Posted 12/21/09 at 06:50:36 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 back in June, leaving it with ample time to finish the year on a high that has no precedent in Mozilla's history. It has become the single most popular browser (version) in the world, according to StatCounter. It completed its conquest of the globe last week when it edged past IE 7.

Its share of the browser market stood at 21.93 percent, a shade ahead of IE 7's 21.2 percent. But the various versions of Internet Explorer are still a force to reckon with and together command more than half of the global browser market, with Mozilla's Firefox coming in second with around 32 percent.

IE8 has managed to stave off Firefox 3.5 in North America. The former leads in the region with around 25 percent market share. Most of Firefox's growth seems to be coming from Europe and Asia.

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Posted 08/18/09 at 06:06:45 AM by Pulkit Chandna

In July, a company named NSS Labs conducted two tests to determine the most secure browser among Internet Explorer 8, Google Chrome 2, Apple Safari 4, Mozilla Firefox 3 and Opera 10 Beta. To Microsoft’s delight, Internet Explorer was adjudged the most secure browser.

It was found to have blocked 81% of live malware threats during the tests. The figure seems more imposing once you learn that the runner-up, Firefox 3, only managed to block 27% of malware threats. To boot, Microsoft’s browser also managed to block 83% of phishing URLs, with Firefox finishing second with 80%.

But Ars Technica has cast doubts over the veracity of the tests. The heavily lopsided nature of the results is not the only thing to blame for its skepticism. Amy Barzdukas, General Manager of Internet Explorer, told Ars Technica that the tests had been sponsored by Microsoft. Apparently, it ended up becoming the lone sponsor, as other companies didn’t respond to NSS Labs’ call for funding. Microsoft claims to have had no control over the results.

"We invited Google, Mozilla, Apple, Opera to participate, but they didn’t even bother to respond, except for Opera, which stated they “don’t really focus on malware," NSS Labs’ president, Rick Moy, told Ars Technica.

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Posted 07/15/09 at 03:49:04 PM by Andy Salisbury

According to a screenshot taken by an IE6 user who was watching some videos on YouTube, it would appear that support for the browser will be phased out very soon.

The screenshot suggests that an upgrade to a “more modern” browser, including Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.5.  And, they’re not alone – apparently Digg is looking to cut their support for IE6 as well.

There’s been no official word yet from YouTube, so this information is only as good as its sources (truthfully, folks on Twitter). But, it doesn’t seem illogical, so if it turns out to be true, there’ll be little surprise.

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Posted 07/08/09 at 05:01:32 PM by Andy Salisbury

Mozilla just launched a new project, named Electrolysis, which is meant to bring multiprocess browsing to Firefox. And, according to Mozilla, this project has allowed them to improve Firefox’s performance, security and stability. Developers of the project have already put together a prototype that’s able to render a page in a separate process from the interface shell that it’s displayed in.

Apparently the idea of implementing multiprocessing into the browser didn’t gain much traction until its use by Google and Microsoft in Chrome and IE8. Chrome’s multiprocess architecture allows it to fill in security holes, and it prevents page specific glitches from crashing the entire browser – something that Mozilla hopes to do as well.

There’s no word yet if the multiprocess browsing will be ready in time for the next release of Firefox, but the work will be done separately so as not to impede the current stages of development.

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Posted 06/15/09 at 05:25:41 PM by Andy Salisbury

Call it a gimmick, call it what you want, but it looks like Microsoft is doing some good by helping out those in need via their Internet Explorer 8 advertising.

Along side their Dean Cain commercials that went live earlier this month, they’ll be donating the equivalent of eight meals to the Feeding America Network for each completed download of Internet Explorer 8.

Make sure that you download soon though; this promotion will only run from June 10th to August 8th. So, if you’re not downloading IE8 for yourself, download it for those in need! You’ll feel better tonight knowing you did.

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Posted 04/23/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Josh Kampschmidt

The web browser is probably the most essential application on your PC; there is no better practical way of staying connected to news, your friends, and most importantly, the lulz. But whether you’re using Internet Explorer or newly minted Chrome, each of today's popular web browsers has different strengths and weaknesses. Mozilla Firefox is feature-heavy and relatively fast, but can get terribly unwieldy when crammed with juicy add-ons. The newest version of the once dominant Internet Explorer is a quantum leap above previous buggy versions, but remains slow. And while both Opera and Google Chrome are blazingly fast, they currently lack customization.

No matter which browser you use, you want it to fit your personal needs and tastes. With this guide, we will show you the essential initial tweaks everyone should make to “awesomize” their browser. Whether it’s accelerating browser page-load performance, boosting security, or just improving the look of the interface, we teach you the tweaks that we think should be implemented the first time you start up a browser after installation.

We cover comprehensive step-by-step instructions for Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox 3, Opera 9, and Google Chrome, starting off with general web optimization tips. So jump into the guide and start tweaking your web browser!

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Posted 04/14/09 at 03:45:24 PM by Paul Lilly

If you haven't been impressed with Microsoft's latest browser -- or just haven't felt compelled to give IE8 a spin and kick its tires -- you're not alone. Despite a significant speed increase, better web compliance, and a handful of new features, IE8 hasn't been attracting the kind of response Microsoft had probably hoped for, at least not if market share data from Net Applications is any indication. At last count, IE8 made up for a little over 4 percent of the browser market share, taking away from IE7 at a conservative pace. The solution? Throw IE8 into the Automatic Update queue as a 'High Priority' update.

"Last week, we released IE8 via Automatic Update to users still running pre-release versions of IE8 (Beta 2 or Release Candidate 1). The goal was to make sure users who chose to install IE8 have the latest up-to-date version," Microsoft wrote in a blog post. "Starting on or about the third week of April, users still running IE6 or IE7 on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2008 will get will get a notification through Automatic Update about IE8."

Microsoft went on to say that the rollout will start with a narrow audience and expand over time to include its entire userbase. IE8 will be labeled as an 'Important' update for those running Vista and Server 2008, and 'High Priority' for XP users. However, IE8 won't automatically install; users will still have to opt-in.

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Posted 03/20/09 at 11:23:10 PM by Mark Edward Soper

As expected, Microsoft used this week's MIX09 conference to officially launch Internet Explorer 8, Cnet's Ina Fried reports. To make it easy to get your hands on IE8, links to the previous IE8 beta version website now automatically point to the official IE8 page. So, what's new in IE8? We've discussed  a lot of the new features in previous articles, but if you need to get up to speed, here are some of the high points:

• Compatibility mode, designed to enable IE8 (built, at long last, to comply with official standards) to properly render pages on sites designed to match previous IE versions' Microsoft-only features
• Web accelerators, which provide one-click blog, define, email, find, map, and search for content in any web page
• SmartScreen filter and other built-in features to help provide a more secure search environment
• InPrivate browsing that automatically blocks history and other traces of where you've been online
• A growing collection of add-ons in over 15 categories to help you customize IE8

For more IE8 resources and download links, join us after the jump.

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