Firefox 1.5 Beta 2 available!

newfoundglory

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/

Last beta... (before a possible release candidate)... and then the final release later in the year...

johno69

Newfound, could you give more information about what it actually is?. Thanks

sra

There are still lots of extensions and themes that won't work with 1.5
Nightly Tools Tester is a must. (you can load extensions that Firefox refuses because they're inconpatable and can right-click ones you've already got and 'make compatible')

Martini

johno69 wrote:

Newfound, could you give more information about what it actually is?. Thanks

Johno69

It's a web browser. Similar to Internet Explorer only not a Microsoft one!
I prefer it to IE6 and I'm using it to type this reply!

shopbot

As this is a Beta version what is the level of security on the browser likely to be like compared to the current 'official' release? Does the fact it is still in development mean that it there could be security issues? I'm just thinking about those of us who use internet banking etc.....

newfoundglory

No security issues as far as i am aware. Any issues which appear in the firefox 1.0.x branch are likely to be present in 1.5.x if they are found. Security is usually something to do with the Gecko rendering engine, rather than the encryption which ensures pages travel securely across the network. Firefox can in fact be considered more secure than say IE for example, as FF supports 256-bit AES compared to IE's maximum 128-bits. For internet banking sites which support 256-bit (eg lloyds/tsb), FF is clearly the more "secure" choice.

Natelle_2

Martini wrote:

Johno69

It's a web browser. Similar to Internet Explorer only not a Microsoft one!
I prefer it to IE6 and I'm using it to type this reply!

Can you explain in brief terms to a non-techie like myself which is the better to use, either IE or Firefox as I have both but can't decide which to use. I do use internet banking.

On the security side I have, Spyewareblaster, Spywareguard, AVG antivirus and Microsoft Antispyware.

My laptop has Microsoft XP (Home Edition).

Hope I don't seem to thick!

wolfman

Go with Firefox. IE has a number of security holes and you're more likely to pickup spyware or trojans. Firefox is also independent of the operating system (Windows).

Or, I've recently made the switch to Opera 8.5. It's great and now my preferred browser to Firefox. It's tabbed browsing should, or will use less system resources, it's lighter at 3.7mb and just as secure.

johno69

I too have now downloaded the Opera browser and I find it to be a great alternative to the IE. Not really gave it the full and thorough test but seems to be quite interactive and user friendly.

Nice to see someone has finally taken on the IE and Netscape browser after all these years.

Big thanks

MORPH3US

I run I.E.6.0.2900.blah blah , Firefox 1.0.7 and Netscsape 8.0.3.3.

I used to love Firefox but after getting Netscape 8, I think it is much better than I.E. and FF. Only problem is when you open it, it takes a few seconds but then I keep it open all day and browse away. And why can't I get UK weather in the menu bar, now sunny bloody florida?!?!

Why the heck haven't Micro$honk realised the benefits of tabbed browsing yet?

santana-mx3

MORPH3US wrote:

Why the heck haven't Micro$honk realised the benefits of tabbed browsing yet?

I think they have. MSN have a download to add tabs to IE. They're not as good to use as the ones in Firefox though.

Also, see this: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/26/422103.aspx