New Firefox Web browser to be released Tuesday

One News Now ^ | June 12, 2008 | Anick Jesdanun (Associated Press)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

A new version of the Firefox Web browser is scheduled for release Tuesday with improvements in security, speed and design.

Many of the enhancements in Firefox 3 involve bookmarks. The new version lets Web surfers add keywords, or tags, to sort bookmarks by topic. A new "Places" feature lets users quickly access sites they recently bookmarked or tagged and pages they visit frequently but haven't bookmarked.

There's also a new star button for easily adding sites to your bookmark list-similar to what's already available on Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer 7 browser.

Other new features include the ability to resume downloads midway if the connection is interrupted and an updated password manager that doesn't disrupt the log-in process.

Firefox also will start blocking rather than simply warning about sites known to engage in "phishing" scams that try to trick users into revealing passwords and other sensitive information. The new version adds protection from sites known to distribute viruses and other malicious software.

The list of suspicious sites come from Google Inc. and StopBadware.org, a project headed by legal scholars at Harvard and Oxford universities.

Security researchers who need access to problem sites can manually turn the feature off.

Firefox 3 also offers speed and design improvements-the back button is now larger than the forward button, for instance, because people tend to return to a previous page more often, said Mike Schroepfer, the project's vice president of engineering.

Firefox is the No. 2 Web browser behind Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer. It comes from Mozilla, an open-source community in which thousands of people, mostly volunteers, collectively develop free products.

Mozilla has been developing Firefox 3 for nearly three years and has been publicly testing it since November for Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

Its supporters are organizing launch parties around the world next week, and Mozilla is trying to set a world record for most software downloads in a 24-hour period.

Microsoft is currently testing Internet Explorer 8, while Opera Software ASA released Opera 9.5 on Thursday.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I like Firefox, personally. I use it at work. It usually doesn't freeze up or close itself due to an error the way Internet Explorer sometimes does.

[rabscuttle385]

Tech ping!

[uptoolate]

I like the “Restore Last Session” feature.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

That feature absolutely rules.

[andy58-in-nh]

I use Firefox almost exclusively, but the one complaint I have about it is the propensity toward “memory leaks”. It ends up committing way too much RAM, which I have tried to address (unsuccessfully to date) by creating new integer and Boolean values.

[mowowie]

the only reason i use IE 7 is for that little magnifier button on the lower left corner, It comes in handy.
I wonder if this new version will have that.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The new version is supposed to magnify both text and pictures when you hold down the CNTL key and spin the wheel on the mouse.

[CedarDave]

Another Firefox fan, especially with the extensions that make it easy to use FR. But it absolutely gags on many TV web sites with current video or live streaming radio. I gave up trying to nurse it and just use an add-on called IE View to go directly to IE-6 for viewing/listening.

[WackySam]

I use Firefox almost exclusively, but the one complaint I have about it is the propensity toward “memory leaks”. It ends up committing way too much RAM

I've noticed the same thing- It seems as though it grabs more memory each time you open a tab and doesn't let it go when you close the tab(s)

[CedarDave]

Beat me to it!!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I like Firefox, personally. I use it at work.

Same here.

The only problem I have on my Win2k3 box at work is that after an hour or so, the memory usage slowly balloons from the usual ~30Mb to over 150Mb. It really slogs the machine....which doesn't have as much RAM as it should.

[Biblebelter]

I used to use Firefox, but I started using Safari in addition to Explorer instead. A lot of pages look better on Safari than Firefox.

[Shady]

I’m running Opera (9.5 today) Firefox, Safari and IE, all have advantages when you get a PC with some RAM!
All are cool!

[seowulf]

...an updated password manager that doesn't disrupt the log-in process.

That's been the one that's annoyed me most often.

[RayChuang88]

Good news—the Mozilla Foundation extensively changed the memory handling so Firefox 3.0 no longer “hogs” system RAM to cache web sites. After all, web site caching is less needed with more and more Internet users now on broadband connections.

[aft_lizard]

I hope they increase its security more, I got my first malware ever the other week on Vista using Firefox, IE blocked that site completely. As far as freeze ups etc you are right Firefox doesn’t crash as often but it most certainly does lock up, certain video players do muck it up. Frankly IE and Firefox both have their positives IMO, so I will download both when they come available.

[ETL]

Firefox-3 Release Notes:
http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.0rc3/releasenotes/

[andy58-in-nh]

That does sound promising. I’m looking forward to the release.

[ETL]

I wonder if it will have a zoom feature similar to IE7?

[TomGuy]

Set a Guinness World Record

Mozille/Firefox wants to break all download records with this release.

They want it to be Firefox Download Day (June 17).

http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord

[reg45]

I’m using Firefox 2.0.0.14 right now. I’ll upgrade to 3.0 RC on Tuesday. I switched to Firefox primarily because Netscape went belly up. The Mozilla family browsers (Firefox and Netscape) were the first to have tabbed browsing. I remember how much fun it was to bounce easily between web sites on election night 2004. I couldn’t do that with the Microsoft browser.

[babyfreep]

One thing I’ve never been able to figure out is how they make money off this.

[TomGuy]

That memory leaking has been a problem since around version 0.7.

I used to post on their forum about it, but gave up. They didn’t seem interested in fixing it and tried to blame it on the various extensions.

Some versions aren’t too bad.

I stopped upgrading at 2.0.0.11.

[SlapHappyPappy]

As long as they fix the damn memory leaks. The only problem I ever have with Firefox is when a long session ends up using 400 MB of my memory even with only one tab open.

[My hearts in London - Everett]

I love Firefox also. But I downloaded this thing called NoScript that is an addon for Firefox. I was ok with it at first, but now it’s blocking me from accessing my Yahoo mail. I’ve searched and cannot find how to uninstall it. It’s not listed on the Programs on the Control Panel. Anyone have any ideas? I’m considering that since the new version is coming out I’ll just uninstall the version I have now and download the new one. I’m hoping that will fix this irritation I’ve created for myself!

[armymarinemom]

I hope the new version will run better on my machine. Firefox crashes several times a day and all of the fixes mentioned on Mozilla’s site help.

[CedarDave]

Tools/Add-ons/NoScript/Uninstall

[My hearts in London - Everett]

Thank you so much! :~) New knowledge. Always a good thing!

[andy58-in-nh]

I have had NoScript for a long time and I like it. You may need to control it by clicking on the "S" at the icon at the bottom right of your screen and go to the "Options" menu. You can include Yahoo.com in your "whitelist" (assuming you access your mail in Firefox through the Yahoo Mail website). Another option would be to use Thunderbird (also a Mozilla product) as your mail client and use Yahoo's email client settings by adding the WebMail extension found here:

http://webmail.mozdev.org/index.html

[ETL]

I have FireFox-2 with Windows Vista, and to access Options, I click on Tools (near File, Edit and View on the tool bar). I don’t have an ‘S’ icon at the lower right.

[martin_fierro]

Foxmarks Bookmark Sync ROCKS!

[My hearts in London - Everett]

I was getting the hang of how it worked but it seemed that no matter what I tried, it kept blocking me from my mail! I OK’d Yahoo.com and it still wouldn’t let me in. Just before I uninstalled the NoScript I found I could access mail under Yahoo! on the Toolbar between Bookmarks and Tools, but not by clicking on Yahoo Mail under the Bookmarks column. Very weird.

[andy58-in-nh]

Go to the “View” Menu and click on “status bar” so that a check mark appears next to it. You should now have a visible bar at the bottom of the screen, on which the NoScript icon will be located. I use Windows XP, but I’m assuming the behavior would be the same for both operating systems.

[uptoolate]

Another option would be to use Thunderbird (also a Mozilla product) as your mail client and use Yahoo's email client settings by adding the WebMail extension found here:

I've been using Thunderbird and the free Yahoo e-mail. Is it still the case that YPOP'S is needed?

[ETL]

I have the status bar at the bottom of the screen, but there isn’t any ‘S’ icon or anything else permanently displayed on it. Doesn’t really matter anyway, since I can easily access the Option menu through Tools. Thanks, though.

[andy58-in-nh]

YPOPs is another email "gateway" program that can be used to access Yahoo's free e-mail using Thunderbird. I don't use Yahoo's email, so I can't answer whether such a program is still required but a quick browse through my bookmarked sites on email usage would tend to suggest that it is. I found a descriptive site for YPOPs here:

http://email.about.com/cs/winw2previews/gr/yahoopops.htm

[ShadowAce]

[Joya]

And if it does close, it “restores session” later.

[antiRepublicrat]

Good news! Although I’ve adopted my Mac’s Mail over Thunderbird, I still haven’t been able to get into using Safar, still preferring Firefox. This will probably seal Safari’s fate for me unless Apple pulls another surprise.

[antiRepublicrat]

One thing I’ve never been able to figure out is how they make money off this.

They get most of their money from Google for being the default search in the search bar and having a Google home page.

[LiberConservative]

IE is the best for seamless functionality and compatibility. Firefox is better only if you’re surfing for pron.

[KoRn]

Woohoo!

Firefox is the absolute best browser I have ever used, and I can’t wait for the new version. I haven’t yet tried it because I didn’t want to risk breaking any of my themes or addons.

Mozilla is hoping to break the record for downloads in a single day! I think they will make it easily!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/12/firefox_release_date/

[uptoolate]

Firefox is better only if you’re surfing for pron.

How so? Please do explain.

[uptoolate]

You wouldn’t happen to be a certain 9th circuit appellate judge, would you?

[My hearts in London - Everett]

heeheehee...;~)

[RichardW]

I’ve been using it a week now. Works great.

[peggybac]

I switched to Firefox almost a year ago and won’t go back to IE. The only complaint I have, and I think it is Microsoft, is my Hotmail inbox is harder to read than with IE. But that’s no big deal.

[shorty_harris]

Firefox is the best. I have Adblock Plus, NoScript, and Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer addons installed. Advertisements really bug me, especially flashing ones. With NoScript and AdBlock, I no longer see any advertisements. I can’t use any other browser now, I’ve gotten so spoiled.

[twntaipan]

I’ve been using Firefox 3.0 since beta 2 and it is INFINITELY better on memory management...I’ve had no memory leaks at all.

[river rat]

Has anyone found an easy method to create desktop shortcuts from Firefox?

I haven’t — and still go to IE just to create a damned desktop shortcut..