People are not using this browser because of security issues. They use it because it has a ton more features (add on's, themes, etc.) than any other browser. Give me a f en break with you non users. No browser out there is really any faster than the next. I love to see what you called (trolls, lmao) that this isn't good, my browser is great attitude. Get a friggen life tech geeks.

They use it for BOTH security and features.

And NoScript itself is an primary example of BOTH

You are not 'people'. You are 'person'. 'People' use it for reasons that you have mentioned and for reasons other than your own.

I began using it precisely for security reasons years ago. It was only through objective and continued use of the browser that I came to discover its wealth of other features and customization options.

Troll indeed...

Firefox 3.1 beta 2 performance is a significant improvement. It even looks much better on a Mac now:

http://i37.tinypic.com/10hoxeu.jpg
http://i36.tinypic.com/6p7uq0.jpg

Gorgeous isn't it?

Ohhhh give it a rest, troll. It doesn't look like that. ~_~

The masquerade icon is supposed to "evade" characterization as porn mode? Um. How about the masquerade icon makes it seem like you're doing something extremely naughty because that's what Stanley Kubrick was thinking when he created a orgy masquerade party in Eyes Wide Shut that has become a memorable pop-culture reference.... I had to laugh recently when 30 Rock even brought that up (apparently Kenneth had played piano at some sort of similar party while also being blindfolded).

FLASHPOINT!!!!!

rofl

Where's the Drudge siren?

Seriously, why is this a "Flashpoint"? It is an article about a beta piece of software. NEWS about a BETA... Hmmm... where have I read that before...? Oh yeah, on a site called BETA NEWS!

Fairly simple answer, really: Ever since the days of the wire services, certain events warrant a moniker of special treatment. The Firefox beta itinerary is one of those that our readers care about most. So yes, we sound a little alarm bell. If everything were dull and drab and boring and all the same note every day, I think we'd get a few complaints about that, too.

-SFlashpoint3

I can't believe people buy into Mozilla's crap in the ways that they do. "A more secure and safer browsing experience", oh please sell that "crap" to someone "who refuses" to learn any better.

You can't add a bunch of extensions (I.E. Add-Ons) to "anything", without allowing a lot of places to crack the Utility.

Their selling "pie in the sky folks and your buying it". Stay faithful they'll disappoint you all eventually or you'll just "wake up". I use Firefox 3 but don't be looking for a crap load of extensions in my Browser....ha ha ha.

What bull****. I have to giggle so bad when folks talk about how secure it is. Hell there was a exploit just released to target Firefox that hides itself as a Greasemonkey script... Too Funny.

I guess 20% percent of Browser Market share was the tipping point for the Malware writer's Firefox is in their gun sites now. Enjoy your more safer browsing experience folks.... ha ha ha. Do you actually read the articles before you post the links folks.......

http://www.techjaws.com/tag/firefox-exploit/

Or go over here for more detail that's an exploit dude.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/154931/.html?tk=rss

It just doesn't sit there hiding and doing nothing read a little more talk a little less..cya.

wow. the solution to this is:
Don't download stupid plug-ins. Kind've the same advice we've been getting since IE/activex came out?

With you all the way Storytellerofsci-fiction, the only bit I've added is NoScript. To stay safe use Opera, only a dozen or so folk do, and as a result not only the bad guys, but also everyone else leaves them alone.

@ Mythomaniacofsci-fiction

Your trolling is getting stale. You're starting to repeat yourself.

That, or you're a bot. (A stale bot.)

I don't buy into the more secure bit at all just like I don't buy into the Mac being "more secure." I use FF because it is simply a better browser than IE. Not because of security.

"I can't believe people buy into Mozilla's crap in the ways that they do. "A more secure and safer browsing experience", oh please sell that "crap" to someone "who refuses" to learn any better. "

I noticed how you didn't actually find anything wrong with their claim.

"You can't add a bunch of extensions (I.E. Add-Ons) to "anything", without allowing a lot of places to crack the Utility."

Wrong. It all depends on the type of extensions used. In Firefox's case... yes, the extensions can run native code and can do anything.

However it is very possible to make extensions that are safe. For example... Garry's Mod is a FPS game that emphasizes game customization, modding, and creativity. One of the things you can do is write scripts... that are downloaded to users who join your servers without prompting them, and then run! Oh noes!!! Nope. The scripts can only execute a limited set of functions related to the game... no native code, no wiping out your hard drive, no "out of game" effects.

I read a blog post where a Firefox dev was interested in adding security to the Firefox add-on model... with that, Firefox add-ons would be limited in what they could and could not do... just based on the wide functionality of the current add-on set it might not be feasible to impose such a framework just yet without careful planning and consideration.

Still, Firefox by default stops users from installing add-ons from anywhere but Mozilla's site, where add-ons are carefully screened for malicious content before being approved and posted.

"Their selling "pie in the sky folks and your buying it". Stay faithful they'll disappoint you all eventually or you'll just "wake up". I use Firefox 3 but don't be looking for a crap load of extensions in my Browser....ha ha ha. "

Again, you're not really arguing anything here... except that you use the very browser you're insulting! You have the right to not use extensions if you don't want to... but don't spread misinformation about them. I for one am happy to squish ads with AdBlock, block malicious or useless scripts with NoScript, and even rewrite the web as I see fit with Stylish and Greasemonkey.

"What bull****. I have to giggle so bad when folks talk about how secure it is. Hell there was a exploit just released to target Firefox that hides itself as a Greasemonkey script... Too Funny. "

You seem to have gotten a few points wrong about the trojan. Reading your own links (which both have the exact same article) reveals the trojan is unleashed when the user runs it after downloading it... it also mentions a browser vulnerability but does not state which browser... but I would be inclined to believe it is NOT Firefox because there is one other browser far better known for vulnerabilities. I do wish the article was more detailed on that point.

Once malware is running it can do anything, from wiping your hard drive to silently spying on you. In this case, it installs a malicious Firefox addon. This is impossible to block. Once malicious software is ALREADY running on your PC, it has free reign and it's game over. It can do whatever it wants. Firefox can't be expected to stop it at that point, nor can any other program (well, maybe anti-virus software).

"I guess 20% percent of Browser Market share was the tipping point for the Malware writer's Firefox is in their gun sites now. Enjoy your more safer browsing experience folks.... ha ha ha. Do you actually read the articles before you post the links folks......."

Malware authors write malware for Mac and Linux too, just not as much as for Windows. In the same way we will occasionally see Firefox malware, and yes moreso as time goes by. But Mozilla has been excellent in quickly patching Firefox as exploits appear for it. If this had been a real Firefox exploit I am confident we would have also seen a quick response.

You didn't read the articles apparently, or you'd realize a) they're both the same article and b) they never say it was a Firefox exploit, and without details and especially with Firefox's and IE's track records it's unreasonable to assume it.

Finally, I will give you a link of my own to read, straight from a Mozilla Firefox dev about the whole thing: http://blog.johnath.com/2008/12/08/firefox-malware/

Well then you're simply a moron who should be playing with dolls. Both Firefox and the Mac are much more secure than your goofy IE and Windows. Ever hear of a thing called Yahoo!? Try using it, you never know what you might just learn...

"To stay safe use Opera, only a dozen or so folk do..."

LOL.

... and your point is? Nothing is ever going to be perfect. Where there is a will to break into a machine, there is a way (even if it's a Mac). 99% of the time it's not the machine's fault for spyware/adware/viruses getting installed on a machine, it's the USERS fault. They view malicious sites, don't have good AV/AS software installed/updated, and fail to use common sense when viewing emails/etc.

As for search engines, that's all personal preference.

Its not just the user's fault.

And face it, OSX does implement several technologies inherited from UNIX that DO reduce the likelihood of a machine compromising infection.

You can simply start with the concept called sandboxing - and no, its not where you and most of the folks who still haven't a clue regarding OS design play.

"Once malware is running it can do anything"...

Really?
Not in all environments!

It can't in a sandboxed environment. Oh, it may crash the running process, but it can't compromise the kernel nor take over the machine nor access any resources outside those specifically allocated to the sandbox...

Browser design is not where the fundamental security lies - except to the degree that it is not so tightly coupled with kernel processes
as is at least one we can all think of!

Fundamental OS design has a role here as well.
And all are not as wide open as Windows. Regardless of how many people use it!

Gee, if we upgrade to this, will the failed 3.04 update reminder/warning stop plaguing me?

Not only does it tell me that "Firefox has downloaded and verified an important update...3.0.4...
but that I can click to restart and install it, or wait.

And after 20plus such sessions, as well as manually downloading the file and running it - and still getting the dialog box...

One might think they would take care of that nonsense first...

Oh well...

Gee, I never had an update problem with Fx v3 series or the latest trunk 3.1b3pre so perhaps the next move would be to do a clean install and see what happens.

One might think I would have read dozens of posts on your issue if it existed or some reports of this at Bugzilla if it existed.

Oh well...

The install went just fine on my computer...

Eyes Wide Shut Mode. I like it.

The new JS engine appears to be enabled for content, but not for the chrome.

You can enable it by going to about:config, filtering for jit, and setting both options to true.

Unfortunately, I am not finding any significant speedups. Especially in startup and shutdown times, which are still 30-40 seconds in length.

"which are still 30-40 seconds in length. "

Something is very, very wrong with your setup. Get help ASAP.

Yeah yeah I know. I was working on trying to fix it a ways back. I narrowed it down to something with my extensions... weirdly even if I had all my extensions disabled startup time was REALLY LONG... but when I deleted all the extension files startup dropped to 3-5 seconds.

I'll probably investigate more soon. I miss Adblock and NoScript and Stylish (switched to Google Chrome because of the startup times alone).

Maybe wiping my extensions folder and redownloading them will help.

[Edit: It was more like 17 seconds to start up and 6 to shut down. I tracked the problem to Adblock Plus, which was adding 10 and 4 seconds to startup and shutdown... clearing my Adblock Plus prefs and resubscribing to my filters fixed it. Now it's at 6 seconds and 1 second. Down from unacceptably slow to annoyingly slow... I will continue tweaking.

Those are 2 extensions that I simply cannot live without these days. Stylish though... I guess I haven't found a need to rely on it yet, but I fiddle with it occasionally. Glad that you got it worked out.

This blocked "attack website" BS they are doing is annoying... There are plenty of perfectly safe websites that they block.

Google supplies them with the malware lists.

Sometimes websites are blocked not because THEY have malicious content, but because their ADVERTISERS are serving users who go to that website malicious content, often without the website operators knowing about it.

So allow the site to pass through.
May be annoying to you and not so for others.
If you want a browser that does what you want then build it.

Bingo! They need to get a grip on that..

keeps crashing on me ....and I've never had firefox do that before :(

Its a Beta noob

It's a beta 2 which means it still ought to be stable enough for day to day use without frequent crashes... noob

Don't listen to moron Monzi. Betas should be stable, especially a beta 2. To test this accurately its best to completely remove your current version, down to the doc. and settings and install.