I'm
really looking forward to Windows Vista. According to Microsoft,
I'll finally be able to use my PC without being paranoid about
visiting the wrong website (phishing) or checking my email (viruses
and spyware).
Microsoft promises that I won't get popup ads ever again and
spyware will be a non-issue.
When Vista is finally released, about two years after I bought
my latest Windows PC, I'll actually be able to do something
productive with it instead of spending most of my time deleting
spyware and updating antivirus definitions.
That's the theory, of course, and if it's any better than XP is
now, I can't wait.
Firefox Makes Windows Safer
In the meantime, the only thing that has saved me from
completely discontinuing use of my Windows PC has been the Firefox
browser.
I've written about Firefox several times, and it just keeps
getting better. When I first started using it, the idea for
extensions and themes was relatively new, and there weren't that
many of them available.
Instead of being an unfilled promise, many extensions have been
developed since then. These range from one that shows you the local
weather in your browser window to one that shows you a preview of
each website in the results when you search with Google.
Consistency
Firefox is completely consistent on both Macs and Windows PCs;
if you know how to use it on a PC, you can use it on a Mac, and
vice versa. It's a bit like iTunes in that sense - there's really
no learning curve once you've learned it on either platform. I find
this simplifies things a bit, especially for guests using my
computer.
None of this is news, however. What's news is that Firefox was
updated rather significantly this past Tuesday. It's now at version
1.5, and this update ads several important new features.
Automatic Updates
The first, and unquestionably the most important new feature, is
the auto-update feature. Yes, Firefox 1.0.x had a feature where you
could check for updates to Firefox and your extensions, but it
wouldn't automatically download all of them for you. If, say,
Firefox was updated to 1.0.6, you would click "update" and be taken
to the Mozilla home page. Then you'd have to manually download and
install the new version of the application.
This was rather annoying, and a lot of users found this
confusing - especially those who had friends help them install the
browser in the first place. The new update system works like Mac OS
X's Software Update or Windows Update. It checks for the updates,
tells you what's available, and then gives you the option of having
the browser install the updates for you.
Other Features
The next big feature is the "clear private data" option. This
lets you clear stored passwords, cookies, and your browsing
history. This can be a great feature if you're selling or giving
away your old computer but want to leave Firefox installed for the
next owner.
Mozilla also stresses that Firefox 1.5 is more secure than the
old version. Then again, almost anything's more secure than
Internet Explorer.
Mozilla also says that Firefox 1.5 has "improved popup
blocking". While popup blocking on Firefox is generally pretty
good, there are occasionally some that it misses, but these
occurrences are very rare. I haven't noticed any popup ads with the
new version, but I've only been using it since it came out on
Tuesday.
The other thing worth mentioning is that many extensions and
themes have not yet been updated for Firefox 1.5, so if you've got
a fair number of extensions that you depend on, you might want to
wait to install the new version.
Firefox 1.5 isn't a major step up from the original 1.0 release,
but it's big enough to show that Mozilla is in active development
and not being ignored, unlike what Microsoft has been doing with
Internet Explorer (okay, they have security updates, but that's
about it).
Mozilla is planning a huge marketing push behind Firefox 1.5,
and it will be interesting to see if their market share can further
increase with this relatively small upgrade. 
Link: Firefox
