The AM Forum

Mozilla will announce and release version 2.0 of their Web browser tomorrow. But you can download it now from their FTP servers. Running it as we speak.

ftp://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0/

Is it any faster? Any less of a memory hog?

Later,
Jason kf6pqt

Thanks for the heads-up...Using it right now.. I like the look-n-feel so far.

Fellow WWW users
My past experience with Mozilla 1 1/2 yrs ago was it was much better at blocking ads and kept spyware out of your computer, and seemed a little faster BUT when you navigate around the WWW there were special plug-ins that were in Explorer that were not in Mozilla so, you were left high and dry. I deleted it out of my computer.

Fred

I had a similar experience.  Not only that but it didn't block pop ups or pop unders any better then IE.

Wonder what sites you guys are visiting? I've never had one pop up running Firefox or Safari. Did you have the block pop ups box checked in the preferences. Were you allowing JavaScript?

What plug-ins are you talking about Fred? PDF viewer, Quicktime, Real Audio, etc. If so, those same plug-ins that work with IE, work with Firefox. Plug-ins shouldn't be a problem.

The best thing about Firefox is the ability to add extensions. These extensions add certain funtionality to the browser. The cool thing is you can add ONLY the ones you want, and not put up with stuff you don't want or need. One of the best extensions is called Ad Block. It will block nearly all the stinkin' banner ads on sites. Not only do you not have to put up with the flashing and goofy animations of these ads, many papges load WAY faster, since you are not loading all these banners.

Anyway, I'm not a Firefox shill. I don't even use it as my main browser. Just thought it would be good to let you know of the options.

Some others are

Opera
http://www.opera.com/


Good old (new) Netscape
http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/


SeaMonkey
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/


Avant - nice IE alternative, used IE engine and adds stuff missing in IE
http://www.avantbrowser.com/


K-Meleon
http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

When I brought up my new web site in May, I initially used my Firefox browser to do admin data queries and inputs. However, when drilling down from a particular data query down to the next level, and then using the back arrow key to drill back up, various fields would change data randomly. No problems like this existed with I.E. Several e-mails by the site administer and myself, to this day, still have not been answered by the Firefox people concerning this problem. Although I still use Firefox for browsing, any of my admin work, or any data inputs to “https” type-sites are done only in I.E.

All problems with Firefox should be reported in their developer forum, not via email.

Not sure how problems with forms and https are tied together. Can you explain this?

I haven't looked recently, but there was an e-mail address on their web site if you had issues, concerns, problems, etc.

Since my admin stuff is located on a secure site, and since I was having problems using their broswer on the secure side of my site, I was getting an unsettling feeling when going to someone's else's secure site (bank, paying bills, placing secure orders, etc.). In reality, there may be no problems there, but until we understand why we're having problems with Firefox on my site, I opted to be a bit cautious.

OK. So it's the devil you know situation.

Just read on the Ars forum that form data is retained during forward and backward navigation in FF 2.0. Haven't tried it myself though.

Most open source projects like Firefox use some sort of bug tracking database (like BuqTraq), called Bugzilla for FF. I don't think those use email as input.

I use Firefox almost exclusively, but have an IE shortcut in my quicklaunch.  Some sites don't load properly in Firefox, it won't display MSN videos nor will it download Micro$oft updates.  If I run into a problem with Firefox, IE is just one click away.

I changed to Firefox the time I couldn't visit the site about the 6L6 tube.  Whenever I entered the URL for that site, it was redirected to some rubbish that offered to pay me money for taking online surveys.  I worked with a couple of people online who repair computers for a living, and we tried about a dozen things, but never could work out the problem.  So I downloaded Firefox.  It went right to the 6L6 site first try.  So I copied all my bookmarks into Firefox, and have used IE only as a backup browser ever since.

I'll wait on the upgrade and leave it to those who spend a lot of time tinkering with their computers to find major bugs, and see how much memory it gobbles, before I install it, just as I did with version 1.5.  I'd rather spend my spare time tinkering with radio than trying to work around problems with computer software.

My machine has 512 mb of memory, but once all the OS applications, antivirus and other security programs, and Firefox start up, I am lucky to have 150 mb of available physical  memory left.  Right now I am running 133 mb.  And I have turned off numerous frivolous automatic start-up's.

I'm going to pull down 2.0 and install it, and see if there is any difference. We're also going to go through some major revisions over the next several weeks based on this roughly 6 month soak of the site. I'm hoping we're going to catch some obscure pointer or call that's causing Firefox to burp. Being a hardware guy for so many years, a lot of this stuff still is "learning in process".

I had similar problems with Firefox too but was able to overcome them.  It took several days to messing around with it but eventually got it to work with the various plugins common to IE.  I rarely use IE unless there is a website that doesn't recognize certain html code but other than that IE is covered in dust on this machine.

For blocking pop-ups, trojans and other hostile crap, I think the best thing that was suggested to me by Don KYV was to use an edited host file to block that junk and any other hostile stuff one can encounter.  A hosts file from this place seems to have a lot of the dangerous stuff covered.

http://www.mvps.org

Indeed. Been using a hosts file since 1997. They are a thing of beauty.

Has anyone here downloaded the Firefox source code yet and gotten it to build on their local system ? I was thinking of giving that a try. Itmight be interesting to munge around with the source code a bit and try a few builds. There is some build information here...

http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Build_Documentation#Getting_Started

Wow! I just D/Led Firefox 2.0 for Linux, It's hi-hi Fine Business OM! It's quite a bit faster than 1.5.7 that I had previously! Pages load allot faster and the flash works properly now. I havent tried it on my Windows or Mac box yet.. That's next!

I just downloaded the tarball of binaries and ran it for testing.. My next test will be to download the source, tweak it and compile. I've had even better luck in the past with Mozilla products when I build it on the machine I'm running it on. That's on Linux of course, I've never used any source compilers on Windows.

Pete: I use Firefox exclusively and I've never had the problem you explained. I might suggest that it is the 'Auto form fill' option in Firefox. It stores entered data so that forms fill out themselves thus supposedly saving you typing. If you visit a site that has the same name on a form field it will fill it out for you. Even if it's the wrong data, it's looking at the saved data and the field name. Personally don't use it. I've never has a problem with secure servers either. I login to my server(S) and poke around without any problems. I use both Webmin (Local Server) and cPanel (Remote Server)  on SSL (HTTPS) without event. My servers also run Linux I have no M$ servers online at the moment to see this problem for myself.

Another thing to remember.. M$ specifically targets IE.. So any M$ site you go to will not work the same as it does with IE. They practically force you to use their browser and not that of a competitor. I personally hate IE only pages..  Or any page that forces you to use any particular browser. Your server is also running M$ IIS so that right there could be the root of the problem. Not saying that it is but it's an educated guess from knowing that is the sort of games M$ likes to play.

I'm not trying to turn this thread into a fire fight these are just a few possible causes for the problems as explained.

Mozilla team downplays first Firefox 2.0 bug reports

By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service, 10/26/06

Bug trackers have had a couple false starts with the release of Firefox 2.0, a top Mozilla engineer said Thursday.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/102606-mozilla-team-downplays-first-firefox.html

There is one very nice new feature with Firefox 2.0. Automatic recovery after a crash or lockup.

Yesterday I had 5 Firefox browsers open to different sites while cross-referencing different documents. I opened up a 6th browser and the site's content stalled the browser because it incompletely loaded a large document.

I opened task manager and got the dreaded Windows message, "Program is not responding, click here to close program".

A few seconds after I did that, which closed all of the browsers, a pop-up appeared asking me if I wanted to re-start Firefox exactly as it was. I answered yes, and up popped all 5 browsers again, tabbed on exactly the same sites they were on before, and on the same pages of content. Saved me a bunch of work and time! Didn't have to start at Google, re-do my searches and \try to find the sites that I had pulled up.
Excellent feature.

They copied that one from Opera, but it is a nice feature.

One problem I notices is that my spelling check extension no longer works under Firefox 2.0, nor is there an updated version available. Guess this means I'm gonna have to take a one hour crash course in Mozilla extension development and see if I can roll my own.  OOPS!! wait a minute !! Seems Firefox2 has spell checking built in as a native function. No need to write an extension after all

How much memory does Firefox 2 gobble up?

Don, It shows about 50K on my Win 2K at work.. But don't let that scare you, honestly its faster than IE which itself uses 42K.

My Firefox has spelling check built in, I never installed the extension and it's there! A priceless tool for me!

RAM is cheap. I don't understand the concern about memory usage, unless you run a ton of programs at the same time AND they are processor and memory intensive. Running an email client and web browser don't count.

That sounds like me. I'm infamous for running lots of intensive apps simultaneously. But on a 3.0 ghz machine with 1 gb of ram I rarely see a problem.

Firefox is great, been using it since it came out.
just say no to IE.
love the spell check feature too.

Does version 2 still include the little search engine window that't at the top right of v1.5?  I have Google and an online dictionary in mine.  Very convenient when you want to check out a word in the text of a web page with just a click.

I notice you can download v2 in about 40 languages.  I assume that's to accomodate the spell checker.  I think earlier versions were only available in English.

This from Kim Komando this morning:
SECURE COMPUTING: STUFF TO KEEP YOU SAFE FROM HARM!

BUGGY BROWSERS
Internet Explorer 7 is designed with improved security tools. One tool is intended to help users avoid phishing sites. But it can be circumvented with a spoofed Web address.

The problem lies with the way the address bar displays addresses. It is possible that only part of a Web address is displayed. This has the potential to trick users. Scrolling within the address bar, however, will display the full URL.

Internet Explorer isn't the only browser to come under fire this week. Days after its release, supposed security flaws were discovered in Firefox 2.0.

The first flaw was one fixed in earlier versions of Firefox. Mozilla denies that it has resurfaced in 2.0. Mozilla said it wasn't provided enough information to determine the validity of a second claimed flaw.

There is a third problem, which has been confirmed. It can cause Firefox to crash. However, it is not a security flaw. It cannot be exploited by an attacker.

mike n7qmm

Yes, the search engine window is still there, 2.0 will copy the settings you had set up in Firefox 1.5, along with all your search engines, shortcuts and bookmarks. There are some new settings that you will have to set up, though. For example, as you enter words in the search window, now it'll offer suggested words as you type. I didn't like that, so I turned it off. After a couple of days, I will say that 2.0 is MUCH more stable and quicker than 1.5, which wasn't bad at all. Ffox 1.5 seemed to have stability issues with Java as does IE6, 2.0 is much better. The spell checker in 2.0 is very nice.

Question for those who have already upgraded to v2.  Did you uninstall your existing earlier version first, or simply install v2 on top of it?

I just installed it without any uninstall. I also installed a build optimized for the processor in the computer. Seems to run a little smoother than the generic, fits-all-processors version.

Also note in the search window a tiny downward pointing arrow. Click on this and you can use other search engines than Google (Yahoo, Answer.com, etc).

No uninstall here. I just installed it and it automatically upgraded my existing version, imported all the settings and installed the plugins, and check for updated plugins. Smooth as can be no events worth noting here.

No uninstall here either.  I just install the new version in a separate location so that I can test the new version yet still have the old version around for comparison,  in case of problems, etc. If the new version seems  to do okay  then I'll  eventually uninstall the older versions and free up a little disc space.

I also run several broswers, i.e. Opera, Firefox, Netscape, Konqueror, Lynx, etc. It's not uncommon to find two or three different browsers ipen and running on my desktop simultaneously.

I work with compoopers all day long for a living, which is why I enjoy the low-tech, WWII/1950's-ness of ham radio so much...

Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac, you name it, I mess with it all every day. Been using Firefox exclusively for personal use since the "point-oh-something" days.

Got around to downloading 2.0, its good stuff, and seems to run better than the 1.507. So its got my $0.02 stamp of approval.

-Jason kf6pqt

I read today on one tech website the FF2.0 has received a warm welcome.  Apparently those who have installed and tried it are not impressed by it and have had some trouble with it. Anyone else run into this?  I have not installed it nor tried it.  I figure I'd wait until the bugs are worked out.

A couple days ago I managed to crash it twice. But it might have had something to do with the "Crossover" implementation that allows  me to use some Windows plug ins under WINE. As soon as I tweaked the config a bit it's run fine. I've had a rather heavily used instance of it up and running for days with no problems

Oh, and the couple of times it did crash it was able to restore itself with no problem, It's seems to be smokin here.

I haven't tried the Windows version yet so I can'tsay whats going on there.