Firefox Updated to Fix Problems

A new version of Mozilla's popular Firefox web browser has been released. Firefox version 1.5.0.2, is now available to improve both security and stability. The exact details of the security updates hasn't released, but this update comes two days after Microsoft issued several updates for Internet Explorer. The non security updates are said to address the memory leak that Firefox has experienced. Symptons of the memory leak include delays in typed leters appearing on web pages and jerky scrolling of web pages. This update also allows Firefox to be run on Apple Macs using Intel computer chips. You can download the new version from the Mozilla Firefox page. I would recommend uninstalling the older version before installing the new version.

The security updates appear to address remote code execution. This is a fancy way of saying that a website can do something that it isn't allowed to normally do because of a flaw in the web browser. While Firefox is often noted because it does not have as many security problems as Internet Explorer, the growing popularity of the browser means that it is becoming a target of hackers.

The use of some of Firefox's features casued more RAM to be used than should be in older versions. There are two examples fixed in Firefox 1.5.0.2 that were using too much memory. The Find feature used to locate words on a web page is one, while the autocomplete is the other. Hopefully, this update will completly fix the problem.

I will post an update in the future letting you know what my experience is with this version.