[Long Cut]

I switched to Firefox 8.0 after some advice from FReepers when I posted a thread about some particularly nasty browser hijackers. I haven't even recieved so much as a cookie I don't want since, and it is noticeably faster than IE besides.

I notice that Mozilla now has Firefox 9.0 out. Is it truly much better, and if I download it, will it simply replace the 8.0 I've got now? I am curious as I'm using a dialup and any such download takes quite a while.

[antiRepublicrat]

Is it truly much better, and if I download it, will it simply replace the 8.0 I've got now?

Sorry, can't help. This is my first use of Firefox. But it's a whole lot better than Mozilla 1.6.

[WTSand]

I just downloaded and installed Firefox 9.0. It's smaller (4.8 meg) than 8.0 and seems to run a bit faster There are a few glitches with some of the plugins but it has an update feature to fix them. I'm using it with Slackware (Linux) and Windows both with no problems. It's worth the upgrade.

[Eagle9]

I'm also using 0.8 and haven't decided whether to update to 0.9 or wait until 1.0 comes out. Regardless, here's the answer to your question about installing Firefox 0.9 over 0.8.
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Installing Firefox

Once you have downloaded a Firefox installer or compressed archive, follow these instructions to install:

First, for these preview releases it is strongly recommended that you uninstall any previous version of Firefox first. Installing over the top of an older version may cause unpredictable problems. If you install over the top of an older version and want to file bugs, please do a clean install into a fresh directory before doing so.

Windows

Double click the FirefoxSetup-0.9.exe installer to start the install.

NOTE - Do not install Firefox over the top of another Firefox installation. If you want to install Firefox 0.9 into the same folder that you had Firefox 0.8 in, uninstall Firefox 0.8 first. Upgrading will be fixed in a future release.

MacOS X

Double click the Firefox Compressed Disk Image to mount. Your browser may have already uncompressed the image and mounted it for you. Double click the Firefox 0.9 Disk Image and drag the Firefox application onto your hard disk. Drag the icon to your Dock if you want it to appear there.

Linux/GTK2

Extract the tarball and run the installer like so:

tar -xzvf firefox-0.9-i686-linux-gtk2+xft.tar.gz
cd firefox-0.9-i686-linux-gtk2+xft/
./firefox-installer

Other Platforms

Extract the compressed archive and run firefox

Uninstalling Firefox

To uninstall Firefox, follow these instructions:

Windows

From the Start menu, choose Control Panel. When the Control Panel appears, double click Add or Remove Programs. Find "Mozilla Firefox (0.9.)" in the list and click Remove to uninstall.

MacOS X

Drag the Firefox application to the Trash.

Others

Remove the firefox folder.

These instructions leave your profile in place in case you install Firefox again in the future. If you wish to remove your Firefox profile folder, follow these instructions:

Windows

Locate your Application Data folder, this is usually under Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data. You may need to make hidden files visible in Windows Explorer, since the Application Data folder is hidden. If your username is "Joe", and your Documents and Settings folder is on C:\, your profile folder is here: C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\Application Data\Firefox. Delete the Phoenix folder to remove your profile data.

MacOS X

Open the Library folder in your Home folder, and remove the Firefox folder. (~/Library/Firefox/).

Other

Remove ~/.firefox.

[ovrtaxt]

That hijack happened to me and my secretary about a week apart. Now, I run some pretty good security, and I don't generally go poking around the darker alleys of the web, so I was baffled as to how it happened.

I'm trying Mozilla.

[ShadowAce]

...if I download it, will it simply replace the 8.0 I've got now?

I'm not sure how the install under Windows works, as I run Linux, but it does work fine. I'm using 0.9 now, and only have one minor irritant--one of my favorite extensions is not yet ready for 0.9. Once that is in place, though, Firefox will be impossible to beat as a browser.

[Drammach]

Firefox 0.9 is only 4.5 MB... a relatively fast download even for dial-up..

There is a "windows installer" as well, and it's all pretty easy to do..
You DO have to uninstall 0.8 before installing 0.9 however.. ( unless you install to a NEW directory )
Use the program's uninstall, NOT the MS change/remove programs.. ( it will remove stuff you don't want removed.. )