RHFtech Help Desk (and more)

I have been a fan of Firefox, the free web browser from the Mozilla Corporation, since before the original 1.0 version was released in November 2004. The current release is version 3.0.11. A new version 3.5 is scheduled for release by end of June 2009. It may already be out when you read this. I have been testing the beta and release candidates for a couple of months. I am impressed.

Firefox has editions for all major operating systems. Version 3.5 runs faster on all of them. I have informally tested it on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X (Leopard), and Ubuntu 9.04 (Linux).

Faster and Better Memory Use
The individual pages open faster than earlier versions. The application loads on your computers is a fraction of the time that 3.0.xx does. System memory usage is better than prior Firefox versions, which often became memory hogs. I read an independent report where Firefox 3.5 memory use was compared to Google Chrome 3.0, Safari 4.0 and Opera 10. Firefox beat the others.

Tab Tearing
Version 3.5 has several new features that add functionality to this versatile browser. One that I find particularly useful is tab-tearing. Firefox is not the first browser to have this. I believe Opera may have originated this. Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari also feature tab-tearing. This allows you to grab a tab and drag it into a separate window. You can also reverse this if you want to combine windows.

Private Browsing
Another new feature is private browsing mode, which is accessed from the "Tools" menu. Private browsing allows you to browse the Internet without Firefox retaining any data about which sites and pages you have visited. This is useful when you are on a foreign computer, such as a library computer, a friend’s or relative’s. This is also useful when you share a computer and want keep your spouse, children, or parents from being able to review your browsing history.

Location-aware Browsing
Optional Location-aware Browsing has also been added. Websites that use location-aware browsing will ask where you are in order to bring you more relevant information, or to save you time while searching. If you look for a Chinese food in your area, a site can ask you to share your location so that simply searching for “Chinese food” will return the results you want. Another use might be if you are mapping directions, the map site can know where you are so you only need to tell it where you are going.

Session Restore (enhanced)
Session restore is enhanced in Firefox 3.5. It displays a window which lets you select which tabs from a previous session you want to restore. Previous versions were not selective, only letting you restore your old session or start a new one. Perhaps a web site is crashing Firefox. The new session restore lets you disable it while opening all your other previous tabs.

The Firefox community makes Firefox the great browser that it is. There are thousands of free extensions that let you modify Firefox for the way you want to work. Unfortunately, some extensions (AKA add-ons) may not be compatible with the new version. This means that Firefox 3.5 will not allow them to load.

Nightly Tester Tools
I use lots of extensions, 25-35 per machine, depending upon the operating system. Disabled add-ons are frustrating. I use the Nightly Tester Tools add-on to override incompatibility issues. Once this is installed you can force the incompatible add-ons to load even though Firefox 3.5 doesn’t like them. This has never created issues for me. It might not work the same for you so use it at your own risk.

If you want to download the Firefox 3.5 release candidate you can get it at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-rc.html. Firefox 3.5rc3 was available for download and installation as of the writing of this article.