Firefox 2.0 Debuts Tuesday (October 24, 2006)

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | October 21, 2006 | Dan Richman

[quidnunc]

Firefox 2.0, the foremost rival to Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser, is set for release Tuesday afternoon, said its producer, the not-for-profit Mozilla Corp.

The free 5-megabyte browser, available in 39 languages for Windows, Mac and Linux computers, will be downloadable from getfirefox.com, the Mountain View, Calif., company said.

The new release of the two-year-old product includes new features but strives to retain its simplicity of design and operation, Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's vice president of engineering, said earlier this week.

It incorporates anti-phishing technology to prevent the deceptive disclosure of personal information. It restores windows, tabs, in-progress downloads and text typed into online forms if any of those are interrupted by a system crash. And it corrects the spelling of words entered on Web pages.

Version 2.0 also improves on the tabbed-windows interface that Mozilla innovated and that Microsoft introduced for the first time last week with IE7, its biggest upgrade since 2001.

-snip-

[quidnunc]

That Fedora project looks a little iffy for non-experts.

If you are looking for an alternate Mac browser you might want to look at Camino, which is Mac specific.

[TomServo]

Breaking News? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

[N3WBI3]

insert disk into pc, clik ok ok ok yes ok ok ....

Yea its real iffy ;)

[KoRn]

I almost always avoid any *.0 version of anything, but after testing it out at the office Firefox 2.0 is a must!! Lots of great additional features on top of an already solid browser!

[zeugma]

It sounds to me like rc3 is going to be the new "gold" release. That means I've been running 2.0 for a couple of days already, and can avoid the rush. :-)

[AZRepublican]

Can't go wrong with firefox....I use it more than opera now....although Lynx will always have a place in my heart.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

I like firefox and use it. One of the biggest gripes I have in realtion to the Mozilla suite is that firefox makes it so hard to re-enable cookies at a site that has been blocked. In Mozilla you can just click a button that says "re-enable cookies for this site". or "unblock this site" or whatever it is. In firefox you have to figure out the address for the cookie and copy and paste it into a dialog box. Or you can go through a list of zillions of cookies on the block list and try to find it. I don't know why they decided to make it so hard in firefox.

Here you go. This extension will place a little "C" in your status bar. It gives you control over cookies with just a simple mouse click. The colour of the letter changes depending on cookie status for the site.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

....although Lynx will always have a place in my heart.

i've been spoiled. Got too used to the mouse. Go through shock when i have to use the (GASP!) keyboard for anything except typing these days. That said, Lynx is great for dialup and for things like Drudge, it's a must.

[Quix]

Have installed it and am using it with several ad-ons.

How secure is it?

I have SYSTEM MECHANIC latest with Kaspersky Anti-virus.

Anything I need to be careful to do or not do?

[quidnunc]

Quix wrote: (1) How secure is it? (2) Anything I need to be careful to do or not do? 1. I have a Mac so it's pretty secure, but I can't speak to MS machines.

2. I don't know.

[Quix]

Dear DL,

Can you help me out on these questions? Have just installed it.

1) How secure is it?

2) Anything I should be careful to do right away; or not do?

I have the latest SYSTEM MECHANIC software; and Kaspersky Anti-Virus that came with it.

[psychoknk]

Firefox 2.0 has been ready for months

No it hasn't. They have had betas and release candidates available for months, but then again, so has IE7.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Quix,

As far as your questions go, i have not installed Firefox 2.0 as of yet. i will wait for the YaST2 Online Update to install it, probably in early November (i run SuSE Linux 9.2 Professional).

What i would recommend is that you check out the known security issues in Firefox 1.5.0.7 (the last stable release), and assess your risks from there. It is known that some security issues were patched in Firefox 2.0. At present though, i have not read any documentation on that issue.

i'm a bit curious that you would consider risks in light of the known security risks of the most popular alternative (Internet Explorer).

Sorry that i could not be of more help. If i find any information, i will forward it to you.

The Kaspersky Anti-Virus is supposed to be pretty good. As far as i am aware, Firefox has always 'played nice' with any anti-virus or anti-spyware software on the market. i've used System Mechanic on Windows machines, and have never had a problem with any iteration of the Firefox browser. Never had a virus get though, aside from one of the first boot sector virii that ever existed...got that from an old floppy i had laying around. It was cured with a simple DOS command.

However as added protection, you may wish to add SPYWARE BLASTER, a freeware application that prevents malware from installing in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. There are no checks to run. Merely update the definitions and enable protection for all unprotected applications. It also blocks tracking cookies in Internet Explorer.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Forgot to mention...If using Windows, you may wish to download and use MozBackup to create a backup copy of your Firefox Profile. This will minimise difficulties if your profile folder should become corrupted. Your Bookmarks, Extensions, and cookies are saved, and can be restored. Unfortunately, it only works in Windows at this time. It also works for the Thunderbird Email client.

[Chasaway]

bookmark

[LiberationIT]

Pardon me for jumping in...

You'd be downloading from Mozilla's FF site.

BTW - I've been using FF2 for a few weeks now - no problems. I like it.

Regards.

[Vinnie]

Since you know your way around Mozilla maybe you can help me with a Thunderbird problem that is really bugging me.

When I bring up 'write' in T'bird, it has my contacts in a left-hand window.
The window is clipped on the right-hand side, so I can't see the entire e-mail ad.
That's not a problem but the slide to go to more contacts is also hidden.
I can enlarge the window, and it will stay enlarged for that session, but I can't find where or if I can make the enlarged format the default.

It bugs me that I have to drag the right side of the window so I can scroll down.

Did I make that understandable?

[Quix]

Thanks tons.

I have Spy Sweeper. Will check out the freeware you've mentioned though I'm somewhat allergic to freeware from past problems with lots of it.

I realize FireFox is loads better than IE generally. Just had gathered, that like all human indeavors, it wasn't perfect either. Figured you'd know more than most.

Thanks much.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

When I bring up 'write' in T'bird, it has my contacts in a left-hand window.
The window is clipped on the right-hand side, so I can't see the entire e-mail ad.
That's not a problem but the slide to go to more contacts is also hidden.
I can enlarge the window, and it will stay enlarged for that session, but I can't find where or if I can make the enlarged format the default.

i don't use the kind of display that you describe. It may possibly be that the 'skin' that you're using for Thunderbird causes difficulties. It may not work perfectly. i am using a 'Walnut' skin for both Thunderbird and Firefox, and have not had a problem.

Try and switch to the default theme, and see if the same problem exists.

[RayChuang88]

I'm holding off getting Firefox 2.0 until most of the major extensions and themes actually work with Firefox 2.0. I got burned big time switching from Firefox 1.0.7 to 1.5, which caused no end of problems because I had to wait a while for the extensions and updates to work with Firefox 1.5.