No longer a fledgling upstart, Firefox 3 is full-featured, lightning fast, and an able Safari foe. Previous versions have seen Mozilla's approach to features such as tabbed browsing and extensions become extremely popular. Even though Firefox 3 lacks a killer feature, it offers significant improvements not to be missed.
Version 3 introduces a multitude of safety and usability features. The location bar drop-down menu now includes URLs from both your browsing history and your bookmarks. A new Add-Ons manager includes a built-in plug-in search engine, saving you the previous trip to the Mozilla Web site. Single-click the star icon on the right o
Firefox 3 now runs faster and, according to Mozilla, is less susceptible to hacks and other vulnerabilities. The browser now warns your system's antivirus program when you download a file, and anti-phishing utilities automatically give you a warning page before allowing Firefox to load risky sites. The favicon reveals Web sites' ownership details and displays the security level of your connection to that site.
Developers will appreciate that Firefox 3's new graphics and text rendering code provide rendering improvements in CSS and SVG as well as improved display of fonts and complex scripts. Firefox 3--still open-source, as ever--is a browser that all users should consider making their default Web-surfing tool.
