- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista/NT
- Date added: October 24, 2006
- Total Downloads: 18,089,134
- Downloads last week: 81,046
- See full specifications
A newer version of Mozilla Firefox is available.
(Download doesn't provide access to previous versions of this program.)
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 11911 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
Read CNET senior editor Rob Vamosi's extended review of Firefox 2, or watch a video tour of the new features.
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. Drag-and-drop tabs with individual close buttons help keep your content organized the way you like, and you can further streamline your browsing through the use of extensive hot keys. You'll find all of the regular options and features required for surfing the Web in the default setup, but the groundbreaking features come with the thousands of third-party extensions. Likewise, if you don't like the look of the default interface, there are hundreds of slick themes to use, though many weren't updated for version 2 at its release.
Firefox is the perfect browser for those involved with Web design and coding. A JavaScript debugger comes standard, and Firefox displays the page-source code in a new window, using indents and color-coded tags similar to an HTML editor. The built-in pop-up blocker works great for most sites, and new antiphishing protections and enhanced security for extensions are in the version 2 release. Anyone looking for a full-featured browser with seemingly endless ways to customize should download this powerhouse.
Watch the CNET video review of Mozilla Firefox:
Publisher's description
From Mozilla :Mozilla Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser that makes browsing more efficient than ever before. Firefox includes pop-up blocking; a tab-browsing; integrated Google searching; simplified privacy controls that let you cover your tracks more effectively; a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser; and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online.
Version 2 features an updated theme and user interface, built-in phishing protection, enhanced search capabilities, improved tabbed browsing, and inline spell checking.
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User reviews of Mozilla Firefox 2
- Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 11911 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 396 user reviewsSee all 396 user reviews
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56 out of 73 people found this review helpful
Version: Mozilla Firefox 2
Pros: Mozilla Firefox would have to be one of the best browser out there, I love the new feature of spell checking within the browser as I do enjoy posting on forums and the interface is quite refreshing.
Cons: The only problems is that several themes & extension which are supposts to be compatible with this version of Firefox tends to make the program a little bit buggy, However it must be taken into account that this is the first version of Firefox 2 so as time goes by this problem will be fixed as Mozilla takes the time to continue to update Firefox to make it an even better browser.
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58 out of 76 people found this review helpful
Version: Mozilla Firefox 2
"A very solid upgrade to an already great browser!"
Pros: At first glance the new Firefox 2 browser didn't wow me with any blatantly obvious new features on my formal gnome theme, but after playing with the browser only a short time it was apparent the folks at Mozilla had indeed added a number of nice features. Some of the nicer ones new to Firefox 2.0 are:
1.) a spell checking feature that works for forms, blog posts, and web-based mail.
2.)antiphishing protection
3.) a new Add-ons manager
4.) session restore
5.) search suggestions
6.) improved tab browsing that includes opening new web pages in tabs by default, close button on each tab, tab bar improvements, and access to recently closed tabs to name a few
7.) better control of RSS web feeds
8.) search engine detection on web sites and one click installation
9.) a new interface
10.) automated updates of new browser versions
11.) reasonably fast page rendering speed
All in all the new additions nicely complement my already extension ladened browser.
Cons: 1.) My biggest gripe about the new FF2 is that the time to open an extension ladened browser is still VERY SLOW. I was hoping they would improve this from the last version but, alas, they haven't.
2.) FF is not fully W3C Standards compliant yet...doesn't pass ACID 2 test. They should address this issue in FF 3.0.
While most of the extensions that I had on the 1.5.07 v have been updated to version 2 there still is a small handful that still need updating. Snap to it extension developers! (It's not Firefox's fault)
Conclusion: Albeit the slow opening speed Firefox 2 is a great browser and I would highly recommend it as your browser for daily use. It excels in security, looks, feature set, and the fact you can customize it to the nth degree with tons of extensions, themes, plug-ins, and search engines engines. These you can download and install from the Firefox Add-on page. Mozilla's new offering will no doubt win more of the market share away from Microsoft's new and totally lame IE7.
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35 out of 44 people found this review helpful
Version: Mozilla Firefox 2
"Great, but I am sticking with v1.5.0.7 till I get my extensions compatible!"
Pros: Its a seriously better upgrade than the bloody moronic IE7. Also, it remains the best browser for newbies.
And hey the spell check is not a big deal. I have been using Google Toolbar SpellCheck all this while. So it isn't a serious upgrade for savvy users.
Cons: For people who have customized the browser with their set of extensions - they wouldn't wanna change to the latest release, because of incompatibility issues. However, I wanna point out that this is NOT Firefox or Mozilla's problem. The extensions have been made by you and me kinda people, and it is on to them to upgrade it. Too bad, too sad, but you do still have the option of sticking with yer 1.5.0.7
The only other con remains - Opera still is the best - however, it cannot be our main browser, because of webpage incompatibility issues.
ITZ ALL ABOUT COMPATIBILITY in today's world!
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5 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Version: Mozilla Firefox 2
"Good Improvement on Firefox 1.5!"
Pros: While there are no major updates, Firefox 2 has an improved add-on manager, a polished interface, well-built tab features, is faster than its predecessors, and free!
Cons: Extensions are great - we love them, but they aren't by professionals. So we have to wait a bit for all our favorites to get updated for the new version of Firefox. Also, Firefox 2 can have some major bugs coming on and off. Mine were it kept resetting your toolbars, making them all show automatically and start-up, and replacing my tabs with a session from a while ago. Let's face this too; Firefox is a memory hog, and the new version isn't much better in this aspect. I will switch back to 1.5 or use IE 7 until the bugs are fixed.
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18 out of 29 people found this review helpful
Version: Mozilla Firefox 2
Pros: ...lighter and quicker than 1.5 ...up-dates fast & add-ons are a breeze to install. Patches are quick, too. Beats IE7 hands down. DEFINITELY THE MOST CUSTOMIZABLE AND SECURE BROWSER THAT I'VE TRIED!!!
Cons: ...out-of-the-box;the bookmarks are easy to import but harder to organize than other browsers ;password manager is still lacking. Foxy takes 2nd chair to Opera. DOESN'T HAVE OPERA'S SIGN-IN WAND AND STILL USES DOUBLE THE RAM OF OPERA!!!GREAT FOR ON-LINE PURCHASES, BUT NOT FOR SURFING!!!
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