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Posts Tagged ‘ Firefox ’

The Best Hope for the Future of Firefox

By Fei on December 23, 2011

By Joseph Fieber
December 23, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO – The clock is ticking. Google has extended its revenue agreement with Mozilla for another three years. Last year, 98 percent of Mozilla’s funds were from Google, and without it, development of Firefox would be severely hampered.

With Firefox market share falling, will businesses find it relevant three years from now? And what if Google doesn’t extend the agreement at that point, and the money runs out?
The Challenges

Firefox faces many challenges, some self -imposed, but the largest of which are based on its being in an extremely competitive browser market. Here are the top three.
1. Power Users

Power users initially loved Firefox due to its extended features and customizability. Recently, Google’s Chrome browser has provided the same, and went further with better security and speed, causing many power users to switch over.

2. Deep Pockets

Mozilla is a nonprofit organization, and Firefox is an open-source project. Though neither of its top two competitors, Google’s Chrome or Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, are direct money generators, both companies depend on browsers as a window to their online products. For Google, ads on Web pages generate most of its money, so it wants to get as many ad-filled Web pages in front of users as possible.

3. Mobile Market

Though 93 percent of Web browsing is done through desktops and laptops, mobile browsing has nearly doubled in the last year to reach almost 8 percent. This is likely to grow exponentially in the next year, as tablets and e-readers hit the mainstream, and nearly every new mobile phone will have a Web browser. Apple and Google own the default browsers on the popular mobile devices, giving them a huge advantage.
An Opportunity

Desktops aren’t dead yet, but eventually you can expect mobile usage to surpass desktop usage, perhaps within those three years for which Mozilla has secured Google’s funding. As users and businesses embrace new phones and tablets, they’ll be learning how best to browse the Web with them, and how to seamlessly share the browsing experience among their desktops and mobile devices. This is where Firefox could make could make a difference.

Despite controlling Chrome and Android’s default browser, Google has done little to make switching between the two easy, besides introducing bookmark syncing in the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update. Even though Apple gave the Safari name to both its mobile and desktop browsers, it also hasn’t paid attention to moving between them.
Mozilla already has a mobile version of Firefox that uses Firefox Sync to sync browsing history, open tabs, bookmarks, and saved passwords. If it were to release an iOS version as well–as mobile browser Dolphin did–it would have a presence on the top smartphones and tablets. It would also have to make deals with mobile device vendors to have Firefox preinstalled.
Finally, Mozilla needs to find that “killer app” type of feature or functionality, possibly with help from its open-source community, that will allow it to stand out from the competition. The combination of these would make Firefox much more useful and visible.

Google has its thumb on Firefox, but is enabling it to live a bit longer. If Firefox is to remain competitive several years from now, it has to make a difference, as it did in its early days. Finding a killer feature and working not only across the major operating systems, but between desktops and mobile devices as well, could be Firefox’s saving grace. Will Mozilla make it happen?

Firefox Brings ‘Do Not Track’ to Mobile Browsing

By Fei on May 23, 2011

By Keir Thomas
May 23, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO – Tired of advertisers that track your Internet surfing? Your mobile device can help you just say No.

The latest software development phase of Firefox for Android introduces the same Do Not Track add-in as the desktop release of Firefox. The beta is available for download in the Android Market.
Do Not Track is a W3C-driven initiative that lets users inform websites and advertisers that they want to opt out of any advertising that works by tracking their surfing. Visiting Expedia, for example, might show recommendations for London tourist attractions if you’ve recently visited a site about vacationing in Europe.
The new feature can be found under the privacy and security setting of the Firefox for Android setting panel, and can be activated with a single tap.

Mozilla’s Do Not Track implementation works by adding a “DNT: 1″ component to HTTP headers. This means every request sent by the user’s browser tells the website that the user does not want to be tracked. This approach avoids pitfalls in using privacy cookies, which can be deleted (or simply ignored), and blacklisting, which can be difficult to setup and successfully implement.

Once you’ve activated the Do Not Track feature, you can use Microsoft’s Do Not Track Test Page to confirm it’s working.
Users of Apple’s mobile devices will have to wait a little longer to receive the same kind of privacy feature. However, Apple recently added a Do Not Track implementation to the desktop version of Safari, to be offered in the forthcoming release of OS X. The signs are good that the feature will soon make it to the mobile version.
DNT does not turn off advertising. Mozilla hopes that websites will simply swap-in a generic ad for any that are targeted at a user’s online behavior.

Do Not Track has been spreading since it was introduced with Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 earlier this year. The Associated Press has utilized it on 800 news sites, for example, while the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), which represents major advertising agencies, is looking at using it as part of its Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising.

Flagfox Shows the Location of the Site You’re Visiting

By Fei on February 17, 2011

By Rick Broida
February 17, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO – Criminals have gotten pretty good at making fake Web sites (for PayPal, eBay, Facebook, etc.) look like the real thing. But what they can’t fake quite as easily is the location of the Web server that’s hosting their fraudulent site. You might be looking at a perfect replica of, say, Bank of America, but if the site is hosted in Uzbekistan, it’s a good bet you shouldn’t input your password.

Flagfox for Firefox makes this kind of detective work simple: it determines the Web server’s physical location and pastes the corresponding country’s flag at the end of the address bar. Clever!

If you’re wondering how it works, Flagfox bases its flag choice on the actual location of the server you’re connected to, rather than just the nationality of the domain name–which may be different.

After installing the plug-in and restarting Firefox, just head to any site and you’ll see the flag at the right end of the address bar. If you click the flag, you’ll get a new tab containing detailed geographic information about the site.

If you right-click the flag, Flagfox pops up a list of other handy tools, including Whois, SiteAdvisor, Web of Trust, and URL-shortener bit.ly. Head to the settings (via Tools, Add-ons) for the plug-in and you’ll find a dozen or so other options you can add to the list.

This is a great little addition to Firefox, one that combines convenience with added security. What’s not to like?

Microsoft boosts HTML5 video for Firefox on Windows 7

By Fei on December 17, 2010

By Paul Krill

December 17, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft released on Wednesday a Firefox browser add-on extending HTML5-based video on the company’s Windows 7 OS.

The plugin enables Firefox users to play H.264-encoded video on HTML5 by using built-in capabilities of Windows 7, said Claudio Caldato, principal program manager for Microsoft’s interoperability team, in a blog post. Mozilla Firefox is a principal competitor to Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer browser.

[ Microsoft and Adobe both proclaimed their love of HTML5 last month. | The Web browser is your portal to the world -- as well as the conduit that lets in many security threats. InfoWorld's expert contributors show you how to secure your Web browsers in this "Web Browser Security Deep Dive" PDF guide. ]

Microsoft has already been offering a Windows Media Player plugin for Firefox, for watching Windows Media content, Caldato said. “This new plugin, known as the HTML5 Extension for Windows Media Player Firefox plugin, is available for download at no cost. It extends the functionality of the earlier plugin for Firefox and enables Web pages that that offer video in the H.264 format using standard W3C HTML5 to work in Firefox on Windows. Because H.264 video on the Web is so prevalent, this interoperability bridge is important for Firefox users who are Windows customers.”

HTML5 is an ongoing update to the HTML specification that adds capabilities for multimedia.

The extension is based on a Firefox add-on that parses HTML5 pages and replaces video tags with a call to the Windows Media Player plugin, enabling content to be played in the browser. Firefox in some cases might fail to play a video even if the add-on is correctly installed, because a page might use a call to canPlayType to determine if the browser can play H.264 content, Microsoft said in release notes for the extension. “Typically the check is done either using createElement(‘video’) or getElementsByTagName(‘video’) and then call canPlayType(‘video’mp4′). In both cases, the call will return empty string even if the Add-on is installed and the browser could play H.264 videos,” Microsoft said.

Also, the current version of the add-on uses Windows Media Player Plugin APis to control video playback, thus creating differences between methods and properties defined in the HTML5 standard and those in the Windows Media Player plugin. The company seeks to fix these limitations in the next limitation of the add-on.

Improve Firefox Performance by Clearing Downloads List

By Fei on December 10, 2010

By Rick Broida
December 9, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Recently I noticed that whenever I downloaded a file in Firefox, the program turned into molasses–especially just after the download finished. The browser would literally freeze up for seconds at a time for about a minute after.

On a whim, I opened up the Downloads list (accessible by pressing Ctrl-J). It was pretty lengthy; I hadn’t cleared it in as long as I could remember. (Admittedly, I just never bothered, as I didn’t think it necessary.)

Also on a whim, I clicked Clear List, which wiped the slate clean, so to speak. (This doesn’t delete your downlods, but merely Firefox’s record of them.)

And you know what? The next time I downloaded a file, Firefox hummed along like its regular speedy self. No hangs, no delays. I’m not sure why this made the difference, but it definitely did. If you’re encountering a similar issue, I recommend trying the same procedure.

(Then let me know if it helped, as I’m not sure if this was isolated to my PC or what.)

Check Spelling and Grammar with After the Deadline

By Fei on October 14, 2010

By Rick Broida
October 14, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – As an English major (and self-proclaimed language snob), it bugs me when I see poor grammar and spelling in e-mail, blog comments, status updates, and other online communications.

If you’re not linguistically perfect (and ever so humble) like me, check out After the Deadline, a browser plug-in that checks spelling, grammar, and even style for all your online doings.

AtD is available for Chrome and Firefox. Users of other browsers can try the AtD bookmarklet, but be warned: it’s not nearly as slick. There’s also a beta AtD plug-in for OpenOffice’s Writer word processor.

As you may know, Chrome and Firefox already have built-in spell checkers that work as you type. So why bother with AtD? Simple: the latter has a lot more features, including context-sensitive checking and the aforementioned style suggestions.

Bottom line: if you’re not too swift with the arranging and spelling of words, at least let After the Deadline do a little proofreading before you click Send. It’s free, so what do you have to lose?

Trojan Forces Firefox to Save Your Passwords

By Fei on October 11, 2010

By Katherine Noyes
October 11, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – A Firefox Trojan has been found to force the Internet browser to save user passwords and then use those passwords to create a new user account on the infected computer.

Most security researchers recommend that users tell Firefox not to remember their passwords, since saved ones are so easily extracted by malware.

The Trojan-PWS-Nslog malware discovered by security company Webroot, however, gets around user preferences altogether by actually deactivating the Firefox code that asks if it should save those passwords when the user logs into a secure site.

“Before the infection, a default installation of Firefox 3.6.10 would prompt the user after the user clicks the Log In button on a Web page, asking whether he or she wants to save the password,” Webroot researcher Andrew Brandt explained in a blog post on Wednesday. “After the infection, the browser simply saves all login credentials locally, and doesn’t prompt the user.”

Specifically, the Trojan adds a few lines of code and “comments out” other portions of code from the Firefox file called nsLoginManagerPrompter.js, with the result that all passwords get saved locally without any input from the user.

Clues Left Behind

With that information, the Trojan creates a new account under the name “Maestro” on the infected computer. It then “scrapes information from the registry, from the so-called Protected Storage area used by IE to store passwords, and from Firefox’s own password storage, and tries to pass the stolen information onward, once per minute,” Brandt added.

The Web domain intended to receive the stolen data has already been shut down, but code inside the malware revealed the author’s name and email address, which led Webroot to a Facebook page for a hacker based in Iran who provides a free keylogger creator tool targeting users of Microsoft Windows.

Webroot can easily identify and remove the Trojan from infected machines, it says. To fix the modified Firefox file, users should download the latest Firefox installer and install it over the existing installation. No bookmarks or add-ons will be lost in the process, Brandt said.

How to Make Firefox Forget

Mozilla’s Firefox ranks second in global browser market share, according to Net Applications, with 23 percent of the browser market in September. The first beta release of Firefox 4 for Android phones just debuted this week.

By default, Firefox does remember passwords. To tell it not to, go to the Tools menu and select Options. From there, open the Security tab and uncheck the appropriate box, Webroot advises.

Solve Internet Explorer 6 Problems–By Ditching IE6

By Fei on August 27, 2010

By Rick Broida
August 27, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Reader John is having a problem with Internet Explorer 6 (which he’s running on Windows XP Pro SP3): When he shift-clicks a link to open a page in a new browser window, that window shows up blank.

My response: why, oh why, John, are you still using IE6? It’s an outdated, unsupported, potentially dangerous browser that deserves to be put down like a lame plow horse.

Indeed, there’s only one legitimate reason for sticking with it: work. If you’re using, say, a company laptop, you may have no choice but to use the IT department-approved browser, which in many cases is still IE6.

Otherwise, it’s time to make a change. I highly recommend upgrading to Internet Explorer 8, which will very likely solve your problem and open the door to all kinds of worthwhile features: tabs (which obviate the need for new windows–get in the habit of CTRL-clicking your links instead), Accelerators, Web Slices, and a wealth of malware and phishing protections.

Alternately, try Firefox. Try Google Chrome. Try Opera. Any of these modern browsers offer more features and better security than IE6, and all of them can import your existing Favorites.

Sorry if that’s not exactly the kind of help you were hoping for, John, but at this stage I think it’s borderline irresponsible to use a Web browser that’s such a major security risk.

Zoom, Unzoom, and Never Zoom in Firefox

By Fei on July 30, 2010

By Lincoln Spector
July 30, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Earthbru asked the Windows forum how to stop accidental zooming in Firefox. I cover intentional zooming, as well.

Did you know that you can zoom into a page in Firefox to see more detail? Or zoom out to see more of the page?

It’s easy. To zoom in, hold down CTRL while you either press plus (+) or rotate the mouse wheel up. To zoom out, hold down CTRL while you either press the hyphen (-) or rotate the mouse wheel down. To restore the normal size, press CTRL-0 (that’s zero, not capital O).

That’s all very cool, except if you keep hitting those key combinations by mistake. Then you might want to turn that feature off. There’s no simple toggle switch to disable zooming, but there is a workaround. My thanks to forum regular AgentF for introducing this trick to me in the original forum discussion.
The workaround involves editing Firefox’s preferences file, so you should backup that file, first. See Back Up Firefox’s “Registry” before you follow the instructions below.
In Firefox, click the address bar (pressing CTRL-L won’t work in this situation), type about:config, and press ENTER. When warned, click I’ll be careful, I promise! (Yup, that’s the real option.)

You’ll get a page with a list of settings. Near the top of that page is a field labeled Filter. Type zoom into that field.

That will reduce the list of settings to a handful. We’re concerned with two of these: zoom.maxPercent and zoom.minPercent.

As you can probably guess, these put limits on how far you can zoom the page. The default settings of 300 and 30 mean you can’t zoom in to more than 300 percent of the page’s actual size, and can’t zoom out to less than 30 percent.

You can probably guess what we do next. That’s right–set both to 100 to effectively block zooming. Double-click the settings to change them.

You’ll have to close and reopen Firefox to see the results.

Dell launches super secure version of Firefox

By Fei on July 21, 2010

By Carrie-Ann Skinner
July 21, 2010

LONDON – Dell has launched a virtualised version of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, which is designed to keep PC users safe when surfing the web.

The Dell Kace Secure Browser, which has been developed in conjunction with system management appliance firm Kace, isolates any malicious files inadvertently downloaded when surfing the web and keeps them within the browser, ensuring they can’t attack the OS.

The browser, which is based on version 3.6 of Firefox, comes with Adobe Reader and Flash plug-ins, as well as the ability to create ‘white’ and ‘black’ lists of the processes that may be started during web surfing as well as the sites that can be visited.

“Limiting browser use to specific sites can control usage and protect from cross-site scripting attacks. By specifying which sites are to be blocked, it makes it easy to keep users away from known bad sites, and thereby limit their exposure to attacks,” Dell said.

“In controlling what processes may be started, the browser will not run programs or plug-ins without permission to do so, which allows for the prevention of many attacks before they can even be initiated.”

The browser also features a reset button that will return the browser to its original site should any malware be encountered.

The Dell Kace Secure Browser can be downloaded from Dell’s dedicated web page and will run on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 PCs. A virtualised version of Internet Explorer is expected to be released later in the year.

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