mozilla

Power Downloader: Best adventures of 2007

With the holidays over and only a few days to go in 2007, Power Downloader decided to take a look back at the year to relive some of his more exciting adventures. Always knowing which software to download in a given emergency is never easy, but having Download.com at his disposal definitely helps when on the trail of an Internet bad guy.

Looking through his case files, Power Downloader remembered the time when he had to get a new laptop computer. As with anytime Power needs to get a new computer, he knew he wouldn't be comfortable until … Read more

Convert Firefox into a text-only browser

Last week I described how to use a simple Javascript to determine the age of a Web page. The only problem: if the page has any dynamic elements that update automatically when the page loads (and these days most Web pages do), the script shows the current time and date.

For pages without auto-update content, type javascript:alert(document.lastModified) into the address bar and press Enter to see a window pop-up with the date and time of the page's last update. I'm still looking for a way to find out how recently specific content on a Web … Read more

Boost your productivity in Firefox, IE

I can live without Microsoft Word, and I'm confident I could manage well enough if you removed Excel from my PC. Even my favorite e-mail app is a nonessential.

But take away my browser, and I might as well not even start up my PC.

Mozilla Firefox is the first program I open and the last one I close each workday (or worknight, as the case may be). I found some great time-savers for the program. And since many of you prefer Internet Explorer, I've got some productivity-enhancing keyboard shortcuts for both browsers.

Reset Firefox's Javascript options … Read more

Problems updating the Flash player in Firefox? Here's help

Installing a new version of software should be trivial thing--especially for popular software such as the Adobe Systems' Flash player, which is used by millions of people every day. But no.

For one, the Flash player does not play well with the other kids in the sandbox. That is, trying to remove the currently installed version via the Windows XP Control Panel Add/Remove applet is a waste of time. The first three machines I tried this on resulted in three different outcomes, and the software was not removed on any of the machines. Instead, Adobe has an uninstaller for the Flash player.… Read more

Mozilla introduces new Weave online service

Mozilla Labs launched a new online service called Weave yesterday. The idea behind Weave is that all your personal information such as bookmarks, passwords and are synced to your Mozilla account via Firefox.

As Mozilla Labs GM Chris Beard describes in this post, the goals of Weave are to:

provide a basic set of optional Mozilla-hosted online services ensure that it is easy for people to set up their own services with freely available open standards-based tools provide users with the ability to fully control and customize their online experience, including whether and how their data should be shared with … Read more

Firefox 3 beta 2 is out and about

Mozilla fans can now download Firefox 3 beta 2 for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

The new version sports a wide range of improvements over the first test version of the browser upgrade, most notably plugs for memory leaks, security fixes, and a download manager that includes improvements previously available only through plug-ins.

… Read more

Test Firefox 3 risk-free

Mozilla has released a version of the Firefox 3 beta 1 for PortableApps. For those hardcore Firefox 3 fans, this means that you never have to leave home without it. If you're curious about the beta, though, and you don't want to risk your Firefox 2 settings, the Firefox 3 beta 1 portable gives us all an easy and safe way to play around with the browser as it's in development.

As with the other programs in the PortableApps suite, this FF3 beta contains most if not all the features of the full version of the program. Most noticeable to those who haven't played around with FF3 yet will be the page rendering time. Web sites load much faster than they do in FF2, and it's hard not to appreciate that.

… Read more

A modest proposal: Dump your antivirus software

What am I, nuts?

Removing the antivirus software from your PC goes against conventional wisdom, but a lot of conventional wisdom is bunk, especially when it comes to technology.

Two of the five PCs on my home network have been without AV software for six months, ever since I made the mistake of loading the beta of Windows Live OneCare 2 on my home network. This stellar example of the programming art brought my entire network to its knees in a matter of minutes. After three days of repairs, my network was working again, but I realized that two of … Read more

More on Microsoft's IE (in)security miscount

Sigh. I tried to give Microsoft the benefit of a doubt with its report on Internet Explorer vs. Firefox security report. But as Firefox's security expert notes, Microsoft's miscount doesn't even start from the right baseline (and is then compounded by Microsoft quoting its own misinformation):

One of the goals of the bug counting report is to demonstrate that Microsoft fixed fewer bugs for IE than Mozilla did for Firefox. Unfortunately for Microsoft (and for anyone trying to use this report as analysis of useful metrics) [Microsoft's Jeff Jones] does not count all the security issues. If he were able to count them all, Microsoft could get credit for all the bugs they fixed. He counts only the public issues, because that is all Microsoft will tell us about. Microsoft is worried that if it ever says it has fixed X security issues, the world will focus on that it had X vulnerabilities in the first place, not that they are now fixed and no longer a risk for users. So the set of issues that are available for public comparison is limited to the set of vulnerabilities that are reported externally AND fixed in security updates.… Read more