Firefox 3 Video

Firefox 3 Video Transcript

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>> Is it Firefox or Firefluff? Firefox three is the latest upgrade to the second most popular browser in the world, and the improvements are sure to heat up the browser wars. I'm Seth Rosenblat [assumed spelling] for cnetdownload.com, and in this First Look video I'm going to show you some of the basics to get you started with Mozilla's browsing beast. Let's start off with the way that Firefox handles its big gun, extensions. Add-ons have received quite the makeover. Firefox addicts, I mean users, can now search for extensions from within the manager. And just like any good manager, it makes recommendations for plug-ins that might appeal to you. Another big new feature, and one not without some controversy, is the revamped location bar. Modestly dubbed The Awesome Bar by Mozilla, it will now call up frequently visited and bookmarked sites as soon as you start typing. So if you check out download.com often, as I know you do, typing the letter D is all it takes to bring us to you. Of course if you don't like it, there's no easy way to turn it off, hence the brew ha ha. Firefox two was touted as being more secure than the competition, and Firefox three is trying to maintain that tradition. Firefox now warns your pre-installed anti-virus app when you download a new file, while anti-malware and anti-phishing systems warn you about risky sites before you visit them. And clicking on the [inaudible] will tell you who owns the site you're at, and if it's safe. There's lots more new hotness. You can now pause and resume downloads after a browser restart, save passwords only after you've confirmed that you've entered the correct one, save your tabs from your last browsing session, and double click on the location bar's star to bookmark a page. There's also forward and back navigation, combining the two lists of previously visited sites into one. In Firefox three's guts the changes are far less visible, but no less noticeable. The browser now loads JavaScript faster, there's been a database format change to prevent crashes from erasing personal data like bookmarks, and the designers are boasting about permanent plugs for many of the memory leaks. On the date of its release into the wild, Firefox three is without a doubt the fastest browser available. How long it'll be able to claim that title is anybody's guess. But you can bet its competitors are scrambling to speed things up. For many, the biggest problem may be the waiting game, you know, for favorite extensions to update. [ background music ] With a first look at Firefox three, I'm Seth Rosenblat for download.com. ^M00:02:33 [ music ]