Apple Archive

Firefox 1.5: Getting Better All the Time

- 2005.12.02

I'm really looking forward to Windows Vista. According to Microsoft, I'll finally be able to use my PC without being paranoid about visiting the wrong website (phishing) or checking my email (viruses and spyware).

Microsoft promises that I won't get popup ads ever again and spyware will be a non-issue.

When Vista is finally released, about two years after I bought my latest Windows PC, I'll actually be able to do something productive with it instead of spending most of my time deleting spyware and updating antivirus definitions.

That's the theory, of course, and if it's any better than XP is now, I can't wait.

Firefox Makes Windows Safer

In the meantime, the only thing that has saved me from completely discontinuing use of my Windows PC has been the Firefox browser.

I've written about Firefox several times, and it just keeps getting better. When I first started using it, the idea for extensions and themes was relatively new, and there weren't that many of them available.

Instead of being an unfilled promise, many extensions have been developed since then. These range from one that shows you the local weather in your browser window to one that shows you a preview of each website in the results when you search with Google.

Consistency

Firefox is completely consistent on both Macs and Windows PCs; if you know how to use it on a PC, you can use it on a Mac, and vice versa. It's a bit like iTunes in that sense - there's really no learning curve once you've learned it on either platform. I find this simplifies things a bit, especially for guests using my computer.

None of this is news, however. What's news is that Firefox was updated rather significantly this past Tuesday. It's now at version 1.5, and this update ads several important new features.

Automatic Updates

The first, and unquestionably the most important new feature, is the auto-update feature. Yes, Firefox 1.0.x had a feature where you could check for updates to Firefox and your extensions, but it wouldn't automatically download all of them for you. If, say, Firefox was updated to 1.0.6, you would click "update" and be taken to the Mozilla home page. Then you'd have to manually download and install the new version of the application.

This was rather annoying, and a lot of users found this confusing - especially those who had friends help them install the browser in the first place. The new update system works like Mac OS X's Software Update or Windows Update. It checks for the updates, tells you what's available, and then gives you the option of having the browser install the updates for you.

Other Features

The next big feature is the "clear private data" option. This lets you clear stored passwords, cookies, and your browsing history. This can be a great feature if you're selling or giving away your old computer but want to leave Firefox installed for the next owner.

Mozilla also stresses that Firefox 1.5 is more secure than the old version. Then again, almost anything's more secure than Internet Explorer.

Mozilla also says that Firefox 1.5 has "improved popup blocking". While popup blocking on Firefox is generally pretty good, there are occasionally some that it misses, but these occurrences are very rare. I haven't noticed any popup ads with the new version, but I've only been using it since it came out on Tuesday.

The other thing worth mentioning is that many extensions and themes have not yet been updated for Firefox 1.5, so if you've got a fair number of extensions that you depend on, you might want to wait to install the new version.

Firefox 1.5 isn't a major step up from the original 1.0 release, but it's big enough to show that Mozilla is in active development and not being ignored, unlike what Microsoft has been doing with Internet Explorer (okay, they have security updates, but that's about it).

Mozilla is planning a huge marketing push behind Firefox 1.5, and it will be interesting to see if their market share can further increase with this relatively small upgrade.

Link: Firefox

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