Internet Life

A New Version of Firefox Available for Free Download

Several fixes waiting for you

By Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

18th of July 2007, 13:03 GMT

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The famous web-browser Firefox received a new important update, the 2.0.0.5 release being available for download for any user. The latest version of the application comes with a lot of fixes that are meant to improve the security of the users browsing the Internet with Firefox. Secunia rated all the flaws as highly critical saying the only solution to avoid successful exploitation is to install the latest version of the program. Mozilla's browser is currently involved into an important

battle with the rival built by Microsoft, Internet Explorer that tries to steal the same category of users.

The security updates are many, starting with simple errors and ending with highly critical vulnerabilities that might allow an attacker control an affected system. For example, some problems with the Javascript engine can execute dangerous codes able to enhance attackers' attempts to infiltrate into a system.

"Various errors in the browser engine can be exploited to cause memory corruption and potentially to execute arbitrary code," security company Secunia wrote about one of the flaws. "An error in the "addEventListener" and "setTimeout" methods can be exploited to inject script into another site's context, circumventing the browser's same-origin policy."

A few weeks ago, the Mozilla officials announced that Firefox 2.0.0.5 will include some new fixes for a vulnerability that caused an interesting dispute between them and the folks from Microsoft. As you might have heard, the hackers discovered a security hole that can be exploited through Internet Explorer and launched using Firefox. The two companies accused each other, saying their products are not vulnerable and are not requiring an update. However, the Mozilla representatives decided to implement a patch into this latest release to address the security hole.

If you want to download the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, you can take is straight from Softpedia using this link.

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New Version of Firefox Web Browser Due Next Week

Thursday, June 12, 2008

NEW YORK — A new version of the Firefox Web browser is scheduled for release Tuesday with improvements in security, speed and design.

Many of the enhancements in Firefox 3 involve bookmarks. The new version lets Web surfers add keywords, or tags, to sort bookmarks by topic.

A new "Places" feature lets users quickly access sites they recently bookmarked or tagged and pages they visit frequently but haven't bookmarked.

There's also a new star button for easily adding sites to your bookmark list — similar to what's already available on Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer 7 browser.

• Click here for FOXNews.com's Personal Technology Center.

Other new features include the ability to resume downloads midway if the connection is interrupted and an updated password manager that doesn't disrupt the log-in process.

In a nod to the growing use of Web-based e-mail, the browser can be set to launch Yahoo Inc.'s service when clicking a "mailto" link in a Web page, the ones you might come across clicking on a name or a "contact us" link.

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Previously, such links could only open a standalone, desktop e-mail program.

Yahoo is the only Web service initially supported. To use rivals like Google Inc.'s Gmail and Microsoft Corp.'s Hotmail, developers of those services will have to enable that capability first.

Firefox also will start blocking rather than simply warning about sites known to engage in "phishing" scams that try to trick users into revealing passwords and other sensitive information. The new version adds protection from sites known to distribute viruses and other malicious software.

The list of suspicious sites come from Google Inc. and StopBadware.org, a project headed by legal scholars at Harvard and Oxford universities.

Security researchers who need access to problem sites can manually turn the feature off.

Firefox 3 also offers speed and design improvements — the back button is now larger than the forward button, for instance, because people tend to return to a previous page more often, said Mike Schroepfer, the project's vice president of engineering.

Firefox is the No. 2 Web browser behind Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer. It comes from Mozilla, an open-source community in which thousands of people, mostly volunteers, collectively develop free products.

Mozilla has been developing Firefox 3 for nearly three years and has been publicly testing it since November for Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

Its supporters are organizing launch parties around the world next week, and Mozilla is trying to set a world record for most software downloads in a 24-hour period.

Microsoft is currently testing Internet Explorer 8, while Opera Software ASA released Opera 9.5 on Thursday.

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