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Mozilla today released Firefox 3.6.4, the latest version of its flagship browser, and in so doing entered the crash protection club. This version stands out from its predecessors mainly due to the way it tackles plug-in crashes.
Firefox will now remain unaffected by plug-in crashes as the latest version does not run plug-ins inside the same process as the browser – Chrome and Safari already include this feature. So instead of the browser reeling under the weight of a crashing plug-in, it holds firm and notifies the user of the crash. The user can even reload the plug-in without interrupting the ongoing browsing session.
“At this time Firefox offers crash protection for Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime and Microsoft Silverlight on Windows and Linux computers. Support for other plugins and operating systems will become available in a future Firefox release,” Mozilla's Mike Bletzner wrote in a blog entry announcing the release.
Comments are closed on this article
Blues22475
June 23, 2010 at 8:20am
Very glad to see this feature implemented in Firefox. I haven't had crashing problems with Flash or any other things since I started using firefox, however.
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Ignorance is man's greatest enemy.
fiXXer
June 23, 2010 at 7:07am
a VERY welcome update. I can now play flash games with confidence. Thanks Mozilla.
LatiosXT
June 22, 2010 at 8:56pm
I'm still waiting for it to stop leaking memory (which then again, could be a result of one of my undo-close tab plugins) and have per-process tabs (or instances or something)
Here's hoping for version 4.
rocktman
June 26, 2010 at 11:56am
Updated to FF3.6.4 the other night & BINGO! it crashed out of the gate. Now, I'm not a FF basher by any stretch of the imagination. I've been using Mozilla products pretty much exclusively almost since their inception years ago & occassionally have been a beta tester. But for Mozilla to claim no more crashes, well, reality trumps PR.
It took several reconfigurations & disablings to get it close to the way they advertise. Unfortunately, most Mozilla products have become bloatware. I'd prefer they went back to their lean & mean days & made all these "features" extensions for those that want them.
