Firefox .9 released, Thunderbird .7 later in the week.

[firephoto]

One of the last "technology preview" releases of Firefox before the final version ships. Major changes include a new theme, extension and them managers, update function for the browser, themes, and extensions. Windows installer is smaller, browser is faster overall, linux has an installer version now, many other bugfixes too.


Release notes. (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/releases/)

Bittorrents here.
http://pryan.org/mozilla/bt-tracker/

Direct download all versions here:
http://pryan.org/mozilla/firefox/official/releases/0.9/

Mozilla ftp if the others don't work. (could be slow due to demand)
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/0.9/

**Thunderbird is out, see below**

[Geronimo]

Firefox is my preferred browser. I use it for everything but Windows Update. Highly customizable and quick page rendering. Slow to lad though.

[HappyGoLucky]

I also use Firefox completely. However, I prefer third-party builds that are significantly optimized to provide even better performance than the standard versions available. Right now I'm running an optimized version of the 0.9 release code. There are some third party builders who have taken it upon themselves to dig into the base code of the program, mainly the engines that render graphics and security, and update them to use much more efficient routines, some using MMX, SSE, SSE2 when appropriate and available. The difference in performance can be astounding. My personal favorite is the builds from MOOX. He provides nightly builds optimized for various CPUs, from old P2s to P4s and Athlons, etc.
He uses the optimized rendering code that is done by MMOY for MMX, SSE, and SSE2 jpeg, gif, and hash.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040615 Firefox/0.9 (MOOX-AV)

More info about Third-Party builds can be found here:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=42

[firephoto]

Well Thunderbird .7 is out. I installed the release candidate yesterday and it seemed fine.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/0.7/

Here's a link for pretty much any kind of custom build of firefox or thunderbird.
http://pryan.org/mozilla/firefox/

Just click the links on the left for different apps.

[Brian Rector]

IMHO, its more exciting using other browsers now that IE is really going to the "pay to upgrade" stage now (All future versions of IE will no longer be available as standalone).

I have been using the newest version of Opera. Its more of a suite, like Netscape Communicator used to be back in the stone ages of the Internet.

I have quit using IE mostly because Opera and Mozilla are more secure, stable, and more fun to use.

[Geronimo]

I am disappointed in the extreme. I have tried to use 0.9 both by using the zip files and the executable install file. In both cases it appears to install but my machine just hangs. The task manager says Firefox is running but it is not. I am fine with reecent branch and trunk builds. I have been a staunch advocate of Firebird now Firefox but recent problems with extensions and now thsi may push me ina different direction.

[HappyGoLucky]

I am disappointed in the extreme. I have tried to use 0.9 both by using the zip files and the executable install file. In both cases it appears to install but my machine just hangs. The task manager says Firefox is running but it is not. I am fine with reecent branch and trunk builds. I have been a staunch advocate of Firebird now Firefox but recent problems with extensions and now thsi may push me ina different direction.
There have been a few instances of this reported in the Third-Party Builds forum on several of the recent Branch builds, which the 0.9Release is one of. It seems to be a conflict in the profile and installed extensions. The solution is to:


Reboot the machine
Go to your Firefox folder (typically C:\Program Files\Firefox)
Copy your Plugins folder and contents to your desktop (drag/drop)
Completely delete the entire contents of your Firefox folder, including all subfolders
Extract the new version of Firefox into the now empty folder (don't make a subfolder, just extract directly into the folder)
Open the Plugins folder in the Firefox folder
Open the copied Plugins folder on your desktop
Copy or move all of the plugins except the npnull32.dll into the Firefox\plugins folder
Now open your profile folder (typically c:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[profilename]
You can copy the files like Bookmarks.html, cookies.txt, cookperm.txt, user.js to somewhere else for safekeeping
completely delete the Mozilla and Firefox folders out of the Application Data folder, including all the subfolders under them
Now, restart the new Firefox with the -p switch
You will be presented with the Profile Manager, you can create a new profile (the default name is ok unless you want otherwise)
Click the Start Firefox button, then exit firefox
Now go to the new Profile folder (in the same location as before usually)
Copy your saved files from your old profile into the new one
Restart Firefox, it should work now.
You will need to reinstall your extensions, note that they are required to be updated to the new format, some of the main ones are already.

[firephoto]

I upgraded my moms version when I was over there the other day and I saw in the release notes I think that it said to uninstall any older version before installing the new version so I just did it from the add/remove in control panel and before it was done it asked me if I wanted to completely remove the program folder since something was in there that couldn't be uninstalled. I just said yes, then ran the new installer and when it asked about what profile to import data from I picked the Firefox .8 option and all was fine.

Apparently there's something left over with windows builds since I never installed anything extra on that machine. I guess there could be on linux too because I always rename the program folder to reflect the version before I put a new version in use.

There's a list of new themes and extensions here that will work with the new versions.
http://update.mozilla.org/

[Mark Holtz]

I tried Firefox both at work and at home. It's OK. If I had been using Internet Explorer instead of MyIE2, I would have probably switched.

It's true that MyIE2 runs under the Internet Explorer engine. However, at work, I have set it up so that when I start up MyIE2, I can load up a group of pages at once. Also, if I click and drag a link, it opens up in a new tab. If I highlight and then drag text, it opens into a search engine. I can also block out "content" such as the banner ads.

I won't say that Firefox is a bad browser, just that I found something a bit more suited to my needs.

[Geronimo]

I have indeed uninstalled the old version. I will try the steps in precisely that order though. It is worth a shot. I was using both branch and trunk builds before so I think I will be OK extension wise---or at least that I wont be surprised. Thanks.

[firephoto]

I love a good challenge.......

First one is simple, use | as seperators in your home page preference and multiple tabs should open when you start or click the home button.
Example:
http://www.google.com/linux|http://slashdot.org|http://forums.gentoo.org

Second is easy too, but might not be what you are doing. You can drag links to the tab bar and drop them in the empty space for a new tab, or on an existing tab to open it there. Also I believe the middlemouse.contentLoadURL does a "I'm feeling lucky" google search of the clipboard contents with windows, but it might be a linux only thing. I disable it because middle click is paste and highlight is copy with *nix.



Third one, you can highlight text, right click, and "search web" for that text.

The forth one you will probably need to install an extension, http://update.mozilla.org/ should fix you up if you want to give it a try. Adblock should do what you want with ad banners I think and it's the most popular extension it looks like.

[Geronimo]

I am confused Firephoto. Whose questions are you answering?

[firephoto]

That was for Mark.

Must convert MyIE2 user......
Must convert MyIE2 user...Must convert MyIE2 user......
Must convert MyIE2 user......Must convert MyIE2 user...Must convert MyIE2 user......

!Devil_lol

[James_F]

I am disappointed in the extreme. I have tried to use 0.9 both by using the zip files and the executable install file. In both cases it appears to install but my machine just hangs. The task manager says Firefox is running but it is not. I am fine with reecent branch and trunk builds. I have been a staunch advocate of Firebird now Firefox but recent problems with extensions and now thsi may push me ina different direction.
If you have the same problem I did, this is how I fixed firefox 0.9 from hanging...

I removed Firefox from the computer using the uninstall. Then I made sure the c:\program files\mozilla firefox\ folder was deleted. Then I removed the c:\Documents and Settings\~username~\Application Data\Mozilla\ folder and its settings. After that, a reinstall of Firefox seems to work now.

It has something to do with running a late 0.8 build that moved the settings to the Application Data folder. After removing that folder (i saw a firefox folder there too and removed that) I've working fine.

[James_F]

I love a good challenge.......

First one is simple, use | as seperators in your home page preference and multiple tabs should open when you start or click the home button.
Example:
http://www.google.com/linux|http://slashdot.org|http://forums.gentoo.org

Or just open them in different windows and then in the options select "Use Current Pages" under the Home Page setting.

[Geronimo]

Thanks for the advice guys. It worked---up to a point. But I cant seem to even download---much less install a theme (I like Skypilot) and I am disappointed that I cant seem to get the search plugins to work either.


I know they made changes to how themes and extensions work----again but this is getting annoying. Oh well I guess I have to accept that I am essentially a beta tester.

[Mark Holtz]

One other feature that I like is that you can assign function keys to open various web sites. I press F12 at work, DBSTalk comes up. Press F4, and I got the USPS Zip Code Lookup F8, and I can do a phone number lookup.

And, yes, I did send the author of MyIE2 a donation. There is something about using the Gecko engine with MyIE2, but I think that's experimental.

[HappyGoLucky]

Thanks for the advice guys. It worked---up to a point. But I cant seem to even download---much less install a theme (I like Skypilot) and I am disappointed that I cant seem to get the search plugins to work either.


I know they made changes to how themes and extensions work----again but this is getting annoying. Oh well I guess I have to accept that I am essentially a beta tester.
Yes, the themes and extensions support was a major change. However, most of the major extensions have been updated. I've also found more themes that are being updated to the new method. One thing that was an oversight, the latest builds of the browser have two configuration settings that have been causing problems with extensions.

In the address bar, enter About:Config, find the app.version entry and change it from 0.9+ to 0.9. Make the same change to the extensions.lastAppVersion entry. Shutdown Firefox and restart. Now the extensions will probably install correctly. The problem is that with the 0.9+ entry the themes were not being noted as compatible, even though they are.

[HappyGoLucky]

One other feature that I like is that you can assign function keys to open various web sites. I press F12 at work, DBSTalk comes up. Press F4, and I got the USPS Zip Code Lookup F8, and I can do a phone number lookup.

And, yes, I did send the author of MyIE2 a donation. There is something about using the Gecko engine with MyIE2, but I think that's experimental.
In Firefox, I've set up bookmarks that perform various functions for websites. Like when I want to look up something on IMDB, in the address bar I simply type, "imdb moviename" and it goes to the IMDB website and gives me the info for that movie. Similarly, I can type "dict word" and I get the dictionary definition for the word. I can also highlight a word, even one I've just typed in this box for instance, rightclick on it and choose "dictionary search for..." and get the definition. Basically, any website that accepts a word or phrase passed to it in the address line you can make a quick search for. There is an extension available that allows you to assign those, or any bookmark for that matter, to any key or key combo you want (or even a particular mouse move/button press).

[Geronimo]

I cannot even download any extensions or themes . I get error messages. I ahve tried downloading them with another browser but that is problematic and somewhat ridiculous.

I will try all this though. It certainly cant hurt.

[HappyGoLucky]

I cannot even download any extensions or themes . I get error messages. I ahve tried downloading them with another browser but that is problematic and somewhat ridiculous.

I will try all this though. It certainly cant hurt.
Try this: instead of simply clicking on the extension or theme link, right-click it and choose "Save as...", which will download the .xpi file (for extensions) or .jar file (for themes) to your harddrive. Once you have the file downloaded, open the Extention Manager or Theme Manager and drag the downloaded file, dropping it into the respective manager, it should then install.

[Geronimo]

I have tried that. I cannot save them. I get an eroor message. When I download using another browser (which defeats the purpose of the theme and extension sites that see your vesion) I can download but I cannot install it dragging it into either the manager or an open web page.

I hate the default theme. I prefer Skypilot but just cant get there. I have lost a lot of nice extensions too. Oh well. perhps the problem wil go away with a new nightly.

[HappyGoLucky]

I have tried that. I cannot save them. I get an eroor message. When I download using another browser (which defeats the purpose of the theme and extension sites that see your vesion) I can download but I cannot install it dragging it into either the manager or an open web page.

I hate the default theme. I prefer Skypilot but just cant get there. I have lost a lot of nice extensions too. Oh well. perhps the problem wil go away with a new nightly.
It sounds like you have a corrupted profile. You need to completely wipe out the entire folder where Firefox is installed, plus completely wipe out your profile folders. Leave no trace of them whatsoever. You don't need to do anything to the registry.

Now, there are still problems with the installer, I detest that thing. I only use the zipped versions (most builders package in 7zip self-extracting archives). I let the package self-extract, then copy it all into a folder I named "Mozilla Firefox". I then copy my plugins into the plugins folder under that.

The newer releases place the profiles into the C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[profilename] folder. Delete the Mozilla\* folders completely.

If you see a C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Firefox folder, delete it as well, that is the old location, it could cause problems if the new versions try to import the old profile.

Here's a reg file you can use to make the necessary entries for Firefox to be your default browser and to be able to use things like Java and Flash successfully. Just copy this to a text file, name it something.reg and import it into your registry. You can change the folder names to suit your system should they be different. Some people simply use C:\Program Files\Firefox and don't have the Mozilla part of the folder name, for instance.


REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\ ShimInclusionList\FireFox.exe]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Mozilla\Mozilla FireFox]
"GeckoVer"="1.0.1"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Mozilla\Mozilla FireFox\bin]
"PathToExe"="C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla FireFox\\FireFox.exe"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Mozilla\Mozilla FireFox\Extensions]
"Plugins"="C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla FireFox\\Plugins"
"Components"="C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla FireFox\\Components"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\mozilla.org\Mozilla]
"CurrentVersion"="1.6"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Desktop]
"showDialog"="0"


Another reg file to enable Firefox to use Microsoft MediaPlayer 9 on WinXP is here:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\ ShimInclusionList]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\ ShimInclusionList\mozilla.exe]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\ ShimInclusionList\mozillafirebird.exe]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\ ShimInclusionList\firefox.exe]


Now, start Firefox and create your new profile as mentioned before. You should be able to now install the newer extensions and themes. Note, Skypilot hasn't been updated to the new format, so it currently will not work on the latest builds. The themes I've been able to use so far are:

Apollo, iCandy Junior, Mostly Crystal, Noia 2.0, and Playground. There are probably a few more that have been updated in the past few days, too.

Extensions I'm currently using are Chatzilla, GoogleBar, DictionarySearch, ChromEdit, All-in-One Gestures, and Preferential.

[Mark Holtz]

Well, MyIE2 allows you to use the Gecko engine provided you have both Mozilla and the ActiveX control installed, however, functionality is reduced. (i.e. No content blocking).

I do have Firefox installed at work so that I can have a browser with seperate cookies, etc without waiting two minutes to load (Netscape 7.1).

Playing around with Thunderbird a bit at home. One of my complaints was that I couldn't specify an outgoing mail server for each account, but that's just hidden away under advanced options. Needs a few more buttons such as "Expunge mailbox" and "Turn Preview Pane On/Off". But, I reconfigured my Outlook Express settings at work to conform to Thunderbird's settings for IMAP access, and just need to transfer the signatures from home to work.

I will stay by Outlook Express for work since that's what most of our customers use as a mail client (for better or worse). And don't get me started on that "cute" mail client called "Incredimail".

[HappyGoLucky]

Playing around with Thunderbird a bit at home. One of my complaints was that I couldn't specify an outgoing mail server for each account, but that's just hidden away under advanced options. Needs a few more buttons such as "Expunge mailbox" and "Turn Preview Pane On/Off". But, I reconfigured my Outlook Express settings at work to conform to Thunderbird's settings for IMAP access, and just need to transfer the signatures from home to work.

I will stay by Outlook Express for work since that's what most of our customers use as a mail client (for better or worse). And don't get me started on that "cute" mail client called "Incredimail".
I've not tried Thunderbird. I used to use Outlook Express but now use Outlook 2003 that comes with Office 2003. MS completely reworked Outlook for this version (I used to hate Outlook before now). It is very powerful, has excellent filtering abilities, and is very easy to use and configure, something I never thought possible given previous experience with Outlook.

[Geronimo]

No luck with extensions or themes. Still cannot even DOWNLOAD them.

[HappyGoLucky]

No luck with extensions or themes. Still cannot even DOWNLOAD them.
That is just too wierd. Which version of Firefox? Where did you download it from? If you completely wiped it out, completely got rid of any trace of profile, and it still does that, I simply don't know what else to tell you. I've been in the Firefox forums for quite a while and have never heard anyone else have that happen. Starting from scratch with clean profiles and such has always solved the problems before.

Try going here: http://www.moox.ws/tech/mozilla/ and download the latest version appropriate for your machine (he makes versions for P4/AthlonXP and P2/P3). I'm using the MozillaFirefox_20040618_0_9_RELEASE_P4_AXP_SVG.exe which is based on the Release Version of the Branch code. Avoid the Trunk releases which are highly unstable.

[Geronimo]

As I sated Ia m now running the milestone release of Firefox 0.9. Like many others I ahve had problems occur that go away with a later nightly. That will probably happen here too.

[HappyGoLucky]

As I sated Ia m now running the milestone release of Firefox 0.9. Like many others I ahve had problems occur that go away with a later nightly. That will probably happen here too.
The one I'm running is based on the milestone release code, it has just been optimized to run faster/cleaner on a P4/AthlonXP processor. Moox (the third-party builder) includes optimized subroutines for handling the jpeg/gif rendering, memory management and javascript, plus compiles using compiler flags for P4/AXP.

[firephoto]

Firefox 0.9.1 has been released. Get it while it's hot.

Remember to uninstall and remove all traces of the install directory before installing the new version (this doesn't destroy your bookmarks or other settings).

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/0.9.1/

[Mark Holtz]

So has Thunderbird. Same caveat applies.

[firephoto]

Me thinks that since I can't seem to get to ftp.mozilla that when I click on the slashdot bookmark I will see a story about firefox/thunderbird. ;)

So far so good with .9.1 but I didn't have any trouble with .9 either really.

[Geronimo]

I will upgrade soon.

[HappyGoLucky]

Me thinks that since I can't seem to get to ftp.mozilla that when I click on the slashdot bookmark I will see a story about firefox/thunderbird. ;)

So far so good with .9.1 but I didn't have any trouble with .9 either really.
Moox has up'ed his 0.9.1 Release of Firefox, also. It is based on the June 29 codebase, available here: http://www.moox.ws/tech/mozilla/

I'm running Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040629 Firefox/0.9.1 (MOOX-AV)

And I can attest this is the best yet. Incredibly fast, beautiful.

[Geronimo]

You have to accept that you are basically a beta tester. But when it works it is a thing of beauty.

[HappyGoLucky]

You have to accept that you are basically a beta tester. But when it works it is a thing of beauty.
True, it is "beta", but even then, a stable release such as this is superior to the unstable "production version" of something like IE in which you have to be careful of every web page you visit lest you infect your computer with something malicious. :sure:

[Geronimo]

One reson I like Firefox and also Thunderbird is that since theya re not as common as their Microsoft counterparts there is less of a market for exploiting their vulnerabilities.

But I do hit the occasioanl web site that wont work properly because it is poorly coded or because the developers wnat you to have veersion 4 of your browswer (tere are work arounds) and Windows Update is a pain without IE.

If I cant get themes and extensions to work I amy jump to Mozilla. But I do like Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox or whateer it is called now.

[HappyGoLucky]

One reson I like Firefox and also Thunderbird is that since theya re not as common as their Microsoft counterparts there is less of a market for exploiting their vulnerabilities.

But I do hit the occasioanl web site that wont work properly because it is poorly coded or because the developers wnat you to have veersion 4 of your browswer (tere are work arounds) and Windows Update is a pain without IE.

If I cant get themes and extensions to work I amy jump to Mozilla. But I do like Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox or whateer it is called now.
There are only two sites I regularly go to that I have to use IE, and that is Windows Update (naturally), and my health insurance's online pharmacy order site. I've complained to them about their site not working with non-IE browsers. Their tech support is rather clueless, wrote back that they were unaware that anyone used anything other than IE anymore. :confused:

[Geronimo]

I finally got everyting to work with one of the nightlies. I can download and even install extensions and themes. I am happy again.I probably will not upgrade again until some specific functionality is added. I do miss mozcalc which I do not see listed with extensions.

[HappyGoLucky]

I finally got everyting to work with one of the nightlies. I can download and even install extensions and themes. I am happy again.I probably will not upgrade again until some specific functionality is added. I do miss mozcalc which I do not see listed with extensions.
One of the official nightlies or a third-party build?

[invaliduser88]

What's funniest about this is where this article is posted...

http://slate.msn.com/id/2103152/