Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5

The Mozilla Project has just recently issued two updates for their Firefox browser: Firefox 3.0.4 was updated to version 3.0.5, thus fixing a total of 5 security issues; Firefox 2.0.0.18 has been updated to version 2.0.0.19, making this the final update this browser will get from Mozilla. With this recent release the Mozilla Project has officially terminated the Firefox 2.0 browser which first saw the light of day back in 2006. Well, the only constant is change as they say, and Mozilla is now focusing all its development power on Firefox 3.0 and Firefox 3.1.

Quality Assurance Engineer with the Mozilla Corporation, Samuel Sidler comments: “Mozilla is not planning any further security & stability updates for Firefox 2, and recommends that you upgrade to Firefox 3 as soon as possible. It’s free, and your settings and bookmarks will be preserved. Also, the Phishing Protection service will no longer be available for Firefox 2 users. Firefox 3 offers a free Phishing and Malware Protection service, which will continue to protect you from online scams and attacks.”


The whole update process goes something like this: within the near future you will be prompted that an update has been downloaded and you need to update your Firefox 3.0 or 2.0 browser (assuming you already have them installed on your machine). Please note that Firefox works on several operating systems, including Windows OS, MAC OS X and Linux, and is free to download and run. If you are really itching to get the update as soon as possible, you could always manually launch the update, just click Help -> Check for Updates.

Since updating to Firefox 2.0.0.19 is redundant (you are strongly advised to switch to Firefox 3.0), here is what you can expect to get from Firefox 3.0.5:
- A total of 8 security holes have been plugged. These vulnerabilities affected several aspects of the browser, including SessionStore, JavaScript, CSS parser, and memory corruption due to crashes. Some of the vulnerabilities have been deemed critical, so upgrading is worth it, mainly from a security perspective.
- The browser now boasts about increased stability and accessibility.
- Language support for Bengali, Galician, Latvian, Esperanto and Hindi.
- On initial installation, users will be presented with a “Know Your Rights” info bar which replaces the EULA (End-User License Agreement).
- In the crash reporter it is not possible to send out OS-specific system notes.

In related browser news, Opera 9.63 update has just been released, fixing some security issues as well. In the Google camp spirits were high when Google Chrome 1.0 dropped, but it turns out that in terms of password security Chrome does not fair all that well (just like Safari 3.2)

If you would like to get Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5, a download location is available here.
If you would like to get Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.19, a download location is available here.
If you would like to get Mozilla Firefox 3.1 Beta 2, a download location is available here.