Firefox 2.0

[The Supreme Canuck]

Apparently, this has just been released today. Anyone tried it yet?

[Blob]

Hum,
strangely i got mine yesterday (http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0/)....

But, yeah, superb. (better than IE7, which i`ve been testing too - and which incidentally has a critical unpatched flaw)

[The Supreme Canuck]

Does the new version bork v1.5.0.7 extensions? If not, I think I'll give it a download.

[Cl1mh4224rd]

Does the new version bork v1.5.0.7 extensions? If not, I think I'll give it a download.
There's a pretty good chance at least some of your extensions won't work.

You can search this list of compatible extensions (http://www.extensionhunter.com/) to find out for sure which ones will work, though.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Oh! Thanks! I'll do that now...

[Blob]

Hum,
most of my extensions worked, and the ones that didn`t just got updated today.

Here are a few (old) extensions to test...

Adblock Filterset.G Updater (http://www.pierceive.com/) 0.2.6 - Synchronises Adblock with Filterset.G
Adblock Plus (http://bene.sitesled.com/adblock.htm) 0.5.10 - Filters ads from web-pages. Now with whitelisting and synchronisation.
AI Roboform Toolbar for Firefox (http://www.roboform.com) 6.4.7 - Allows to use Roboform in Firefox.
BugMeNot (http://roachfiend.com) 0.8 - Bypass compulsory web registration with the context menu via www.bugmenot.com.
Context Search (http://www.cusser.net) 0.2 - Expands the context menu’s ‘Web Search’ to use Mycroft Search Plugins.
Cookie Button in the status bar (http://basic.mozdev.org/cookiebutton/) 0.8 - Button for easy access to cookie permissions in the status bar
Deepest Sender (http://deepestsender.mozdev.org/) 0.6.10 - Post to blogs directly from Firefox or Mozilla.
Download Statusbar (http://downloadstatusbar.mozdev.org/) 0.9.3.1 - View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar
Enhanced History Manager (http://www.google.com/search?&q=Enhanced History Manager) 0.5.7.03 - Flexible History Management
Forecastfox (http://forecastfox.mozdev.org/) 0.8.2.4 - Get international weather forecasts and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customisable extension.
Google Toolbar for Firefox (http://www.google.com/) 1.0.20051012 - Take the power of Google with you anywhere on the Web!
Html Validator (http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/) 0.7.6 - Adds HTML validation to the View Page Source of the browser. The validation is done by Tidy from W3c.
IE View (http://ieview.mozdev.org/) 1.2.7 - Open pages in IE via Firefox menus
JavaScript Debugger (http://www.hacksrus.com/~ginda/venkman/) 0.9.85 -
keyconfig (http://mozilla.dorando.at/) 20050908 - Rebind your keys.
Link Toolbar (http://cdn.mozdev.org/linkToolbar/) 1.1.0.1 - A site-navigation tool
ListZilla (http://roachfiend.com) 0.7 - Outputs an alphabetical list of extensions to a text, vB code, or HTML file.
Live HTTP Headers (http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/) 0.10 - View HTTP headers of a page and while browsing.
Nightly Tester Tools (http://users.blueprintit.co.uk/~dave/web/firefox/buildid/nightly.html) 0.7.9.10 - Useful tools for the nightly tester (Formerly known as the Build ID Copier).
Permit Cookies (http://gorgias.de/mfe/) 0.6.1 - Set cookie permissions for the site you are viewing
Sage (http://sage.mozdev.org) 1.3.6 - A lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator.
Slim Extension List (http://v2studio.com/k/moz/) 0.3.1 - Makes items in extension list shorter, so you can see more at once. Also, sorts them by name.
Stealther (http://www.zadet.net) 0.11 - Surf the web without leaving a trace in Firefox. (just got updated, now works with 2.0)
Tab Mix Plus (http://tmp.garyr.net) 0.2.5.2 - Tab browsing with an added boost.
Talkback (http://talkback.mozilla.org/) 1.5 - Submit a crash report to Mozilla.org.
View Cookies (http://www.bitstorm.org/extensions/view-cookies/) 1.5 - View cookies of the current web page.
Web Developer (http://chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/) 0.9.4 - Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Hm. Well. That seems to have been easy enough. The only issue I have is that All-in-one Gestures has a problem opening new tabs. I have new tabs set to open to my homepage, but opening a new tab with a gesture opens a blank tab. Opening a new tab any other way works fine. I suppose it'll be fixed soon.

Anyway, other than that, this is great! The spellcheck is especially nice.

Edit:

And now I've fixed the problem. Downloading the extension "NewTabURL" seems to make the problem go away.

[yaohua2000]

yeah, i've used Firefox 3.0 codename Minefield for months. :)

[Serenitude]

FF2 has been freezing and crashing on me today :evil:

IE7 has been more stable so far, but is slower than frozen molasses :wall:

[shatdow]

I looked over the feature list, and everything I need is covered by extensions anyway. I think I'll wait till more people tried it before I switch.

[Jim]

The local Tech Guru did a comparison of FF2.0 and IE7:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/silverman/4282263.html

Firefox 2.0 wins this browse-off 4-2, but in terms of day-to-day use, I prefer IE7. That's because its interface and the design of its tabs are the most important elements to the way I use Web browsers.

[papageno]

Spell-checking, yes!

*wipes tears of joy*

[tofu]

I've been looking forward to Firefox 2 because I really enjoyed the first one. I've always been a big Clint Eastwood fan.

wait, what are we talking about?

[Dragon Star]

Spell-checking, yes!

*wipes tears of joy*

My reaction precisely, I CAN FINALLY GET RID OF THE STUPID GOOGLE TOOLBAR!

Can't wait till it supports Tab Mix Plus.

[The Supreme Canuck]

yeah, i've used Firefox 3.0 codename Minefield for months. :)

Sure, I could be, too. I just prefer stable releases.

[OptimusShr]

Firefox 2 is another awesome release from Mozilla. I have been loving it so far.

[GDwarf]

Fun new features:
Improved tabs
Built-in spellcheck
New UI (I don't like it that much, actually)
Phishing filter
Better RSS support

And other, slightly less awe-inspiring features.

I've had it for a few days now, and I love it. It's not exactly a huge leap from 1.5, but it's certainly an improvement.

[Serenitude]

Am I the only one having crashing problems? It's still crashing on me every 15 or 20 minutes, and it's running close to 80 megs of ram with just 2 tabs open. Nobody else experiencing this? :mad:

[Tog]

Am I the only one having crashing problems? It's still crashing on me every 15 or 20 minutes, and it's running close to 80 megs of ram with just 2 tabs open. Nobody else experiencing this? :mad:

Nope. I'm running it on two machines and so far the only issue I have is that sometimes links open in the window, sometimes in a new tab, and sometimes a new instance of FF. Oh, and the flash banners a the top of the forums (the ads) will block the drop down menus, like the search box, so I had to get the flashblocker extension.

I might still have the exe for 1.5 on my flash drive if you can't find a copy and want to roll back.

[Serenitude]

Thanks! I'll take you up on that if I can't find 1.5.

[Roy Batty]

I was hanging on till it told me there was an update available as per usual, but I guess that functionality is just for versions within a particular release.

[Hokie]

Spell-checking, yes!

*wipes tears of joy*

This is worth the upgrade by it self for me.

[Donnie B.]

This is worth the upgrade by it self for me."By itself", you mean? :doh:

Spell checkers only go so far...

[Roy Batty]

I've always been happy with the Spellbound extension.
Oh well, time to take the plunge I suppose.
I wonder when Thunderbird 2 will be released (between the palm trees:)).

[Roy Batty]

Right, alls well with me so far. The spellbound extentsi... err, I mean add-on, is disabled but the inbuilt spell checker seems fine, except I can't seem to get it to turn on all the time? ie I have to keep right clicking & ticking 'spell check this field'. What option/where to do this, am I stupidly missing? (having seemingly gone through all the options & checking the help) :)

[Serenitude]

I have one idea - does anyone know if there is any difference between the last RC (3?) and the official 2.0? I downloaded the release candidate just 2 or 3 days before the "official" release of 2.0. I had the browser check for upgrades, and it said there were none, but I'm hearing people using 1.5 getting the same message. So, maybe my crashing issues are from using the RC version? Does anyone know? I'm on dialup for one more week still, so downloads are still painful, but I'd be more than willing to download 2.0 from the site if it's at all different than the last RC.

[Mr Gorsky]

No crashing or freezing problems with mine ... working as smoothly as ever over here. Don't know about the spell-checker, mine just seems to be working on everything by default.

[crosscountry]

Spell-checking, yes!

*wipes tears of joy*



you haven't used the Google Toolbar before? it's easy.


I'll wait to upgrade - currently content

[Dragon Star]

Right, alls well with me so far. The spellbound extentsi... err, I mean add-on, is disabled but the inbuilt spell checker seems fine, except I can't seem to get it to turn on all the time? ie I have to keep right clicking & ticking 'spell check this field'. What option/where to do this, am I stupidly missing? (having seemingly gone through all the options & checking the help) :)

Try Tools-->Options-->Advanced-->General-->Check spelling as I type.

That should fix you. If not you have a bug in your download because mine works fine.

[Cl1mh4224rd]

I have one idea - does anyone know if there is any difference between the last RC (3?) and the official 2.0? . . .I'd be more than willing to download 2.0 from the site if it's at all different than the last RC.
They're the same.

[Roy Batty]

Try Tools-->Options-->Advanced-->General-->Check spelling as I type.

That should fix you. If not you have a bug in your download because mine works fine.

Yep, that was already done. I notice that with some things it works fine on ie advanced editor here for reply (but not reply with quote as i'm doing now) but with any other fields, ie google, yahoo etc search bars it seems inately switched off.
Not that impressed so far as 'Spellbound' dealt with every input field within the browser equally :(

[Dragon Star]

Now that you say it, it doesn't seem to work here. Everywhere else it does though.

[GDwarf]

I have it auto-work sometimes, but it seems pretty hit and miss, which is a shame.

[crosscountry]

I just upgraded to 1.5.0.8 or something like that, wasn't my choice FF did it automatically.


anyone else?

[pghnative]

One thing that always annoyed me about Firefox is that a new window or tab opens up at the home page. I prefer the IE way of opening the current page, with history included.

Is that any different in 2.0? Alternatively, is there a setting that I'm missing that would allow Firefox to work the way I want it to?

[The Supreme Canuck]

Oh, you can find that in the options. It's a little buggy in 2.0, so download the extension "NewTabUrl" then go into its options. You can set it to open the current page.

[crosscountry]

what are you describing? I don't understand. FF can look and act like IE if you want it to.

[pghnative]

what are you describing? I don't understand. FF can look and act like IE if you want it to.Are you asking me? Or TSC?

As to what I'm describing, when I first open FF, it goes to the home page ... obviously it has to go somewhere, so no problem there.

But when I surf from there through several links, and then open either a new tab, or a new window, the new window (tab) goes to the home page. I prefer the IE way of not only opening the new window to the current URL, but also keeping the history (ie, allows use of the back button).

I'm at work (IE) now -- when I get home I'll try TSCs suggestion and see if I can get it to work.

[pghnative]

Oh, you can find that in the options. It's a little buggy in 2.0, so download the extension "NewTabUrl" then go into its options. You can set it to open the current page.does that work in FF 1.whatever? or only the new version?

[Blob]

One thing that always annoyed me about Firefox is that a new window or tab opens up at the home page.

Hum,
i have my tabs open to a blank page, and new windows open to my home page of google.com.

[Serenitude]

Now that I have broadband, I've noticed something else about Firefox. Well, actually, the manual from the cable company stated it, but I didn't believe it, but testing it has borne it out to be true.

The cable company says it's designed for IE, and will work with Firefox (and Opera, etc...) on a "best effort" basis. I couldn't think of a reason why it would be different, but using it, it seemed there was one.

So, I decided to test it out. Using IE7, I averaged 4271kbps. Using FF2, I averaged 1939kbps. This remained more or less true in other tests, and is also noticable using sites such as youtube, etc...

I'm not a computer scientist - I can't, for the life of me, think of a reason why it should be different.

Anyone have a similar problem, or know why it makes sense to have the tests turn out different? (And hopefully a solution? :dance: )

[Blob]

Hum,
you could tweak Firefox to open up the `pipelines` to improve the speed 2-3 x

First, in the URL bar, Type "about:config". and press `enter`. This will bring up a list of commands you can edit.

<attachment 1>

Next, put (cutting and paste) "network.http.pipelining" in the filter and change the value to "true".

<attachment 2>

After that, put "network.http.proxy.pipelining" in the filter.
Set to value to "true".

<attachment 3>

Next, type this into the Filter: "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" and change the value (right click and choose modify) to some number higher, if you were to set it to 8, it would make up to 8 requests at once.

<attachment 4>

Now, `right button click` anywhere in the browser window, and select "New" then "Integer". Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and make its value "0". This will make the browser respond faster on the information of the websites it receives.

<attachment 5>
<attachment 6>
<attachment 7>

Another tip:
On some searches, Google automatically instructs your browser to start downloading the top search result before you click on it. If you click on top result, the destination page will load faster than before. Google uses a special prefetching feature in Firefox and Mozilla web browsers to provide this functionality, so results prefetching is not available in Internet Explorer or other web browsers. You can disable prefetching in your web browser preferences, as described in the Mozilla Prefetching FAQ. In Firefox, you can disable prefetching by doing the following:

1. Type "about:config" the address bar.
2. Scroll down to the setting "network.prefetch-next" and set the value to "False".

With prefetching enabled, you may end up with cookies and web pages in your web browser's cache from web sites that you did not click on since prefetching happens automatically when you view Google search results pages. You can delete these files by clearing your browser's cache and cookies.

[Serenitude]

WOW!! Thank you for that incredible reply!! That should definately be helpful! MUCH apreciated!! :D

[Dragon Star]

WOW!! Thank you for that incredible reply!! That should definately be helpful! MUCH apreciated!! :D

Did that increase your kbps?

[Blob]

Hum,
i forgot to add that you need to experiment with the Filter: "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" value.
You may for example try setting it to 30, and note down the D/L speed.
Setting it too high will slow down the system.

[Dragon Star]

I moved mine to 32 a few weeks ago and noticed quite a bit of difference in website response rates and images loads. It's a great mod.:)

[Serenitude]

Did that increase your kbps?

I won't know until later tonight, but I will definately post the results. Again, much, much thanks :D

BTW: I never posted this, but the problems I was having with FF2 in earlier posts (first page) were fixed by a registry cleaner. I don't know if it's apropriate to list which one, so mods, please delete it if it's not, but I used CCleaner, which found over 200 registry errors on the first pass alone. A few more passes, a reboot, and FF ran fine :)

[mickal555]

I just upgraded to 1.5.0.8 or something like that, wasn't my choice FF did it automatically.


anyone else?

Yes, and now as I scroll down a page it drags! :(

Like it isn't a smooth scroll but it jumps. this is really annoying! Does anyone know what to do :(

[crosscountry]

Are you asking me? Or TSC?

As to what I'm describing, when I first open FF, it goes to the home page ... obviously it has to go somewhere, so no problem there.

But when I surf from there through several links, and then open either a new tab, or a new window, the new window (tab) goes to the home page. I prefer the IE way of not only opening the new window to the current URL, but also keeping the history (ie, allows use of the back button).

I'm at work (IE) now -- when I get home I'll try TSCs suggestion and see if I can get it to work.


yea, you can change that if you like.

[crosscountry]

Yes, and now as I scroll down a page it drags! :(

Like it isn't a smooth scroll but it jumps. this is really annoying! Does anyone know what to do :(

I still have the memory leaks too. Usually I run below 100Megs but I still go over and sometimes way above that.


does anyone know how to fix that? I've a couple mods, but they don't seem to to work.

[mickal555]

I still have the memory leaks too. Usually I run below 100Megs but I still go over and sometimes way above that.


does anyone know how to fix that? I've a couple mods, but they don't seem to to work.

I-huh?

[crosscountry]

Firefox uses a lot of memory. can anyone fix that?

[Blob]

Hum,
the memory `leak` is probably the cache.
But it could be that memory is not freed when tabs are closed, or a javascript issue.
Solutions: Restart firefox often, buy more memory, use stealther (http://www.zadet.net/) or read THIS (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Reducing_memory_usage_(Firefox))

[crosscountry]

great link. thanks!

[The Supreme Canuck]

does that work in FF 1.whatever? or only the new version?

Oh, faddle. I missed your post entirely. Sorry.

The option should exist in v 1.x, but I'm not sure. The extension that I recommended, though, works in v 1.5 - 2.0.

[crosscountry]

just upgraded, seems to be working fine so far. and no overwhelming memory leaks, but I haven't tried many flash applications or adobe yet.

[mickal555]

Oh dear buy more- I've already got a gig of DDR2....


-I think it might be BOINC using all my virtual memory....

[sarongsong]

After clicking on Bookmarks, it seems to take a long time for that screen to come up.

[Serenitude]

Blob - I am sorry it took a couple of days to get back to you. RL rears it's ugly head.

I tried your suggestions. They helped ALOT!! FF2 is now not only competitive, outside of pure dowloading speed of JPEGs where it's still getting smoked by IE, it's actually, when not holding it's own, faster than IE! You're suggestions have more than doubled the actual speed!! I cannot thank you enough!! I can now rely on my good old FF instead of the retched creation that is IE! I really don't know how to thank you enough, but I hope my heartfelt thanks are enough. I can live with the JPEG speeds, though, as I don't download much in the way of photos, except for the occasional hubble desktop wallpaper.

@DragonStar: 32 seems to be working wonders, so I'm sticking with that number. Thanks bunches for the suggestion!!

I just can't believe how much better FF runs now! New test results, from toast.net, using Yahoo as a server (it's what I use for mail et. al. so I thought it would be the most relevant for me, personally):

text test results:
firefox2: 2181
ie7: 2102

shuttle test results:
FF2: 2718
IE7: 2720

all-in-one test results:
FF2: 4656
IE7: 4342

mars rover test result:
FF2: 1628
IE7: 3152

f-16 test:
FF2: 2193
IE7: 3929

[Captain Kidd]

Seems there's a bit of an exploit concerning FF2's password manager.

Slashdot (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/21/2319243&from=rss):
Today, Mozilla made public bug #360493, which exposes Firefox's Password Manager on many public sites. The flaw derives from Firefox's willingness to supply the username and password stored on one page on a domain to another page on a domain.
There's an example page linked in the text where you create a userid and password for a site. They then link you to Google where you can see your created userid and password in the URL. Thus a site could transparently harvest userids and passwords without you noticing.

[Dragon Star]

I've had problems with password manager in the past where instead of logging me into the forum it would actually prevent me from logging in, so I just don't use it. So that, thankfully, doesn't affect me at all.


@DragonStar: 32 seems to be working wonders, so I'm sticking with that number. Thanks bunches for the suggestion!!

No problem, glad it's working for you. ;)

[mickal555]

My passwords?

ARGH!

Where's the fix!!

[Dragon Star]

They likely don't have a patch yet...

[mickal555]

Argh!

[Serenitude]

Don't read this:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/FirefoxMyths.html

you'll only depress yourself further... :cry:

[crosscountry]

I've had problems with password manager in the past where instead of logging me into the forum it would actually prevent me from logging in, so I just don't use it. So that, thankfully, doesn't affect me at all.



No problem, glad it's working for you. ;)


me too, and it was Paypal. DOH

[HenrikOlsen]

One of the depressing parts about market share comparisons between browsers is that FireFox is consistently under counted due to the common use of the Adblock and NoScript extensions which effectively disable usage counting by most of the webstats applications, including google's.

So when those sites undercount FireFox, there's less incentive for those looking at them for information to make website work well for other browsers than IE:(

[GDwarf]

Don't read this:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/FirefoxMyths.html

you'll only depress yourself further... :cry:
Actually, most of those myths are highly contested, with different sites giving completely different results. No one really argues that Opera isn't the fastest, but depending on what security firm you consult Firefox has far fewer severe security flaws then IE 7. Tests of speed from different sites rank IE 7 all over the map, same with Firefox. etc.

[Serenitude]

Actually, most of those myths are highly contested, with different sites giving completely different results. No one really argues that Opera isn't the fastest, but depending on what security firm you consult Firefox has far fewer severe security flaws then IE 7. Tests of speed from different sites rank IE 7 all over the map, same with Firefox. etc.

I can only concede if you disagree with the statements of that site. I definately do not have the knowledge to gainsay anyone's informed opinion, or to confirm or debunk anything you might present as contrary to what is mentioned there. I've been told be several people that it's generally accurate, but wouldn't know accurate from a purple cow for myself, in this context :o

[Dragon Star]

The information within the link was extremely bias too, some of it may be true, but I wouldn't say all of it.

I do know that FF with Pipelining enabled correctly smokes IE7 on high end systems.

[Woody-]

Most of the stuff from that link are things I could care less about, who cares if one browser renders a page a few tenths of a second faster. I use FireFox for the extensions and because its not Microsoft.

[Fazor]

I use firefox at home, haven't upgraded to 2.0 yet tho. But at work we have IE. Window's supurbly annoying automatic updater popped up this morning, of course well after i had signed on to all the virtual os software and such we use. normally i'll just ignore the updates because, inevidably every time i'm restarting the pc is when the phone rings or someone comes in. but this time i saw it wanted to update to IE7. I thought this would make a good guinea pig, so i let it update. finally has tabs, way to take an outdated product and make it, well, less outdated. but i hate the GUI...prolly mostly because i'm just not use to it. but i think it's fugly. and i didn't consider all the annoying pop-ups that i'll get to check the "do not show again" box all over again. oh well. all in all, it's an excellent example of "just good enough" :-p Go MS!