11 responses to “Firefox versions 3.5.3 and 3.0.14 now available”

1. 

   J September 10th, 2009 at 05:48

   Woody, can you let us know when we should move from Firefox 3.0.14 to Firefox 3.5.3 from a stability and security standpoint? Also, can you let us know what settings from a security/privacy standpoint (e.g. not accepting 3rd-party cookies) should be enabled/disabled in 3.5.3?

   Thanks!

2. 

   sanda September 10th, 2009 at 22:15

   Please indicate if one or both are Beta, if that’s what it’s called. I am waiting for Firefox to tell me that it’s updating via message on my machine, since I’m not Beta-user and still “newish” online (and tech slow-learner).

3. 

   sanda September 11th, 2009 at 18:53

   I did get a notice from Firefox, that it was installing update. When the info appeared, it
   said I needed an update for something else, so
   I went there. There was a box “add on” with a
   check to install some “scan” (McAfee?), that I
   did not take, since I hadn’t seen info on it
   (that I remember) on this, Woody’s, website.
   So I updated without the suggested “add on” from
   the link. Would you please, Woody, consider,
   a posting on such things? (Should I mention
   names like Adobe and Flash?)

4. 

   woody September 12th, 2009 at 08:56

   Sorry I’m so slow.. just back from bacation.

   I recommend that everyone move to Firefox 3.5. It’s stable, more secure, and less intrusive than 3.0.x.

   Installing it is a breeze. Just go to the Firefox site and click on “Download Now” under the Upgrade Your Firefox box.

5. 

   woody September 12th, 2009 at 09:04

   Sanda -

   When you upgrade Firefox, in particular, some of the add-ons you currently use may not be available for a week or two. Firefox is very good about keeping track of the ones that have been updated, and warning you about the ones that haven’t. Just keep following Firefox’s lead and you’ll be OK.

   Flash and Acrobat are a problem unto themselves. I usually apply the security patches for both as soon as they’re available, but they’re both notorious for not notifying correctly and installing sloppily. Generally Adobe gets its act together within a week or two and re-issues any buggy patches, and you get caught up automatically.

   By the way, I don’t use Acrobat. I use Foxit Reader. Much smaller, usually compatible, patched more rapidly, and free.

6. 

   RC Primak September 13th, 2009 at 04:55

   My two cents worth:

   (1) Firefox 3.5 was indeed a great improvement over 3.0, from a speed and stability point of view. I think they fixed a memory leak which was freezing up FF 3.0 as well (see Mozilla Release Notes for details).

   The speed and stability improvements are especially noticeable on laptops with limited hardware resources, like my old WinBook.

   (2) 3.5.2 did need updates for my Extensions, but 3.5.3 vs. 3.5.2 had no need for Add-Ons to be updated. Your mileage may vary.

   (3) I agree with Woody about Foxit Reader vs. Adobe Reader (Acrobat). The lighter load on system resources, the quicker launching, the browser integration within Firefox…the list of advantages goes on and on. And many fewer security issues (so far, knock wood). There is a very recent update for Foxit Reader, BTW.

7. 

   Greg September 13th, 2009 at 21:51

   I love how they keep ‘updating’ Firefox but they haven’t even begun to deal with the fact that the program is a memory hog. I have to shut it down twice a day because it ends up using most of a gig of RAM if I don’t. I’m tempted to move to Chrome.

8. 

   keith September 14th, 2009 at 01:13

   secunia tells me that the latest firefox is unsecure with no solution whereas the previous version was secure. can i / should i ignore your upgrade advice and revert to the 3.5 version

9. 

   sanda September 14th, 2009 at 21:01

   Foxit reader is gorgeous, after I finally figured out how to pick the correct of 4 choices. (My younger brother is blogging on a
   Japan vacation and it’s first time I used pdf -
   needed motivation to navigate the mazes.)

   Ques.:I like Firefox. Followed your advice,
   Woody (welcome back) to use Firefox and get the AVGfree8.4upgrade. Sometimes I type in a url and get a message “Can’t find” – whose fault is it: Firefox or AVGfree? (And sometimes my ISP
   cuts off the line, not often, but just did when submitting comment.)

10. 

    rc primak September 19th, 2009 at 04:01

    @Keith –

    If you are using Firefox 3.0.14, yeah, Secunia says it is not secure. If you just upgraded to Firefox 3.5.3, my Secunia PSI says Firefox is secure. But… is your Flash Player plugin, or your Java Runtime not up to date? Secunia will sometimes flag Firefox plug-in versions of these programs as Firefox insecurities.

11. 

    rc primak September 19th, 2009 at 04:03

    @Greg–

    If Firefox is a memory hog on your computer, definitely try Chrome. Chrome is nowhere near as resource-intensive.