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Mozilla's rapid release train has pulled into the station on time, with the fifth major Firefox browser release of 2011. Firefox 8 is being released today, providing developers with new capabilities and offering users more security via a new add-ons policy."We're proud of the way Firefox continues to move the web forward in this release," Gavin Sharp, Firefox engineer and the Firefox module owner told InternetNews.com. "Our support for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) in WebGL lets developers build incredible 3D experiences on the Web in a secure way."Sharp noted that Firefox 8 also introduces a simpler way for HTML5 applications...

Part 1 It has been a year since I have talked about securing browsers against privacy invasion. In that time, things have got worse, not better. In addition to the threat of malware and malicious scripts, we have the frightening new evercookie. Leaving the criminal misuse of tracking for a later date, there is plenty to worry about from the use – and misuse – of our personal data by legitimate organisations. Advertisers are getting aggressive, and the techniques in use require a stalwart defence if we hope to retain our privacy. Hello Mr Yakamoto and welcome back to the...

Summary: Microsoft is trying again to con people into thinking that Internet Explorer is the safest browser around. It’s not. At best, it’s tied with Chrome. According to Microsoft, Chrome on Linux only gets a 2.5 for security! Microsoft has always been fond of paying analysts to say that its products are best, or having partners release reports showing how their rivals’ products are second-rate, and, now, Web sites that “show” how Internet Explorer (IE) is better than Chrome and Firefox when it comes to security. Really? Didn’t Microsoft just release yet another major Internet Explorer patch? I quote from...

A friend of mine just got a Visio WiFi TV. He set it up according to instructions and it will stream from the WiFi but only what is listed on the "Widgets." He would like to be able to go to a regular website like HULU or GBTV and stream from there like he can do on his computer. We looked around on what is available for download but couldn't find a browser anywhere. I can connect my laptop and use the TV like a monitor but that kind of defeats the purpose of having an internet TV. Please help.

Little help here please. After the latest automatic update, Firefox refuses to run on my computer (Win XP Pro). I have tried everything I can think of but it just will not run. Firefox is set as the default browser on my computer but will not start by clicking the desktop shortcut, or from the start menu. I have tried starting it from the Run command line and by going into the file manager and starting it from program files. Nothing. Thanks for any help anyone can offer. I have uninstalled, reinstalled and rebooted several times - no joy. While...

Little help here please. After the latest automatic update, Firefox refuses to run on my computer (Win XP Pro). I have tried everything I can think of but it just will not run. Firefox is set as the default browser on my computer but will not start by clicking the desktop shortcut, or from the start menu. I have tried starting it from the Run command line and by going into the file manager and starting it from program files. Nothing. Thanks for any help anyone can offer. I have uninstalled, reinstalled and rebooted several times - no joy. While...

Does anyone know why my browser, which is IE7, is not loading the updated versions of some websites? (e.g., HotAir, local news stations) In the case of HotAir, it's loading a page from 2010! I am thinking that the obvious solution would be to download the newer version of IE; however, I am at work, and for some reason they do not allow us to download anything newer. Thanks.

At Mozilla the trains run on time. The open source group is out with its second rapid release browser today, providing users with improved functionality and performance.Firefox 6, which is being officially released by Mozilla today, follows Firefox 5, which debuted in July. Both Firefox 5 and 6 are part of Mozilla's new rapid release cycle, which aims to deliver more browser updates with incremental features. Previously Mozilla had released major browser update on a less predictable cycle with long with development cycles of a year or longer in between releases.While the new rapid release cycle does not present the...

Just three months after Mozilla pushed out what was its final big beast of a browser release in the form of the long-awaited Firefox 4, the next iteration of its popular surfing tool is now available online. Firefox 5, as it has been sensibly named, can be downloaded for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android platforms. Few major tweaks have been slotted into this release, which is hardly surprising given the fast, splatter-gun style of updating Mozilla code. The iterate-big-or-die cultural shift inside the open source browser outfit's Towers comes in clear acknowledgement of Google's Chrome schedule. It may be mirroring...

Abstract. We investigate the degree to which modern web browsers are subject to "device fingerprinting" via the version and con figurtion information that they will transmit to websites upon request. We implemented one possible fingerprinting algorithm, and collected these fingerprints from a large sample of browsers that visited our test site, panopticlick.eff.org. We observe that the distribution of our fingerprint contains at least 18.1 bits of entropy, meaning that if we pick a browser at random, at best we expect that only one in 286,777 other browsers will share its fingerprint. Among browsers that support Flash or Java, the situation...

Microsoft may have seen fit to boast about the 2.35 million downloads its new Internet Explorer 9 browser received in its first 24 hours, but Mozilla's Firefox 4 has since essentially blown such figures out of the water. In fact, not only did Firefox 4 claim a million downloads in its first three hours and almost 7 million in its first day--surpassing by far Internet Explorer 9--but by Wednesday, the day after its official release, it had already claimed almost 2 percent of the worldwide Internet browser market, according to research firm StatCounter.

Help make the next version of the world’s best browser.

I think that I am going to switch browsers from IE8 [since I am having an annoying little problem with it]. Will keep IE as a backup. Now, what should I use? I have heard a few nasty things about Opera, so I am considering between FireFox and Chrome. Any thoughts ???

It’s common knowledge that almost every single geek hates Internet Explorer with a passion, but have you ever wondered why? Let’s take a fair look at the history and where it all began… for posterity, if nothing else.Contrary to what you might think, this article is not meant to be a hate-fest on Internet Explorer—in fact, we’re pretty impressed with the hardware acceleration and new features in Internet Explorer 9—but keep reading for the whole story. In the Beginning There Was IE, and It Was Good? We’ve all been so used to thinking of Internet Explorer as that slow, buggy...

Firefox developers say they're close to plugging an information leakage hole that has plagued every major browser for more than a decade. The cascading style sheets history attack makes it easy for web masters to compile vast lists of links visitors have previously viewed. It exploits technology in virtually every browser that causes visited links to be displayed in purple rather than blue. Mozilla has classified the weakness as a bug since at least 2002. But fixing it has proved to be a vexing problem, largely because programmers didn't know how to close the hole without breaking key web functionality....

Two researchers yesterday won $10,000 each at the Pwn2Own hacking contest by bypassing important security measures of Windows 7. Both Peter Vreugdenhil of the Netherlands and a German researcher who would only identify himself by the first name Nils found ways to disable DEP (data execution prevention) and ASLR (address space layout randomization), which are two of Windows 7's most vaunted anti-exploit features. Each contestant faced down the fully-patched 64-bit version of Windows 7 and came out a winner. Vreugdenhil used a two-exploit combination to circumvent first ASLR and then DEP to successfully hack IE8. A half-hour later, Nils bypassed...

If you're having trouble with Firefox 3.6 freezing up while you're trying to scroll down through a webpage, try going to the Firefox help page and update your Quicktime plug-in software to the latest version. That update fixed the problem for me. EOM

News of a newly discovered bug in VBScript and Windows Help files in Internet Explorer that could allow a remote attacker to run an arbitrary command has reached Microsoft on Friday and they immediately sat down to investigate the matter. After two days, they confirmed that this vulnerability "could allow an attacker to host a maliciously crafted web page and run arbitrary code if they could convince a user to visit the web page and then get them to press the F1 key in response to a pop up dialog box", but that there has been no news about attacks...

BRUSSELS – Some 100 million Europeans using Microsoft software will be asked to choose among rival Web browsers by mid-May under a deal the company struck to settle antitrust action, the European Union said Tuesday. Microsoft Corp. is starting this month to send updates to Windows computers in Europe so that when computer users log on, they will see a pop-up screen asking them to pick one or more of 12 free Web browsers to download and install, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The EU's executive commission said giving consumers the chance to try an alternative to Explorer, which comes with...

Im getting tired of the errors and such on my IE browser. I hear Firefox is good... Any comments would be appreciated.

If you go by conventional thinking Internet Explorer 8 is the slowest of the current web browsers, followed by Opera, with Firefox in third place, Safari taking the silver and Google Chrome leaping ahead in first. Time for a rethink. Opera has announced v10.5 of its browser this week in an ‘alpha’ format (read: this isn’t even beta yet, casual users stay away). Despite this, however, it represents a potential game changing update for the company. According to the respected benchmark of suites run by specialist site betanews.com Opera 10.5 not only boosts the speed of its web browsing performance,...

It's possible to legislate so that Web Browsers have to use an IMG/EMBED/OBJECT attribute that defines the promiscuity or Content Filter level of each image or video, between 1 and 10 or a similar rating, in the HTML code of each website. Websites which don't include this attribute for each image/video would be blocked by gateway internet filters - similar to what Squidguard or IPCop-URLfilter do, or the Australian filter, and the filters can limit the level of promiscuous images for selected domains. Child porn, violence, beastiality, etc can then be most readily filtered out, particularly for children. If websites...

Just wondering... My EeePC needs an updated browser and I was wondering how this would work. I'm Linux challenged, and don't even know how to install it.

Before my upgrade, a right click on the mouse over a highlighted misspelled word gave me a list of alternative spelling. Now, it pastes the last thing I copied. I'd like to get back to spell checking, any ideas.

I need help!!!! After much back and forth with other browsers, I found that I needed to get back to IE7. So I installed it, but when I go to open it up, it appears for a split second and vanishes. So I have to revert to Firefox, which I am having other issues with. As usual, the Microsoft website was of little help (a few others had this problem, but the solutions were of no help). Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can fix this problem? Thanks in advance.

Developers of new web browsing software that flags questionable claims or outright lies on the web hope it will become a valuable tool to deal with the misinformation that litters the Internet. But observers say Dispute Finder, an experimental browser extension developed by Intel, and the many websites that already aim to debunk online rumours and falsehoods face an enormous task. It isn't as easy as simply telling someone they're wrong. Once installed, Dispute Finder highlights in red what it determines are disputed claims on websites, then offers users links to alternative points of view and evidence to back them...

Security researchers have published details of a security flaw that can crash multiple browsers across multiple platforms. There are many more flaws out there that are more serious, but the security shortcomings in JavaScript's DOM (Document Object Model) are nonetheless noteworthy because the issue affects Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome and Internet Explorer to a lesser or greater extent. Even smartphones, such as the iPhone and Nokia N95, as well at the Sony PS3 might be forced to crash using the approach, obliging users to reset devices. The flaw works by tricking a browser into allocating huge chunks of memory, behaviour...

It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be. Google...

"It's seriously bugged is what it is," posted Jeremy in a July 1 post on hothardware.com." "My Firefox load time went from a heartbeat or two to 50-60 seconds. First time, second time, didn't matter if it was pre-fetched or not. Numerous other people having the same issue as well judging from their forum. "I've seen the same issue on both on my Vista x64 machine and my XP machine at work," added Jeremy."I downgraded both and am back to happy browsing. Hopefully Firefox 3.5.1 hits soon and resolves whatever the issue is." TGDaily.com is reporting that Mozilla Firefox 3.5.1...

A Norwegian firm has created technology that allows a Web browser to also function as a Web server, allowing individuals to share their files or communicate with others directly from their own computers. Opera Software's new technology is available as part of a beta for its browser, Opera 10. The feature, called Opera Unite, enables users to push content and establish communications without the need for third-party companies, such as Facebook, AOL or Flickr. Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner called it a giant leap in the Internet, dubbing it Web 5.0. "We're enabling every single user, every single computer to...

On the information highway that is the Internet, browsers could be likened to your preferred mode of transport How fast they run and how stable they are makes a significant difference to your daily online experience. The main players recognize the importance of the browser market, and all are competing to become your preferred means of accessing and experiencing the Internet. Therefore, it is well worth periodically revisiting each of the main competitors, exploring what the latest version of each browser has to offer and comparing them to one another. Google's Chrome As would be expected from the online search...

Features in Internet Explorer and Firefox run neck and neck. Will a victor emerge? It may come down to convenience.Every day I sit at my computer and open two browsers: Firefox and Internet Explorer (first 6, then 7 and, as of late, 8). ... Firefox opens my Yahoo and Gmail mail accounts. Internet Explorer is aimed at my banking and stock trading accounts. ... ... I made up my mind to drop Firefox altogether. [Then] Yesterday morning, I found out that Firefox released the 3.5 beta (4), and many features are the same as in IE8. IE8 has a feature...

OverviewThe first beta release of IE8, which was demonstrated at the MIX08 conference, contained many new features, including WebSlices and Activities. In the second beta release, Activities were renamed to Accelerators. Added featuresSome of the features and changes for the Beta 2 compared to Beta 1InPrivateDelete Browsing HistorySearch SuggestionsUser Preference ProtectionCaret BrowsingAccelerators (previously known as Activities)Web Slices (previously known as WebSlices)Suggested SitesTab Color GroupingAutomatic Crash RecoverySmartScreen Filter (Known as Safety Filter in Beta 1)Tab isolation (tabs spread over separate operating system processes) Removed featuresInline AutoCompleteThe option to delete files and settings stored by addons or ActiveX controls.CSS Expressions are no...

Microsoft Corp. is taking the unusual step of issuing an emergency fix for a security hole in its Internet Explorer software that has exposed millions of users to having their computers taken over by hackers. The "zero-day" vulnerability, which came to light last week, allows criminals to take over victims' machines simply by steering them to infected Web sites; users don't have to download anything for their computers to get infected, which makes the flaw in Internet Explorer's programming code so dangerous. Internet Explorer is the world's most widely used Web browser. Sponsored Links (Ads by Google) Security for Your...

Microsoft will issue an emergency security patch Wednesday for all versions of Internet Explorer. The patch is considered a critical fix for the security flaw currently plaguing the IE browser. So far, more than 2 million computers are believed to have been infected.

How did this happen? Today I downloaded and installed Mozilla Firefox 3.0. Mozilla had been nagging me for some time to do this, so I finally figured that today I had time, and I went ahead with it. I have been a Firefox user for a few years and have had zero trouble with it. As I was messing around with it late this evening I found that the homepage icon on the toolbar was connected to "My Barack Obama.com". Imagine my disgust. I have NEVER visited this site in my life, and I certainly did not choose this as...

Excerpt - Google have announced plans to take on Microsoft and Firefox with their own open-source browser, codenamed Chrome, by releasing a specially drawn comic by Scott McCloud explaining the app. Based on the existing Webkit rendering engine, Chrome will integrate not only tab-based browsing but Google Gears and a newly integrated search and address system called Omnibox. ~ snip ~

Microsoft released a web browser on Wednesday that includes a feature that could affect the advertising model of internet rivals such as Google.

In his free time, 'Rick752' helps millions skip banners and pop-ups. Should a $40 billion industry be scared?Jumpy, blinking Internet ads really bug "Rick752". But he doesn't merely avert his gaze. A machinist and self-described "blue-collar guy" in his mid-50s from upstate New York, Rick752, as he's known online, spends most nights upstairs in his den assembling a list of Internet ad sites and related data. That work, dubbed EasyList, enables millions of Web surfers to filter and freeze out nearly all advertising that would otherwise appear on their screens. Yet the effort to block millions of Internet ads, while...

Yesterday all was fine, today, on FreeRepublic and only on FreeRepublic. The text doesn't fit in my browser window, I have to keep scrooling back and forth to read it. Any suggestions?

Standards, standards, standards. That's the general theme of a video about the next version of Internet Explorer, which will unsurprisingly be called IE8. Details thus far have been scarce, but in a half-hour video with IE's GM Dean Hachamovitch and Architect Chris Wilson produced by Microsoft's Channel 9, the two discuss the importance of standards, compatibility and interoperability with the upcoming browser. We also get a (faraway) sneak peak at a development build of the new hush-hush browser. The key takeaway? IE will finally be able to render the Acid 2 test correctly, which has historically been one of the...

After seeing Mozilla recommended on FR over IE I decided to try it. My reason was dissatisfaction with IE7 in that I got many "Explorer has detected a problem and must close" messages. After installing Mozilla I noticed one thing that puzzles me. When visiting forums that have HTML tags in their menu bar on the posting page, I noticed that when using Mozilla this option is gone and the tags must be manually assigned as we do here on FR. Can any of you explain why this is happening and how to correct it, if it can be corrected.

A new version of the Firefox browser, now available for testing mainly by developers, offers improvements on finding frequently visited Web sites and tools for running Web applications without a live Internet connection. The Beta 1 version of Firefox 3 released this week still has problems, including the inability to run newer Web-mail programs from Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and a final version for consumers isn't expected for several months. But it offers a window on what's to come. Many of its new features concern bookmarks, an area typically slow to change in the browsing world. You can...

In a public mea culpa, Mozilla Corp.'s chief security officer acknowledged today that Firefox includes the same flaw that the company called a "critical vulnerability" in Internet Explorer during a two-week ruckus over responsibility for a Windows zero-day bug. "Over the weekend, we learned about a new scenario that identifies ways that Firefox could also be used as the entry point," said Window Snyder of Mozilla. "While browsing with Firefox, a specially crafted URL could potentially be used to send bad data to another application. "We thought this was just a problem with IE," Snyder continued. "It turns out, it...

Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.5 has been released and is currently being distributed to Firefox 2 users via the application's built-in software update system. The browser upgrade fixes several security bugs, which are detailed in the Firefox 2.0.0.5 section of the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories page. Firefox 2.0.0.5 includes a fix for the firefoxurl:// security exploit, which allows an attacker to use Microsoft Internet Explorer to trick Firefox into executing malicious code. Whether Firefox or IE is responsible for the flaw has been a matter of debate over the past week. The Mozilla Foundation security advisory about the firefoxurl:// issue maintains that...

Tech help needed, browsers will not open any site but google...

Firefox Popup Blocker Allows Reading Arbitrary Local Files There is an interesting vulnerability in the default behavior of Firefox built-in popup blocker. This vulnerability, coupled with an additional trick, allows the attacker to read arbitrary user-accessible files on the system, and thus steal some fairly sensitive information Vulnerable Systems:  * Firefox version 1.5.0.9 For security reasons, Firefox does not allow Internet-originating websites to access the file:// namespace. When the user chooses to manually allow a blocked popup however, normal URL permission checks are bypassed. The attacker may fool the browser to parse a chosen HTML document stored on the local...

Firefox fans will be facing 2007 with more tranquillity than they did 2006. A year ago, it was clear that Firefox's free ride was about to end: after an astonishing five years of inactivity, Microsoft was finally launching an updated version of Internet Explorer. There seems little doubt that much of Firefox's success is down to the fact that Internet Explorer was so bad, both in terms of the eternal round of security problems and its general technical tiredness (half a decade is a very long time in computing.) Potentially, them, the appearance of Internet Explorer 7 could have marked...

I was anticipating upgrading to Firefox Version 2.0 as there have been some good reviews out there. However, my version 1.5.0.7 does not show that an update is available. I did some checking on the Mozilla site and the update is out there. However, users are having a host of problems with the installation, lost bookmarks, freezes, slow operation, etc. I suggest that anyone who has not upgraded, wait a while or at least be aware that if you install it you may have problems like those shown at the Mozilla location.