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"The final version of Mozilla Firefox 2.0 was slated for release tomorrow, but appears to already be available for download via releases.mozilla.org," MacNN reports. "Firefox 2.0 features built-in anti-phishing controls, built-in RSS and XML feed-viewing capabilities, and a new inline spell checker. Further Firefox 2.0 features include the ability to create bookmarks with "Live Titles" for websites that offer "microsummaries," a new Add-ons manager that simplifies management of extensions as well as themes, and support for Javascript 1.7." Download link for Firefox 2.0 for Windows Download link for Firefox 2.0 for Mac OS X

Not to be outdone by Microsoft's recent release of Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla will release the second major version of its rival Firefox browser on Tuesday, October 24. According to Mozilla Vice President of Products Christopher Beard, Firefox 2.0, which should be available on Tuesday if all goes according to schedule, includes key new usability features missing in the new IE 7. (Read PC World's comparative review of IE 7 and Firefox 2.) Updated Mozilla Features Mozilla has also enhanced the popular tabbed browsing feature in 2.0 that Firefox introduced when it emerged two years ago as the first significant...

Less than 24 hours after the launch of Internet Explorer 7, security researchers are poking holes in the new browser. Danish security company Secunia ApS reported Thursday that IE7 contains an information disclosure vulnerability, the same one it reported in IE6 in April. The vulnerability affects the final version of IE7 running on Windows XP with Service Pack 2. If a surfer uses IE7 to visit a maliciously crafted Web site, that site could exploit the security flaw to read information from a separate, secure site to which the surfer is logged in. That could enable an attacker to read...

Microsoft on Wednesday launched the first major update to Internet Explorer in five years, and posted the new browser for Windows XP to a download site. IE 7, which has was announced in February 2005 by chairman Bill Gates, has been touted by the company as a significant update in the areas of security and usability. The interface has been streamlined and tabs have been added to compete with rivals such as Mozilla's Firefox and Opera's flagship browser. On the security front, IE 7 adds anti-phishing defenses as well as additional features to control ActiveX controls, which historically have been...

Microsoft on Tuesday broke with its regular security update schedule for only the second time this year to issue a patch for a critical Internet Explorer vulnerability that's been exploited for more than a week. MS06-055 provides a fix for the flaw in IE 5.01 and IE 6.0, Microsoft said in the accompany bulletin, and should be applied immediately. The Redmond, Wash. developer pegged the bug as "Critical," its most dire warning, for editions of IE running on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 machines. Windows Server 2003 SP1 is at slightly less risk. "An attacker who successfully...

Hacktivismo, a group of human-rights advocates and computer security experts, has released a Firefox-based browser designed to allow anonymous Web surfing. The Web browser, called "Torpark," is a modified version of Portable Firefox. Released last week, it can be run directly from a USB drive, meaning it can be used on public terminals in cybercafes. It creates an encrypted connection to the TOR (The Onion Router) network, which supplies a succession of different IP addresses. "Torpark causes the IP address seen by the Web site to change every few minutes, to frustrate eavesdropping and mask the requesting source," Hacktivismo said...

Although Microsoft has acknowledged that in-the-wild exploits are taking advantage of an unpatched flaw in Internet Explorer, the developer has not committed to cranking out a fix before next month's regularly-scheduled update on Oct. 10. Users who want to protect themselves now, however, do have options. Disable the vulnerable .dll: In the security advisory posted yesterday, Microsoft suggested that users can disable the vulnerable "Vgx.dll" from the command line. -- Click Start, choose Run, and then type -- regsvr32 -u "%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VGX\vgx.dll -- Click OK, then click OK again in the confirmation dialog that appears. To undo the command,...

An unpatched vulnerability in all editions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is being exploited, security researchers said Tuesday, with the attack dumping a broad range of adware, spyware, and Trojans onto PCs whose users simply surf to an infected or malicious site. First reported by Sunbelt Software -- although rival Internet Security Systems claimed it was the first to discover the bug -- the vulnerability is in how IE renders VML (Vector Mark-up Language), an extension of XML that defines on-the-Web images in vector graphics format. The previously unknown -- and thus unpatched -- bug inside IE is already being...

Firefox 1.5.0.7 is a security and stability update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version. * Improvements to product stability * Several security fixes Release Date: September 14, 2006

Mozilla has released Beta 2 of its upcoming Firefox 2 browser for developer review, which it said is being made available for testing purposes only. According to the developers, the release contains a number of new features, as well as some enhancements to look and feel, according to eWEEK: "Firefox 2 Beta 2 is intended for Web application developers and our testing community. Current users of Firefox 1.x should not use Firefox 2 Beta 2 and expect all of their extensions and plugins to work properly." The report notes that the final Firefox 2.0 is expected to be completed in...

After a brief period of little growth this spring, The Mozilla Foundation’s open-source Firefox Web browser is again gaining ground on Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer (IE). In its latest study on Web browser usage, Netherlands-based OneStat.com said Sunday that Firefox gained 1.14 percent in June and is now used by 12.93 percent of surfers. That’s up from 11.79 percent who used Firefox in May, while IE use declined by 2.12 percent to 83.05 percent. “We thought that Firefox growth had slowed down,” said Niels Brinkman, a co-founder of OneStat.com. “It seems it’s increasing again. That’s a little bit of a...

NEW YORK (AP) - The major Web browsers are getting facelifts as they increasingly become the focal point for handling business transactions and running programs over the Internet rather than simply displaying Web sites. The upgrades are the latest skirmish in the browser war that started in the mid-1990s and led to Microsoft's triumph over Netscape. The battles reignited in 2004, when Mozilla's Firefox launched and revealed new avenues of development.On Tuesday, Opera Software ASA is releasing its Opera 9 browser, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Firefox are in line for major overhauls later this year. The most anticipated update...

Multiple security organizations warned Tuesday that Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, and SeaMonkey -- on Windows, Linux, and the Mac -- are vulnerable to a JavaScript bug that could allow a determined attacker to dupe users into giving up sensitive personal information such as credit card or bank account numbers and passwords. According to Symantec, which issued an alert late afternoon Tuesday, all versions of the Microsoft and Mozilla browsers could be used to harvest data through a JavaScript key-filtering vulnerability. "This issue is triggered by utilizing JavaScript 'OnKeyDown' events to capture and duplicate keystrokes from users," went the Symantec warning....

Mozilla.org today released Firefox 1.5.0.4, an important security update to the open-source browser. The update fixes 12 different security issues, including a privilege escalation using addSelectionListener and XUL persist, website XSS using BOM on UTF-8 pages, file stealing by changing input type, a buffer overflow in crypto.signText() funcion, HTTP response smuggling, and fixes for crashes with potential memory corruption.

This time next year, if you find yourself using and liking Internet Explorer 7, thank the volunteers at the Mozilla project. The release of Mozilla Firefox 1.0 roughly 18 months ago marked the beginning of a downhill slide for Internet Explorer in both market share and mindshare. After a series of solid and reliable updates, Firefox is, in nearly every category, a better browser than Internet Explorer 6. The rise of the open source browser was a wake-up call for Microsoft's developers. Having Firefox as a target inspired sweeping changes for Internet Explorer, whose basic interface and core features were...

Internet users were given a peek yesterday at a revamped version of Microsoft Corporation's Internet Explorer, a response to criticism that the most popular tool for Web surfing and hacking made users vulnerable to the Internet's dangers and caused them to defect to alternative browsers.Earlier versions of Internet Explorer, which comes standard on most Windows computers, are still how most users access and view Web pages. But being the leader in the browser game -- with almost 85 percent market share -- means that it's also the most vulnerable to malicious programs such as viruses, worms and phishing scams. That,...

Something nobody thought of: Sure, Mozilla deletes various sensitive information at the click of a button, but where you've been browsing is hidden elsewhere in a useful feature. Here's the bug: ------------------------------------- This privacy flaw has caused my fiancé and I to break-up after having dated for 5 years. Basically, we share one computer but under separate Windows XP user accounts. We both use Mozilla Firefox -- well, he used to use it more than I do but now we don't really use it. The privacy flaw is this: when he went to log-in under his dating sites (jdate.com, swinglifestyle.com,...

What's New in Firefox 1.5.0.2 Firefox 1.5.0.2 provides native support for Macintosh with Intel Core processors, and stability and security enhancements that are part of our ongoing program to provide a safer Internet experience for our users. We recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest version. Here's what's new in Firefox 1.5.0.2: Universal Binary support for Mac OS X which provides native support for Macintosh with Intel Core processors. Firefox supports the enhancements to performance introduced by the new MacIntel chipsets. Improvements to product stability. Several security fixes. The Burning Edge has more detailed lists of notable bug...

Last month, security researcher HD Moore decided to write a simple program that would mangle the code found in web pages and gauge the effect such data would have on the major browsers. The result: hundreds of crashes and the discovery of several dozen flaws. The technique - called packet, or data, fuzzing - is frequently used to find flaws in network applications. Moore and others are now turning the tool on browsers to startling results. In a few weeks, the researcher had found hundreds of ways to crash Internet Explorer and, to a lesser extent, other browsers. In another...

Mozilla.org's open-source Firefox browser has grabbed 10 percent of the Web browser market. Data released yesterday by Web audience-measurement firm NetApplications.com show that just over 10 percent of users use the Firefox browser, up almost 2.5 percent from from February. Microsoft's Internet Explorer led all browsers with 84.7 percent of users in March, while Apple's Safari browser was third with 3.2 percent. Computerworld reports that "in the past year, Firefox has gained 3.3 percent share while introducing Version 1.5 of the browser with improved features. Internet Explorer has lost 3.9 percent as users wait for Internet Explorer 7, which boasts...