Firefox update 1.5.0.7

Improvements to product stability

[coopster]

What's New in Firefox 1.5.0.7

Firefox 1.5.0.7 is a security and stability update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version.

• Improvements to product stability
  
• Several security fixes

Release Date: September 14, 2006

Several security fixes [mozilla.org]

[Car_Guy]

I updated to this version right after reading this.

For anyone who hasn't tried Firefox, it's an excellent browser that keeps getting better.

I've been using it since last December. I found that the earlier versions were prone to crashing about once a week. The last version never crashed, and now the latest version is again more stable than before.

[walkman]

Personally, I think IE 7 is so much better (faster and easier to use). I just hope MSFT makes it possible for developers to write the little extensions.

[CritterNYC]

Personally, I think IE 7 is so much better (faster and easier to use).

Hahahaha... thanks, I needed a good laugh.

Seriously, though... with Microsoft's absolutely abysmal security record... why on earth would you want to use yet another version of their browser that lets any website install any software it wants to on your computer?

[Mobro4000]

wow! this is the first firefox update that didn't become an endless loop of install->sorry couldn't update->install->sorry couldn't update->install->reboot->install->sorry->install

i only got 1 "sorry" then it worked!

and as always, when i check for more updates, my version 1.5.0.7 tells me to download the new version 1.5.0.7

but even with these two niggling annoyances, i would NEVER go back to IE.

now i'm off the pub...

[jchance]

I love Firefox mostly for the extensions, but the 1.5 version has been a mess.

When I run it on my laptop it sometimes just goes berserk and takes up 100% of the CPU and I have seen tons of people complaining of the same thing without any resolution.

I certainly hope the newest version fixes my problem, but I'm skeptical.

[Car_Guy]

As the happy owner of a Mac that runs exclusively on applications that are either freeware or low-priced shareware, it was very satisfying to delete Explorer, which was the only Microsoft product on my hard drive.

[walkman]

>> Seriously, though... with Microsoft's absolutely abysmal security record...

Oh please, you probably haven't even installed it, you're just going on knee jerk reaction: "Whatever MSFT releases sucks." Have the hackers pay as much attention to Firefox and they will find plenty of problems.

Funny, how, I have never had any problems with "absolutely abysmal security record," I have never been hacked or anything like that. Just because an academic can do it under certain circumstances, does not mean it will effect me...provided I patch once the release is issues.

[Philosopher]

That fact remains... IE is heavily tied into the OS which will always make it more risky than a standalone app. such as FF.

[nancyb]

I love FF for the extensions, but its speed is abysmal and half the time it never completes loading all the images on an image intense page.

After updating to 1.5.0.7, tried loading one of my own pages in both FF and Opera (clean cache in both). FF - 10 seconds and only half the images loaded, Opera less than 1 second and all images loaded.

I develop with FF, but surf with Opera!

[DamonHD]

Hi walkman,

M$ code in general, and IE(7) in particular, is *much* better than it used to be from a security and programming point of view, to the point that I'd just about now consider a critical (headless) server on Windows XP (somewhat behind Linux and whay behinf Solaris). And M$ really does now seem to understand that security is not an optional item (not that it ever should have been).

But IE's still pretty horrible inside, Intel notwithstanding. B^> One of my developers goes half mad trying to get consistent reliable (documented) behaviour out of IE. And indeed, we abandonned a product line because it was so hard.

So, while FF is not perfect, I end up using it much more than IE7 (beta 2).

For the record, I gave up on Opera a couple of years ago when it suddenly became less reliable than either FF or IE, so I'm not just anti-M$ FWIW!

Rgds

Damon

PS. Yes, I've had to kill FF several times recently for 100% CPU usage, and I hope that that little horror has gone away with this version.

[travelin cat]

we switched to FF on our Macs about a year ago. I prefer the extensions that are offered but it is considerably slower then Safari.

[gevorg2006]

To those of firefox lovers:
Visit site ...<domain removed> (sorry can not give website url) and your FF will crash.

Happens with every version and with latest update.

IE shows that site well.

[edited by: tedster at 3:01 am (utc) on Sep. 16, 2006]

[lammert]

Yet another Firefox update is not what I expected or hoped for. The FF developers were able to convert the product from a small fast, resource friendly browser to a hungry memory and CPU consumer that needs an update every few weeks or so.

[cuce]

To those of firefox lovers:
Visit site ...<domain removed> (sorry can not give website url) and your FF will crash.

Happens with every version and with latest update.

IE shows that site well.

congratulations... it is possible to build a site which will perform well in IE and not in firefox. That doesn't mean that the site is coded properly(likely the opposite).

[edited by: tedster at 3:02 am (utc) on Sep. 16, 2006]

[icantthinkofone]

I just went to <domain removed> and had no problem at all. But it's a cnet site. Is that the right one?

As far as being a memory hog, this is not true and there are several ways to limit it as well as the possibility that the problem is related to 3rd party extensions and NOT the browser itself.

I would rather have a browser that is updated frequently than one, like IE, that is updated only once every five years. You don't have to update but it's advisable due to improvements and security improvements; something IE does not do.

[edited by: tedster at 3:03 am (utc) on Sep. 16, 2006]

[Hollywood]

Does anyone know exactly what the new version has that is new?

What changed on this update exactly?

[nancyb]

this is a security update see release notes [mozilla.com]

[jdMorgan]

Just a note for those having problems with Firefox:

If you have never done so, please uninstall your old Firefox before installing the latest version. While the new "updater" handles things well, those who have upgraded from any 1.0 release to the current 1.5 releases may have problems. In the Firefox/1.0 family (which did not support auto-updating), the release notes specifically and consistently recommended uninstalling the old version before installing the new. Failing to do so often left some extensions doing very strange things on-screen or behind the scenes, consuming excessive CPU or memory, etc.

Uninstalling firefox will not remove your profile, bookmarks, extensions, themes, or preferences. If you're not confident, then back up the
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profilename> directory before uninstalling. This directory contains all of your profile-related data and settings.

As someone has previously noted, if you're having problems, it is a good idea to disable (not necessarily uninstall) your extensions and then add them back in one-by-one to see if one of them causes a problem.

Also just in: New versions [mozilla.org] of both the Seamonkey (new name for the Mozilla Suite) and Camino browsers have also been released today with the same security and stability fixes.

Jim

[grelmar]

Just went through the update, and it went smooth as silk.

FWIW: Been using FF since version 0.7(ish) and have always found a faster, more hassle free environment than, IE...

BUT

It is prone to having grief with certain "extension flaws" that IE seems to avoid. And by "extensions" I'm not talking about things specific to FF, but the extensions that are common to all browsers.

FLASH: I have no idea why, but the same Flash applkets/movies tend to run more slowly and consume more resources in FF than in IE. This problem has gotten significantly worse since the upgrade to Flash 9.

JAVA (as in J2RE, not Script): If you use J2RE (and most people do), then most likely you're keeping it up to date, installing the latest updates whenever it tells you to. Problem is, the Java installer sucks rocks, and leaves the older versions fully installed. This creates two problems. Problem the first: Security. A well coded Java malware can scan for installed versions of J2RE, and launch itself against whichever version has the vulnerability it needs. Read more about this gaping big flaw in Java here [blog.washingtonpost.com]. Sun claims that they've fixed this issue, but it's been around for years, and I wouldn't be surprised to here about a proof of concept sometime in the near future exploiting this age old vulnerability, that has been exploited before.

For Firefox users, this habit of leaving older versions of Java installed creates problems specific to FF. FF can kinda lose track of which version it's using, and sometimes tries to use all versions installed at the same time. It can be quite common for machines to have 3 to 5 versions of J2RE installed at the same time. Trying to run all at the same time, to handle the same applet, will load up your RAM and Processor, if not crash the browser entirely.

The problem is partly Java's fault, because Sun can't build a proper updater/installer, and partly FF's fault, for getting confuse and trying to run more than one version at the same time.

To fix this problem, just go into your Admin panel, Add/Remove Programs, and remove all installed versions of Java. Then go to java.sun.com (and NOT java.com - it doesn't get updated as quickly there), to get and install the latest version of Java. The record I've seen is 6 versions of Java installed on the same computer at the same time. If anyone beats that record, let me know.

OVERALL: The people I've seen with buggy FireFox installs, are people with too many extensions, running on typical Winblows machines that no one does the basic housekeeping on, to keep the registry clean and installed files up to date.

In short, a buggy FF is usually a sign that you need to sit down and DO YOUR COMPUTER HOUSEKEEPING.

[lammert]

jdMorgan and grelmar, thanks for explaining so detailed why Firefox is not mature yet. I can't remember the time I had to deinstall IE, remove plug-ins and clean up the registry to make a new update or upgrade of the program working.

I am on the good side though. I use Firefox mainly on a fresh installed PC without plug-ins and it is just as stable as IE. It doesn't crash, just consumes 102MB of my RAM at the moment where the parallel running IE only uses 38MB. The only real downside of FF I have found is what grelmar already told, the slow execution of flash which sometimes forces me to view sites in IE. And some sites don't work properly in FF, but you can discuss if this is an Firefox or a webdeveloper problem.

[BillyS]

I have not yet tried IE 7 RC1. But IMHO Opera is the fastest browser out there followed closely by Firefox then IE 6. That being said there might be a one second load difference between these three on very large pages.

Out of the box FF could use a couple of tweaks to get it up to speed. But if you think it's 10x slower than Opera, then something's wrong.

[fijidaddy]

firefox has changed the way i browse the net, ie is ancient to me, i touched ie7< but it didn't razzle me, and i am too into firefox to give it the time of day. anyways, if ie can build a follwing like firefox then we can talk....but for now firefox is the way i use the net.

[jdMorgan]

Really, all this discussion of Firefox versus IE versus Opera is somewhat pointless, and very off-topic. As Webmasters, we should use all of them. Each browser has its fans and detractors -- just like cars I suppose, but I want to browse sites using *all* of them, as this can often be quite revealing. If you find a competitor's site that renders flawlessly-well in all browsers, you'd better take them seriously. And if yours won't pass the same test, you've got some catch-up work to do.

Oh, and try Netscape 4.8 some time, for a look back at "the old days." Just don't use it on any non-trusted sites!

Firefox may use a little bit more memory than IE, but remember that part of IE loads with the OS and stays resident, in much the same was as Mozilla or SeaMonkey configured with the "Quick Start" option can do. So, it would be a better comparison of memory usage (and start-up time) if we could account for the resident part of IE. This is somewhat interesting to me from a technical standpoint, but otherwise, I don't care -- I use 'em all.

Hopefully, the notes about extensions, installation, and the JRE posted above will help a few people who've had strange problems with Firefox.

Jim

[walkman]

>> if ie can build a follwing like firefox then we can talk

:) Start talking. IE already has a following...what is it at this time, about 90% market share?

Jd,
I have them all installed, my comment waa regarding the one we use most.

[SuzyUK]

inspired by grelmar

DO YOUR COMPUTER HOUSEKEEPING.

I decided to try a clean install this time, I've discovered remnants of a few different versions, however neither the uninstall by add/remove or running uninstall.exe from the firefox folder is working, both just hang, the process appears in the task manager and I have to manually kill the process in order to be able to shut the add/remove pane

any advice on manual uninstall, inc relevant registry entries that should be removed?
(profile is backed up in this instance just in case)

OR what would be the best way to remove all older versions completely, and should I?

<added>Oh and thanks for the JRE info (was 3 for me ;))

[edited by: SuzyUK at 8:46 am (utc) on Sep. 16, 2006]

[icantthinkofone]

Suzy,
I just plain forgot how to do that with Mozilla so you may want to google the mozilla site or ask on the forums there. It was pretty common knowledge how to do it so you should get a quick reply.

[encyclo]

Usually with Firefox, you can simply delete the firefox directory in your Program Files directory, but you will need to manually edit the registry and search for Firefox entries or use a third-party registry cleaner.

You can also download the Firefox Uninstaller from here:

[ftp.mozilla.org...]

There have been issues/problems with the uninstaller in the Firefox 1.5.x series, especially with Windows 98/Me.

See also:

[kb.mozillazine.org...]

[nancyb]

Thank you jdmorgan, grelmar, encyclo and SuzyUK (for asking what I should have asked).

Ran Ccleaner and I'm too embarrassed to admit just how bad the condition of my registry was .. really, really bad.

Also had several old profiles for FF hanging around and thanks to encyclo's link they are now gone.

The outcome ... FF now runs as fast as Opera and no more problem with images not loading.

Thanks to all! :)

[smells so good]

Thanks for the install and housekeeping tips (I had 5 JRE's).