The worlds second most popular Web browser has a new version after more than 34 months of waiting. Firefox version 2.0 users are probably wondering if it is worth the upgrade. We take an in-depth look at this release and see what's new.

Style and Features

First up, the most noticeable change is the bigger 'Back' button (that's because we tend to click 'Back' more often than any other button). But apart from the buttons on the tool bar, everything else feels the same, right from internal dialog boxes to the access and the configuration window. Of course, there is a whole lot more to tweak. Take, for instance, the 'Options' dialog box where a new tab called 'Applications' lets you choose the default programs Firefox should use when viewing, for instance, a PDF document. The best thing about upgrading was
that we didn't even have to uninstall the previous version-simply double-click
on the installation file and it imports everything including your bookmarks, proxy server settings, passwords and so on.

So, how did we like the most hyped feature of Firefox-the Smart Location bar? Well, it really does remember all the sites but that isn't the best part. You can type in tags in your location bar, and it brings up all the locations under that tag. Now, bookmarks can be better organized with tags, with multiple tags to one URL. It's easy, for instance, if you browse to Chip - India's Most Trusted Guide To Gadgets And Technology. add it to your bookmark list by clicking on the star which also brings up the bookmark properties window, type in the description and tags and you are done. The next time you can't remember the site that added to your bookmarked list, simply type in the tag in the location bar, and Firefox will bring it up.

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Another exciting feature is the website ID, accessible by clicking the site icon
on the location bar. it not only displays information on the security of the Web page, but also the media content and permission levels, which can be tweaked. For instance, when you visit your favorite technology portal, you might want to allow content like cookies and videos, but block them on other websites. This release of Firefox also comes with anti-malware and anti-phishing components that will protect you against Trojans and worms, and fraudulent websites. We, of course, recommend that you use Firefox in conjunction with some good anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-phishing applications for perfect surfing security. The new download manager comes with resume support, so that even if Firefox crashes or restarts, downloads don't have to start all over again.

There's also a search filter to keep track of all your downloads. ADD-ONS: The add-ons window is where you get those great extensions to pimp your Firefox. It's been updated so that you no longer have to visit the add-on website for add-ons, as the 'Get Add-ons' tab does the job. Apart from recommended add-ons, for instance, Ad-Block Plus, one can also browse for themes. Another neat feature is the 'Plugins' tab which sorts out your plug ins from extensions.

Some things have yet to change, for instance, when we tested the built-in pop-up blocker and compared the results with version two, there was no difference. Also, while the physical memory usage of v2.0 was 23,664 KB, for v3.0 it is ramped up to 36,072 KB, an almost 150 percent increase. But there is an improved memory management performance as it now recycles and clears up unused memory regularly, and since it comes empowered for JavaScript, web pages that use the language will load faster.

FOR: Better and improved Firefox.
AGAINST: Some add-ons are incompatible.