I have to admit that I am a person that NEEDS the status bar to be there at all times even though it can be disabled. When it comes to Windows operating system, one of the first configuration that I’ll do is to enable the Status bar by pressing pressing Alt+V in Explorer and click on the Status Bar to activate it. The same goes to web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. If you haven’t noticed, recently the Status bar feature is considered to be obsolete because it is taking up unnecessary space even though it’s only 25 pixels. The Status bar is not enabled by default in Windows 7 and even on the latest Internet Explorer 9. As for Windows 7, since the Details pane is enabled by default, there is no reason to have the status bar anymore.

In fact, you can’t even find a permanent status bar in Google Chrome and in the latest Firefox 4. The permanent status bar in Firefox 4 has been changed to show and hide when it is needed. For example when you move your mouse to a link, a temporary status bar shows the URL of the link that the mouse is hovered on, then hides away when you move your mouse away from the link. According to Firefox developers, the Status bar has been replaced with the Add-On bar which can be enabled from View > Toolbars > Add-On bar or press the hotkey Ctrl+/


When the Add-on bar is enabled, it shows the small icons of add-ons that you have installed in Firefox. However when you move the mouse cursor to a link, the URL temporarily shows up on top of the add-on bar, not inside the add-on bar.

I’ve received an email from Josh asking me if I know of a way to restore back the missing permanent status bar in Firefox 4. If you’re one of them like Josh, fortunately there is an easy way to do it without hacking the core of Firefox.

All you need to do is install the Add-on called Status-4-Evar which will bring back some of the old status bar items, giving you more control over the built-in Firefox features, and provide new alternatives.

1. In Firefox 4, simultaneously press Ctrl+Shift+A which will bring up the Add-ons Manager.
2. Type Status-4-Evar at the Search all add-ons bar at the top right and hit enter.
3. Click the Install button for Status-4-Evar and restart your Firefox 4 web browser.

Firefox 4 now shows the permanent status bar that you normally see in Firefox 3.