Mozilla Firefox
Download Now (8.19MB)
Tested spyware free
CNET editors' rating:
5.0
stars
Average user rating:
4.0
stars
out of 13412 votes
See all user reviews
Quick specs
Version: 3.6.15
Date added: March 04, 2011
Price: Free
Operating system: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7
Total Downloads: 27,467,675
Downloads last week: 149,919
Product Ranking: #1 in Web Browsers
See full specifications
CNET Community
This product is on 13 member lists.
Add to my list
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on January 21, 2010
No longer a fledgling upstart, Firefox is the gold standard of alternatives to the still-dominant Internet Explorer. Firefox 3.6 is full-featured, lightning fast, and secure. Its killer selection of add-ons remains strong, with built-in support for the next generation of themes, called Personas, plus the latest update makes version 3.6 about 20 percent faster than version 3.5. 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. In addition to the aforementioned improvements made to the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine so that it renders Web applications faster, there have also been other significant under-the-hood changes. These include: blocking third-party software from encroaching on Firefox's file system turf to increase stability; support for the Web Open Font Format, which means many non-English browser users should have a faster time loading Web pages with downloadable fonts; and support for the File interface, which can help with tasks such as uploading multiple photos and is part of the draft HTML5-standard effort. HTML5 support debuted in Firefox 3.5. Another deeper change to the browser is that it is now running scripts asynchronously, which can help to load a Web page faster by putting off some work until the high-priority chores are complete. Firefox 3.6 also isolates out-of-date plug-ins so they do not become a security risk.
Unlike Firefox 3.5, which was more about keeping the browser current rather than blazing new trails, Firefox 3.6 is once again on the warpath. Upgrading is highly recommended.
Watch the CNET video review of Mozilla F