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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

Free, effective feed reader

Get easy customization and simple operation with this free Firefox add-on to read Live Bookmarks. Read more

The unobtrusive design of this free Firefox add-on to read Live Bookmarks scored points with us, as did RSS Ticker's easy customization. The program Read more

Posted By: CNET staff Jan 5 2009

Anonymous surfing comes at the price of slow surfing

The Tor-Proxy.NET toolbar doesn't have the typical toolbar features, but it keeps you only a click away from anonymous Web browsing. Read more

This free Firefox add-on keeps you a mouse-click away from tor-proxy.net, a Web site that lets you browse anonymously by hiding your IP address. Read more

Posted By: CNET staff Jan 5 2009

The best new Windows programs of 2008

Check out these six must-have, or at least must-try, new programs from the past year. Did your favorites make the cut? Read more

There were a lot of high-profile updates in 2008, and the line between traditional software downloads and Web applications blurred significantly. The browser especially has Read more

Posted By: Seth Rosenblatt Dec 29 2008

5 little Gmail annoyances Google needs to fix

Gmail may be great, but it's annoying sometimes too. Find out some of those attributes that Don Reisinger thinks Google should address. Read more

Last week, I discussed why Gmail is the best e-mail service on the Web and took a look at all those features that earn it Read more

Posted By: Don Reisinger Dec 22 2008

Puzzle extension turns any Web image into a game

Turn any image into a puzzle with a new extension for Firefox. It can make your dreary work day that much more exciting. Read more

Here's a fun extension from the experimental section of Mozilla's Firefox add-ons site. It's called Puzzle, and once installed lets you turn Read more

Posted By: Josh Lowensohn Dec 22 2008

Stay safe while using e-mail

These days, your PC is more likely to catch a virus off a bad Web site than from an e-mail message, but that's no reason to lower your guard. Read more

The third of my three updates to the 10-Step Security story I wrote back in 2005 covers steps seven through 10, which deal with e-mail Read more

Posted By: Dennis O'Reilly Dec 22 2008

Buzz Out Loud 876: A year without lawsuits, how did you know?

The RIAA has given us the greatest gift of all this holiday season, a promise not to sue you. However they are enlisting the ISPs into their fight against piracy. Read more

The RIAA has given us the greatest gift of all this holiday season, a promise not to sue you. However they are enlisting the ISPs Read more

Posted By: Tom Merritt Dec 19 2008

Week in review: Apple snubs Macworld Expo

No Steve Jobs at the show next month and no Apple the following year. Meanwhile, the chip industry faces rough times. Also: patches and privacy. Read more

. After some 25 years, Apple has decided that it can do without the Macworld Expo. Apple announced that CEO Steve Jobs had given his last Read more

Posted By: Steven Musil Dec 19 2008

Buzz Out Loud 875: Jazz fingers

On today's show, we have a couple of awkward moments discussing the latest Andy Samberg clip on YouTube. There are giggles. We also attempt to spread some rumors about BlackBerry Storm returns that are quickly debunked by actual fact. Read more

On today's show, we have a couple of awkward moments discussing the latest Andy Samberg clip on YouTube. There are giggles. We also attempt Read more

Posted By: Molly Wood Dec 18 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

» Download most popular Firefox extensions

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 pictures

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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