- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000
- Date added: November 05, 2009
- Total Downloads: 20,646,218
- Downloads last week: 77,505
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 11792 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on June 30, 2009
No longer a fledgling upstart, Firefox 3 is full-featured, lightning fast, and an able foe for both the big-dog competitor Internet Explorer and competitors nipping at its heels. Firefox's killer add-ons remain strong, and the latest update makes version 3.5 about two times faster than version 3. However, competition is strong and it can no longer be said that Firefox is the fastest browser available.
Several notable improvements in the latest revamp keep Firefox abreast of current browsing tech. Along with Mozilla's new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine that renders Web applications faster on Firefox than ever before, there have also been improvements to the layout engine Gecko for faster page rendering. The new Private Browsing brings a feature to Firefox that competitors have had for a while: the capability to turn off cookie and history logs. Users also have more granular control over cookies, history, and bookmarks in version 3.5 via the redone Clear Recent History option under Tools. Geolocation courtesy of Google has been activated by default in Firefox, so that generic searches such as "city hall" will come closer to pegging the government offices nearest you.
Web developers should be excited about expanded support for HTML5 local storage, downloadable fonts, and native support for OGG-formatted embedded video. ICC profiles, SVG transforms, CSS media queries, native JSON support, and Web worker threads also get lots of love from v3.5. There's no doubt that Firefox 3.5 is a must-have, but it's an update that's more about keeping the browser current rather than blazing new trails.
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Publisher's description
From Mozilla :Mozilla Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. Firefox includes pop-up blocking, tab-browsing, integrated Google search, simplified privacy controls, 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.
Firefox 3.5 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 rendering platform, which has been under development for the past year. Firefox 3.5 offers many changes over the previous version, supporting new web technologies, improving performance and ease of use, and adding new features for users: It is now available in more than 70 languages, includes a Private Browsing mode, better performance and stability with the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, the ability to provide Location Aware Browsing using web standards for geolocation, support for native JSON, and web worker threads, support for new web technologies such as: HTML5 < video > and < audio > elements, downloadable fonts and other new CSS properties, JavaScript query selectors, HTML5 offline data storage for applications, and SVG transforms.
What's new in this version:
Version 3.5.5 makes three stability fixes.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 11792 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 98 user reviewsSee all 98 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5
"It's better than IE8 in many ways."
Pros: +Fast page loads
+Good security
+Simple interface
+easy to use and understand
+ADD-ONS!Cons: -Slow startup
-Awesome bar is a bit slow
-Weird crashes from time to time (not exactly me)
-takes awhile to click on a pause on a video that's playing, which in turn take up half of your processing power (which is kind of annoying)Summary: I've used this browser and it's the best for me at least. It's just fast and able to deliver what IE8 can't. Add-ons are really nice, especially Adblock and Noscipt that help make browsing secure for the user. I've noticed this browser takes time to... read more >>
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0 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5
Pros: CRAP this browser is losing it
Cons: CRAP this browser is losing it
Summary: CRAP freezes and crashes all the time. Makes my CPU go haywire with 1 gb ram. IE 8 is so much better
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Version: Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5
Pros: Still a good browser easy and friendly to use
Cons: none to fuss about
Summary: Just better than IE.
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Version: Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5
"More stable than IE 8 but has some issues"
Pros: Firefox has been more stable than IE for quite a while. There is a wide variety of add on available.
Cons: Doesn't always load embedded images in emails. Menu has several items not turned on without guidance for activating.
Summary: It's still more stable than IE and offers a large selection of supported third party add ons. I'm having difficulty with viewing some embedded email images.
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Version: Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5
"Faster due to much lower CPU usage and memory."
Pros: It is back to running the way it was before I got a new computer with Vista 64-bit operating system.
Cons: I'm not sure that it will continue using less system resources.
Summary: Until this version update, CPU usage was up to 100% (Intel Core 2 Duo) and nearly all my 4 GB of memory was being used on my new Vista 64-bit system, causing it to run very slow. I switched to Google Chrome and the numbers went down to around 30%, a... read more >>
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