Posted 02/16/10 at 08:00:00 PM by Paul Lilly

Show of hands - how many of you are still clinging to Firefox not because it's the perfect browser, but because it's the best alternative out there to Internet Explorer? Probably a good many of you, and the reason why Firefox has been so hard to supplant as the No. 2 gateway to the Web is because Mozilla had the foresight to make it extensible. Thousands of add-ons exist allowing users to custom tailor the open-source browser however they see fit, and it only takes a few mouse clicks to do so.

Well move over Mozilla, and make room for Google Chrome. Why is that? To start with, Google recently added extension support to Chrome, which was previously only available in beta builds. Now that Google has given users the green light to install third-party add-ons, it's a brand new ballgame in the browser world. And in case you haven't heard, Chrome also supports Greasemonkey scripts, of which there are over 40,000 to choose from.

But those aren't the only reasons to give Chrome a second look. Google continues to tweak the underlying code and add features to what's already a fast, lean, and intelligent browser. Chrome is also highly tweakable, though you wouldn't know it by glancing at the sparse interface.

On the following pages, we'll show you how to soup up Chrome so you can leave Firefox in the rear view mirror and never look back!

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Posted 02/06/10 at 05:25:24 PM by Justin Kerr

Experimenting with new extensions is part of what makes Firefox great, but if you downloaded either the "Sothink Web Video Downloader", or "Master Filer", you probably snagged a nasty Trojan for your troubles. According to an entry on the Mozilla Blog both these extensions contain code which exploit vulnerabilities in all versions of Windows, and were downloaded close to 5,000 times before being spotted.

The extensions in question were contained in the "experimental" area of the official Firefox add-on site, and while it might seem like little consolation for anyone who got infected, users grabbing extensions from this section are warned before download that this could happen. Mozilla employs a special add-on scanner which supposedly checks all new entries for malicious code, but they were forced to acknowledge that the security process failed. "[Add-ons] performs a malware check on all add-ons uploaded to the site, and blocks add-ons that are detected as such," said yesterday's blog posting. "This scanning tool failed to detect the Trojan."

Mac and Linux users who downloaded these add-on's are unaffected, but anyone who used the extensions in Windows are being warned by Mozilla to delete all traces of the infected file, and run a virus scan. Mozilla is promising to boost the number of times it scans files for malware in the future, and will also step up how often it scans its entire catalog of add-on's.

Does this hurt your trust in Firefox extensions? Or was this bound to happen eventually?

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Posted 01/31/10 at 09:03:13 PM by Justin Kerr

Google has been waging a very public war against IE6, but it would all seem a bit hypocritical if similar vulnerabilities were also found in Chrome. As a preventative measure, Google is offering up anywhere from $500-$1337 to any user who finds and reports a flaw using its Chromium Bug Tracker forums.

The initiative is vaguely similar to a program being offered by Mozilla, but it is still a great way to prove to the public that they are taking security vulnerabilities seriously. It gives the open source community both a reason to poke around in the code, and a healthy reward for being a good digital Samaritan. At the very least its reassuring to know users have a way to report vulnerabilities to the company, and feel confident they will be taken seriously. It feels like every time a new critical flaw in IE is discovered, it was disclosed to the public in an attempt to pressure Microsoft into working on a patch.

Does news like this help warm you up to Chrome?

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Posted 11/19/09 at 07:33:48 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Firefox is a force to be reckoned with in the desktop browser space. But could the Mozilla foundation be looking to port it to the PS3? Playstation Insider claims that Sony and Mozilla are in talks to do just that. "We recently received a tip from a source very close to Sony who says that they have been in talks with Mozilla lately about possibly porting Firefox over to the PS3," said Playstation Insider’s Dustin Rudzinski.

It’s no secret that the Playstation’s current browser is nothing to write home about. So access to a “real” browser would be a real treat for PS3 owners. The tipster didn’t know if any deal had actually been struck, but what a pleasant firmware update that would be. So PS3 owners, if you had Firefox on the console, would you actually use it to browse?

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Posted 08/19/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Paul Lilly

In order to surf the web, you need a web browser, and today there are several different ones to choose from. If you're looking for a lean, no-nonsense browser, Chrome is the one for you. Internet Explorer still stands as the odds on favorite when you want to make sure pages load correctly (not because of superior standards support, but because its majority market share have driven developers to code their webpages to look best on IE). Firefox has found more than a niche market by giving users near endless customization, and Apple's Safari purports to run circles around everyone else (it doesn't). And then there's the cornucopia of alternative browsers and browser shells, like Flock (Firefox-based) and Avant (IE-based).

No matter which browser you choose to surf the web with, the features you take for granted today are the result of nearly two decades of browser design. On the following pages, we'll take you through a visual tour, in chronological order, of every major PC-based (read: not Mac) web browser that ever was, starting with the very first one: WorldWideWeb. We'll tell you what made each one unique and, when applicable, what it contributed to modern browser development.

Sit back, buckle up, and hit the jump to get started!

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Posted 08/11/09 at 09:30:00 PM by Florence Ion

We were elated when Firefox 3.5 came out, which brought increased stability and new features to one of our favorite web browsers of all time, including private browsing, tear away tabs and location awareness. We also got a faster browser with enhanced security and user-friendliness. However, what ultimately makes Firefox the choice browser is the appeal of its massive library of add-ons, which not only shed light on the fervent community, but also ensure that Firefox users get a great deal by installing widgets and extensions that only add to the Internet browsing experience. Users have the ability to experience what other web browsers do not — and cannot — offer.

From Mozilla's massive library of add-ons, we've chosen our favorite 16 that we believe are essential to the Firefox experience. These are add-ons that introduce features we wish were pre-installed with Firefox -- enhancements that we can't live without. Because as awesome as Firefox already is, these picks make our web browsing experience that much better. 

What are the add-ons that you can't live without?

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Posted 06/25/09 at 02:30:32 PM by Paul Lilly

If all goes to plan, Mozilla will be releasing its much anticipated Firefox 3.5 browser any day now, and certainly by the end of the month. It's been a long wait for the Firefox faithful, who first got a glimpse of the oft-delayed browser in Alpha form back in July of 2008. More recently, Mozilla has rolled out a pair of Release Candidates, giving fans (and critics) a pretty good idea of what to expect when the final version goes Gold.

The most ambitious update to Firefox yet, version 3.5 delivers a ton of coding improvements and a handful additional features Mozilla hopes will help close the market share gap with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Join us as we take an in-depth look at what's new and highlight which features have us most excited about Firefox 3.5!

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Posted 04/23/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Josh Kampschmidt

The web browser is probably the most essential application on your PC; there is no better practical way of staying connected to news, your friends, and most importantly, the lulz. But whether you’re using Internet Explorer or newly minted Chrome, each of today's popular web browsers has different strengths and weaknesses. Mozilla Firefox is feature-heavy and relatively fast, but can get terribly unwieldy when crammed with juicy add-ons. The newest version of the once dominant Internet Explorer is a quantum leap above previous buggy versions, but remains slow. And while both Opera and Google Chrome are blazingly fast, they currently lack customization.

No matter which browser you use, you want it to fit your personal needs and tastes. With this guide, we will show you the essential initial tweaks everyone should make to “awesomize” their browser. Whether it’s accelerating browser page-load performance, boosting security, or just improving the look of the interface, we teach you the tweaks that we think should be implemented the first time you start up a browser after installation.

We cover comprehensive step-by-step instructions for Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox 3, Opera 9, and Google Chrome, starting off with general web optimization tips. So jump into the guide and start tweaking your web browser!

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