Re: Www.mozilla.com Firefox Windows
Thechosen Wong
Available today in approximately 50 languages, Firefox 3 is two to three times faster than its predecessor and offers more than 15,000 improvements, including the revolutionary smart location bar, malware protection, and extensive under the hood work to improve the speed and performance of the browser.
Customization. Everyone uses the Web differently, and Firefox 3 lets users customize their browser with more than 5,000 add-ons. Firefox Add-ons allow users to manage tasks like participating in online auctions, uploading digital photos, seeing the weather forecasts, and listening to music, all from the convenience of the browser. The new Add-ons Manager helps users to find and install add-ons directly from the browser.
Mozilla is a global community dedicated to building free, open source products and technologies that improve the online experience for people everywhere. We work in the open with a highly disciplined, transparent and cooperative development process, under the umbrella of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. As a wholly owned subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation organizes the development and marketing of Mozilla products. This unique structure has enabled Mozilla to financially support and cultivate competitive, viable community innovation. For more information, visit www.mozilla.com.
Q: How can I customize Firefox 3?
A: Firefox is the most customizable browser on the planet. With over 5,000 add-ons available and new ones developed every day, you can add features to Firefox or simply change its appearance. In Firefox 3, you can view and install add-ons directly from the browser. Access the Add-ons Manager by clicking on Tools->Add-ons. The Mozilla community at addons.mozilla.org helps you select the right add-on through ratings, recommendations, descriptions, and images. You can learn more about add-ons here: -US/firefox/customize/
Q: Will my add-ons work with Firefox 3?
A: Many add-ons are already compatible with Firefox 3. In Firefox 3, add-ons can be installed only if they can be securely updated. Firefox automatically checks the installed versions of add-ons and alerts you if new versions are available. Also, Mozilla can now disable add-ons and plugins that are known to introduce a privacy or security concern.
Q: How can I get involved with Download Day?
A: Firefox fans can support the mission to set a Guinness World Record on Download Day by pledging to download Firefox 3, hosting a Firefox 3 party, inviting friends to participate, or by placing Download Day buttons on their Web sites.To take part in Download Day and help us set the Guinness World Record:
The Software Update feature allows you to automatically update your Mozilla application and installed add-ons (extensions and themes, but not plugins). Software Update is available in Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey 2. This article describes how to configure and run Software Update and discusses problems that can occur during or after an update.
By default, Software Update periodically checks for updates and notifies you when an update is found. You can modify these settings in your Options/Preferences via the "Advanced -> Update" preference panel (Firefox and Thunderbird) or the "Software Installation" panel (SeaMonkey 2). If you want to force an update check, choose "Help -> Check for Updates...".
When an update is found, follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the update. The application will need to restart to apply the update, but you can choose to restart later by pressing the Later button.
Software Update problems can sometimes be resolved by simply restarting the computer and then reopening your Mozilla application. [3] Other update problems can be fixed by downloading the latest version of Firefox, Thunderbird, or SeaMonkey and installing the new version "on top of" your current version [4] [5].
If the problem continues, you can manually reset the Software Update feature by closing your Mozilla application and deleting the "updates" folder and the two files "active-update.xml" and "updates.xml", which can be found in the folder where Mozilla stores temporary application data for your operating system.
For example, on Windows 7, the files "active-update.xml", "updates.xml", and the "updates" folder can be found in one of these locations [6] (using Firefox in the first example). Note: You'll need to show hidden files and folders to find these locations:
A Software Update "Update Failed" error, Something is trying to trick Firefox into accepting an insecure update. Please contract your network provider and seek help, has been reported to Mozilla in bug 653830 (under investigation at time of writing). See also the forum discussions here and here.
If you see a Software Update Failed error with the message, One or more files could not be updated. (or, in Firefox 3, The update could not be installed), try ending all instances of Firefox or Thunderbird (or reboot the computer) and then restart your Mozilla application, to see if that allows the update to complete. Also try closing any other running programs that may be interfering with the update process, such as the applications listed below.
Some users may see a "Software Update Failed" dialog after restarting Firefox with the message, The update could not be installed. Please make sure there are no other copies of Firefox running on your computer, and then restart Firefox to try again. If you see this dialog, end any Firefox processes (or reboot the computer) and restart Firefox.
Another possible solution is to reset the Software Update feature by ending all Firefox processes and then removing "active-update.xml", "updates.xml" and the "updates" folder from the appropriate folder locations (see above). As a last resort, download the latest version of Firefox from www.mozilla.com and install it over your current version.
The message, AUS: Update XML File Malformed (200) can sometimes appear during a check for updates. This is a "catch-all" update error which can occur for different reasons such as being in "offline" mode, network problems, or not being signed on with your Master password (if you've set one up) before the update check [22]. Software Update requires a secure connection so, if you are also receiving errors on webmail login pages, bank sites or other secure (https) sites (e.g. ) see Error loading secure sites.
If Software Update errors persist, you can download the latest version of Firefox or Thunderbird from www.mozilla.com and install it "on top of" your current version, instead of using the Software Update feature.
Updates can be retrieved from a number of different update channels. To check which channel you are on, look in about:config at app.update.channel. This determines what kind of updates you will receive. The current update channels are:
Please be aware that the nightly, and to a lesser extent aurora and beta, channels may install builds that have serious bugs. The application may be non-functional and/or result in your profile being corrupted. See Profile_backup for information to safeguard your data, and see the daily builds threads at the Mozillazine forums for the current status of the builds: Firefox, Thunderbird.
The installer/zip/tar/dmg that you last used to install Firefox, Thunderbird, or SeaMonkey determines what update channel you start on. It does this by installing the file "channel-prefs.js" into \defaults\pref. With the new rapid-release system, you will stay on that channel, thus receive a "bump" to the next version when the repositories are migrated. On the aurora and beta channels, this also implies that a lot of patches are landing at that time (including API and string changes) to synchronize the repositories with the new versions they are carrying.
If you tried to change the channel by editing channel-prefs.js and there is no app.update.channel pref in about:config, or it has not changed, then the channel-prefs.js file needs fixing. Either install the Update Channel Changer, or open \defaults\pref\channel-prefs.js in a text editor like Notepad, making sure that it has two lines like this (for the nightly channel):
Only the // on the first line is important because it is a comment. If the value in about:config has still not changed, then right click and reset the preference - this removes the profile value that is masking the application one.
Early in the testing cycle of the new software update, testers were required to enter a special update url into the preference app.update.url. This is no longer the case and in fact now that preference is almost ignored. Only the setting from the file firefox.js (or all-thunderbird.js) in the installation directory is used. This is so the application always uses the same updates regardless of what user profile you are running with.
Firefox is well known for its large library of add-ons which can be used to add new features or modify the behavior of existing features. Firefox's "Add-ons Manager" is used to manage installed add-ons or find new ones.
Once set, these affect the user's current profile, and may be synchronized across all devices via Firefox Sync. Please note that only a subset of the about:config entries are synchronized by this method, and the exact subset may be found by searching for services.sync.prefs in about:config. Additional preferences and third party preferences may be synchronized by creating new boolean entries prepending the value with services.sync.prefs.sync. To synchronize the whitelist for the extension NoScript:
Firefox also allows configuration for a profile via a user.js file: user.js kept also in the profile folder. A user.js configuration supersedes a prefs.js. The user.js configuration is only parsed at start-up of a profile. Hence, you can test changes via about:config and modify user.js at runtime accordingly. For a useful starting point, see e.g custom user.js which is targeted at privacy/security conscious users.
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