarball's contents. I found several threads about problems with multimedia on Ubuntu, and surmised that plugins might belong in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins. I unpacked the tarball and copied libflashplayer.so to that location, then restarted Firefox. Youtube videos then played normally.
3. Preferences
In Firefox, I went to Edit > Preferences.
* On the Main tab, under Startup, for the When Firefox starts dropdown, I selected "Show a blank page."
* On the Main tab, under Downloads, I left the default setting of "Desktop" for Save files to. Previously, I had a downloads directory under /home. Now I think that was only an invitation to be lazy. If downloaded file icons appear on my desktop, it's an incentive to put them where they really belong or delete them.
* On the Main tab, under Location Bar, set "...suggest" to "Bookmarks". When I had it set to "History and Bookmarks" it tended to be too cluttered to be useful after several hours online. This way, I can whitelist useful sites by adding them to my bookmarks.
* On the Privacy tab, under History, I deselected "Keep my history..." and "Remember what I enter..." and left "Remember what I've downloaded" selected. I don't use the history to find sites I've visited before. To me, the other options are more distracting than useful. I like simplicity.
* On the Privacy tab, under Private Data, I selected "Always clear...when I close..." and deselected "Ask me..." In Settings I left the default selections.
* On the Security tab, under Passwords, I deselected "Remember passwords for sites." This is a laptop, and there is a risk of identity theft or other problems if people can discover passwords easily. Besides, if I have to enter passwords every time, I'm less likely to forget them.
* On the Advanced tab, under Browsing, I deselected "Check my spelling as I type." Another distraction of dubious value.
* On the Tabs tab, selected "When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately". Why else would I open a link, besides wanting to read it? What were they thinking when they defined this default?
4. Add-ons
* From http://www.xmarks.com installed the XMarks plugin. When you complete the installation, it walks you through a series of dialogs to help you get set up. I logged in with my XMarks account and told it to "Keep data on the server; discard data on this computer." This was the first time I had used the service in this way. It worked perfectly.
* From http://readitlaterlist.com/firefox/, installed Read It Later. It did not recognize the Read It Later folder in Bookmarks, and thought I had no entries. After searching for help on that without success, I decided there was no need to keep those bookmarks anyway. I had marked them to read later, but had never bothered to do so. They must not have been important after all.
I didn't bother with all the add-ons for development and testing, email notification, and so forth. I'll add them as I find I need them. I think I got carried away with add-ons last time around. Clean start this time.
Next: Reinstalling some favorite apps after reinstalling Ubuntu
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