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Firefox, the open source web browser from Mozilla, is continuing to grow at a phenomenal rate, and has now passed the 500 million download mark since its launch in November 2004. Mozilla is bizarrely celebrating by urging us all to donate some free rice. The Firefox browser made its debut in November 2004, and quickly established itself as a viable alternative to market leader, Internet Explorer from Microsoft. By February 2005, 25 million people had already downloaded the browser, and were talking up its speed and efficiency. The browser passed the 400 million download mark last September, and has managed...

Looks like Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 is trying to be forced on to one's computer. My updates just converted Explorer 6 to 7.

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.

"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

Microsoft's browser gets upgraded IE 7 will be the browser that ships with Windows Vista Microsoft has made Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) available to the general public.The new version is the first upgrade to the web browsing program for more than five years. New features include tabbed browsing, the ability to search the net directly and an anti-fraud system to thwart phishing attacks. The new program is available as a free download on 19 October, but many will get it as an automatic update to Windows XP in November. Phish fighter The new version of the browser has...

Users of earlier editions of Firefox 2.0 automatically began receiving updates to RC3 on Monday. Mozilla Corp. late Monday launched Firefox 2.0 Release Candidate 3 (RC3), likely the last test edition before the open-source browser's final hits the street. The last major update to Firefox was v. 1.5, which debuted in November 2005. Users of earlier editions of Firefox 2.0 began receiving the update to RC3 automatically Monday; others can download the third release candidate in verisons for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux from the Mozilla Web site. Firefox 2.0 features anti-phishing alerts, session restore, spell checking, suggested...

I have a two-year-old eMachine T3092 running Windows XP Home Edition. Over the past six months it has become progressively slower until it now takes 30-60 seconds to open a new screen or start an application. I use Norton Antivirus, Spy Sweeper, and BlackIce Firewall. I suspect the problem is simply too much extraneous crap in it. Is there a product that can clean-up Windows and my files to get it up to speed again? Thanks.

An identity-stealing keylogger that disguises itself as a Firefox extension and installs silently in the background was discovered Tuesday by security vendor McAfee. According to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, the "FormSpy" Trojan horse monitors mouse movements and key presses to steal online banking or credit card usernames and passwords, other login information, and URLs typed into Firefox, the popular open-source browser. Another component of the Trojan sniffs out passwords from ICQ and FTP sessions, and IMAP and POP3 traffic, said McAfee. All collected information is sent to an IP address hard-coded into the Trojan. The scam starts with spam...

For a sneak peek at the future of computing, go to YouOS and click "Try a Demo." Your browser window turns into a desktop of its own, with sub-windows for e-mail, chat, and Web browsing. There are also links on the YouOS desktop for a sticky-notes program and a rich-text editor. But these programs aren't on your hard drive—they're running somewhere in the vast unknown Internet.

A lengthy list arranged by categories.........************************************ Categories : Advertising | Archive/History | Blogging | Bookmarking | Chat | Clips/Notes/Scrapbook | Customizing/Editing Website Display | Discover | Downloading/Files/FTP | Email/Gmail/Webmail | Financial/Stocks | Google | Internet Explorer/Other Browsers | Images/Graphics/Maps/Video | Links | Managing Extensions | Mouse | Music | PDF | Passwords | Performance/Speed/Tuning | Print | Privacy | Productivity | RSS/Feeds/Livemarks | Search | SEO Search Engine Optimization | Security | Tabs | Text (Copy/Cut/Paste/Spell/Translate) | Weather | Web Development

While Microsoft has become a favorite target of critics who say the company has dramatically scaled back expectations for Windows Vista, Mozilla's Firefox Web browser is about to join that crowd.Mozilla has decided to strip out a major new feature from Firefox 2.0 in order to ensure that the update meets a Q3 2006 release target, a post in the browser's developer forum indicated earlier this week. "Places," a complete rewrite of the browser's bookmarking system, will no longer be included in the release. While Places had made it into the first public alpha release of Firefox 2.0, codenamed "Bon...

Opera Software today permanently removed the ad banner and licensing fee from its award-winning Web browser. The ad-free, full-featured Opera browser is now available for download - completely free of charge – at http://www.opera.com."Today we invite the entire Internet community to use Opera and experience Web browsing as it should be," said Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "Removing the ad banner and licensing fee will encourage many new users to discover the speed, security and unmatched usability of the Opera browser." Opera was previously available free of charge with an ad banner. Users had the option of paying...

As it marked the 75 millionth download of its Firefox Web browser, the Mozilla Foundation said it was expanding in several directions. The foundation's open-source e-mail reader, Thunderbird, is approaching its 10 millionth download. Mozilla's browser for small devices, Minimo, reached a milestone, as a prerelease version appeared with tabs, a bookmark manager and RSS feeds. The Mozilla staff itself has quadrupled during the past six months, to 40 employees. "We're beefing up the management on the project," said Chris Hofmann, whose title at Mozilla is in flux since the foundation hired another director of engineering. "The project is still...

The next version of Firefox has been delayed for a few months, the Mozilla Foundation confirmed Thursday. Earlier Mozilla stated on its Web site that the next major release of Firefox, called version 1.1, would be released in July. But on Wednesday, lead Firefox engineer Ben Goodger updated the group's roadmap to indicate that the next major release would now not be until after August. Adding new features to the open-source browser has taken "a bit longer than initially expected", according to Tristan Nitot, the president of Mozilla Europe. The next release will now be called Firefox 1.5 as it...

Opera has released the latest version of its browser, although you may have trouble getting hold of it as the company's website has crashed. Opera 8 boasts tighter security and the ability to surf the Web with voice commands in the latest version, available for both Windows and Linux. The company sees security as something it can concentrate on to carve into Microsoft's dominance of the browser market with Internet Explorer. "We think that security is the reason why people would want to switch browsers," said Opera spokesman Eskil Sivertsen. The desktop browser gives extra information about the identity of...

Before you start reading, fire up the printer, and get the scissors. You may want to clip this one out and give it to your friends and colleagues who are still in Windows land. There are times in life when you actually hear words coming out of your mouth and even as they're coming out, you realize how stupid they sound. I realize that in my own personal and professional life, this sort of thing happens a bit more than the statistical average, but this morning I uttered words that sounded so completely insane, I had to share them. After...

Open Source web browsers are causing untold damage to businesses around the globe, according to Microsoft security specialist David Keppelmeyer. Keppelmeyer believes the sudden rise in popularity of browsers such as Firefox competing for Internet Explorer's market share is not only an attack upon Microsoft, but is directly "squeezing more attacks upon IE users." "What we're seeing is a shifting of percentages across the board" says Keppelmeyer. As he explains it, it's a numbers game. As the number of open source browsers such as Firefox rise, then there are relatively fewer Internet Explorer users left to bear the brunt of...

All non-Microsoft browers include a flaw that allows URL spoofing using Unicode characters, which can be exploited by phishing scams seeking to steal login information for online banking accounts. The spoofing flaw, which is demonstrated on the web site of the Shmoo Group, works in the Firefox, Mozilla and Opera browsers, as well as the Safari browser for Macs. The spoof exploits flaws in how the browsers interpret Unicode characters. A link using Unicode characters to replace the letter "a" in "Paypal" will display as www.paypal.com in the browser, but send users to www.xn--pypal-4ve.com - which then displays "www.paypal.com" in...

EXPLORER STUMBLES AS GOOGLE EYES BROWSER MARKETJan 25, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.comby Chris MackAccording to the Xinhua News Agency, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) browser is losing market share against open source Firefox browser. Two online market tracking companies OneStat and WebSideStory had studies in December and found that IE market share has fallen to 88.9%, while Firefox has jumped to 4.8%. Microsoft has disputed the results. Last summer there were a number of serious scares with IE security. Several bugs were found that enabled hackers to use JavaScript in order to install keystroke-logging software and Trojans horses. The programs were then...

A vulnerability in Firefox could expose users of the open-source browser to the risk of phishing scams, security experts have warned. The flaw in Mozilla Firefox 1.0, details of which were published by security company Secunia on Tuesday, allows malicious hackers to spoof the URL in the download dialog box that pops up when a Firefox user tries to download an item from a Web site. This flaw is caused by the dialog box incorrectly displaying long sub-domains and paths, which can be exploited to conceal the actual source of the download. Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at software...