Firefox 3 Though the latest version of Firefox retains much of its predecessor's basic look, its usability has improved. For instance, as you type a Web address into the address bar, Firefox 3 searches your bookmarks and browsing history for matches based on how often and how recently you visited a given site. To see the most impor¬tant Firefox 3 upgrade, open either the history or the bookmarks window. Both of them now live in an SQL database that displays them together.

You can tag bookmarks and drag a URL from your browsing history directly into a bookmarks folder. A new Smart Bookmarks folder catalogs recently book¬marked, frequently visited, and recently tagged sites.

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A star icon to the right of a URL in the address bar lets you add a new bookmark with one click, but doing this unhelpfully leaves them in an unfiled category whose contents you can see only in the full bookmarks window.

On the security front, the phishing-site filter from Firefox 2, which uses a blacklist to block known phishing pages, can safeguard you from notorious malware¬pushing sites. And careless typers will appreciate the revised password saver: In¬stead of having to decide between saving and cancel¬ing a password before you know whether it's the right one, you can defer that deci¬sion until after you log in.

Version 3 adds support for extended validation (EV) certificates, displaying a green button bearing the company's name on sites, like PayPal, that use them (they provide better site identification than do the regular certificates that many encrypted sites employ). To get more infor¬mation on a certificate holder, click the button.

These changes make for a better basic application, but ultimately it's the add-ons that make the browser. Fire¬fox 3 helps you find new ex¬tensions by including in its add-ons window a 'Get Add¬ons' button for displaying and installing searched-for and recommended add-ons.