Firefox 3

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CNET's comprehensive Firefox 3 coverage includes downloads, news, unbiased reviews, user ratings and specs on the latest Firefox browser, extensions, add-ons, and plug-ins.

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Firefox 3 review from CNET editors

Editors' Choice: Firefox 3
After months of testing, Firefox 3 (code name Gran Paradiso) is available for download from Mozilla. With its new Gekko 1.9 engine, the browser rocks, rendering pages faster and uses fewer system resources overall. As with any new browser, some add-ons created for Firefox 2 may not work, but give them time. Firefox 3 touts faster rendering, a vastly reduced use of system resources, and clever new data-mining tools for your bookmarks and browser history. Most notable is that Firefox 3 includes many security-related features baked right in, such as the best of breed antiphishing protection, making Firefox the most secure browser on the market today. Read our full review of Firefox 3.

» Read the full review of Firefox 3 (Gran Paradiso)

Firefox 3 news and blog posts

Buzz Out Loud 799: Pop a cap in your usage

Comcast comes clean with its bandwidth cap: it's coming, it's coming in October, it's 250GB, and they won't give you any tools for monitoring their use, and if you exceed your cap twice, you get the boot for a year. So, we have a little fun with that. Read more

Comcast comes clean with its bandwidth cap: it's coming, it's coming in October, it's 250GB, and they won't give you any Read more

Posted By: Molly Wood Aug 29 2008

Week in review: Taming the wild Web

Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple all make strides in the browser battles, while courts rule on copyright cases. Also: Politics, tech-style. Read more

The browser battles are heating up, with Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple all releasing offerings to entice Web surfers into their respective camps. Microsoft released the Read more

Posted By: Steven Musil Aug 29 2008

Buzz Out Loud 798: There is no poop, so leave the diamonds alone

It's a tortured analogy sort of day, including some confusing stuff about water and water bottles and then a whole long thing about a sandbox, poop, and dirty diamonds. You'll love it. Read more

It's a tortured analogy sort of day, including some confusing stuff about water and water bottles and then a whole long thing about a Read more

Posted By: Molly Wood Aug 28 2008

Mozilla's Google subsidy to last three more years

Open-source developer extends until 2011 the Google search partnership that's provided the vast majority of the revenue for the backer of the Firefox Web browser. Read more

Mozilla and Google have extended a search deal through 2011, providing some financial security to the backer of the open-source Firefox Web browser. "We've Read more

Posted By: Stephen Shankland Aug 28 2008

Why can't they fix the Flash/Firefox bug?

When open-source and traditional software development collide, the result is not good. Read more

Latest: Adobe's John Dowdell has a thoughtful critique of this post that also expands on the nature of the bug. An annoying and long-lived Read more

Posted By: Rafe Needleman Aug 27 2008

IE 8 beta gives other browsers a run for their money

With the newest public beta version of its Internet Explorer browser, Microsoft meets, and in some cases exceeds, the security features available in other browsers. Read more

Don't count Internet Explorer out just yet. On Wednesday, Microsoft released the second public beta for Internet Explorer 8. If anything, this release brings Read more

Posted By: Robert Vamosi Aug 27 2008

Buzz Out Loud 797: The superbug of piracy

Today's BOL Theory of the Day: the RIAA's constant crackdown on sites and services that ought to be fair use is creating cockroach-like, drug-resistant strains...like Opentape. Read more

Today's BOL Theory of the Day: the RIAA's constant crackdown on sites and services that ought to be fair use is creating cockroach-like, Read more

Posted By: Jason Howell Aug 27 2008

Google gooses Apple's Safari with Gears beta

With a new beta version of Gears for Safari, Apple's browser joins Firefox and Internet Explorer with support for Google's augmented browsing abilities. Read more

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Google_gooses_Apple_s_Safari_with_Gears_beta'; As promised in May, Google has brought the open-source Gears technology to Apple's Safari, augmenting some browser abilities Read more

Posted By: Stephen Shankland Aug 27 2008

First Look video: Cooliris for Firefox (Mac)

Formerly known as PicLens, Cooliris lets you view searched images and movies in full screen using a 3D wall. Once you get started and see how easy and cool this add-on is, you'll agree this is a must-have for any Firefox user. Read more

Cooliris for Firefox (formerly PicLens) is an add-on for Firefox that makes viewing images much more elegant and fun. Once installed, you can simply perform Read more

Posted By: Jason Parker Aug 26 2008

Firefox extension protects against man-in-the-middle attacks

New software helps guide users to safe Web sites and away from malicious sites, without being confused by an error message Firefox displays for many Web sites that don't pay third-parties to verify their security. Read more

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have released an extension for Firefox 3 that can protect wireless network users from so-called "man-in-the-middle" attacks. The software, dubbed "Read more

Posted By: Elinor Mills Aug 26 2008

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Firefox downloads

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Mozilla Firefox 3 for Windows

Even though Internet Explorer dominates the Web browser market, you might wonder why if you spend some time with Mozilla Firefox. This light and nimble Web wonder brought tabbed browsing into the mainstream (IE7 recently jumped on the bandwagon) and offers countless ways to customize it through extensions and themes.

Mozilla Firefox 3 for Mac

Though it's difficult to unseat Safari as the preferred browser of Mac users, Mozilla Firefox garners attention through its solid design and extra features, making it a worthy alternative.

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Firefox extensions and add-ons

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User opinions of Firefox 2

7 out of 10 Very good

"Initial Impression" I was impressed with how quickly it loads pages. I did notice a bit of sluggishness when I was on my MySpace home page, and... Read more

by AspDotNetDvlpr (see profile), 06/17/2008

10 out of 10 Perfect

"Firefox is great 4 me." Firefox is a great way to go about your business on the internet. Read more

by tommmm111 (see profile), 06/17/2008

10 out of 10 Perfect

"Firefox Leads the Industry" Firefox is superior to other browsers for one reason, they are leading the industry. Thousands of creative designers and... Read more

by SleeplessHacker (see profile), 05/28/2008

4 out of 10 Mediocre

"As wonky and error prone as anything I've seen" In the last few months, Firefox has become the least reliable piece of software on my trusty old Dell laptop. Anything that has... Read more

by drdivo (see profile), 04/26/2008

3 out of 10 Poor

"Not as good as IE 7" The only advantage of Firefox is it is more secure than Internet Explorer 7 and that is becuase Firefox is not intergrated into... Read more

by harold24915 (see profile), 04/20/2008

Very good

7.7

out of 10

Average user rating

» See all user opinions for Firefox 2

Learn about the Mozilla Firefox 3 browser

After Mozilla's years-long slow start, Firefox has gained significant market share against its top rival, Microsoft's Internet Explorer. One of the Firefox's strengths is the broad collection of hundreds of add-ons, but that also means things move more slowly when programmers must update their projects to be compatible with Firefox 3. The latest version of the popular Web browser includes a new rendering engine, so pages load faster. It also uses fewer system resources, addressing a complaint in earlier versions.

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Firefox 3 Alpha 8 (Gran Paradiso)

Mozilla has released a new security-based build of its upcoming Firefox 3 release. As with its other alpha builds of Firefox 3, aka "Gran Paradiso," Mozilla warns casual users to wait to download until the final version is available.

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