Browse the Internet using multiple tabs, bookmark your favorite pages and use the private mode to stop websites from tracking you. Synchronize your data and your current browsing activity across all your devices.
With nearly a nine percent of the browser market share worldwide, Firefox is – as of today – the third most used Internet desktop browser, and it remains a solid alternative to the its sole open-source competitor, Chrome. Its exquisite care for the user’s privacy and security together with its highly customizable look and feel make it an excellent choice for anyone tired of being sold to advertisers every time they visit their favorite sites.
Not everything is nice and dandy with Firefox, though. It is known for being an avid resource consumer, which makes it a less suitable option for those with old or low-range computers. Likewise, you may find problems when trying to display certain pages, as not all websites are fully compatible with this browser. However, other renowned browsers are also famous for their memory hunger, but their many users do not seem to care.
What I do care about, though, and at least nearly ten percent of Internet users in the world, is privacy. And here Firefox has a lot to say. If you are not a Firefox user, just give it a try, and you’ll find that most (if not all) of those ads that seem to appear out of nowhere while browsing the Web will disappear. This browser takes the upmost care in not sending your private data to anyone you don’t want to.
Its privacy and security policies are strictly enforced – actually, unless you turn them off voluntarily, they’ll be there working for you by default since the moment you add Firefox to your desktop. Its protection against social media trackers, cross-site tracking cookies, cryptominers, and fingerprinters (among others) make your browsing time a seamless and gratifying experience, not to mention the increase that a no-ad policy adds to your browsing speed. Not exclusive to Firefox though yet useful and worth mentioning, this browser comes with a Private Browsing option that leaves no trace behind, of any kind.
Firefox is also famous for its high level of customization. Its tabbed interface can be tweaked and transformed until it looks just the way you want it. You can tell it display (or hide) a side menu and a useful Overflow Menu where you can add all those functions and settings you click on more often. Besides, its support for add-ons and extensions will let you bring in to your browser countless other features and apps.
Firefox can definitely change the way you’ve navigated the Web so far, and it will convince you that another Internet experience is possible – it may take some more memory than expected, but many other apps and programs do and we don’t take rid of them. Because we need them, because we trust them, or both. That is why so many users are so into Firefox.
v43.0.4 [Oct 10, 2015]
New
Private Browsing with Tracking Protection offers choice of blocking additional trackers
Firefox 64-bit for Windows is now available via the Firefox download page
Improved API support for m4v video playback
Users can choose search suggestions from the Awesome Bar
On-screen keyboard displayed on selecting input field on devices running Windows 8 or greater
Firefox Health Report has switched to use the same data collection mechanism as telemetry
Fixed
Various security fixes
Eyedropper tool does not work as expected when page is zoomed
Developer
WebIDE now has a sidebar-based UI
Unprefixed 'hyphens' property is now supported
Subresource integrity allows developers to make their sites more secure
Ability to choose resolution for the GCLI screenshot command
Added ability to display server-side logs in the console
Stack traces are now shown for exceptions inside the console
Ability to filter styles from their property names in the rules view
Search button next to overridden CSS properties to find similar properties in the rules view
New 'Use in Console' context menu item in Inspector to store selected element in a temporary variable
Bind F1 key to open the settings when the toolbox is focused
Markup view shows indicators for pseudo-classes locked for elements
Network requests in Console now link to Network panel instead of opening in a popup
Single-process mode is no longer supported for NPAPI plugins
Animation inspector now displays animations in a timeline
The 'transform-origin' property is now supported on SVG elements
