Mozilla Firefox 5.1 Editor's review

Overview

A highly rewarded and appreciated web browser, Mozilla Firefox is one of the most popular web browser on the market thanks to its comprehensive but easy to use interface, the multitude of customizable options and a large number of features included such as tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, spell checking, incremental find, live bookmarking, download manager, private browsing, location-aware browsing and many more functions that can be added through extensions made by third-party developers (one of the most important feature of Firefox).

Installation

Installing Firefox is really simple. After downloading and launching the software kit you will be prompted with two setup options: standard or custom installing. Selecting custom will allow you to change the destination where you would like to instal the program, setting shortcuts and making Mozilla Firefox your default web browser, as standard option will skip the first two steps. After setting that Firefox will start installing and shortly will be ready to use. On the first use you will be asked if you want to import history, bookmarks and passwords for Internet Explorer and will let you know that Firefox is not your default browser and asked if you want to change that.  

Interface

The Mozilla Firefox interface is highly customizable but as default it comes with the option menu on top, address bar below with the “back”, “forward”, “refresh”, “stop” and “home” buttons to its left and the bookmark button plus a Google search bar to the right. Below the address bar comes the bookmark bar and below that the tabs.

Highly customizable Mozilla Firefox has a large number of themes that can be accessed from the “Add-ons” menu in the “Tool” tab. This will not only allow you to pick a color theme but also themes that will change the whole layout of your web-browser.

Mozilla Firefox it's all about security, performance and customization. To ensure the security Firefox comes with Anti-malware, that will protect you from accessing infected files, Anti-phishing, that will warn you and protect you from sites that pretend to be what are not. Also Firefox integrates with windows anti-virus software meaning that every file you download will be scanned for possible threats.

Another important feature that Mozilla Firefox brings is Private Browsing. Accessed from the “Tool” tab or by hitting the Ctr+Shift+P keys, Private Browsing will allow you to disable history, cookie storing, web page caching, password storing, search bar and form entries and won't save your download list entries either. This way you can check your mails from a shared computer or from an Internet-caffe without leaving any history behind. Accessing this feature for the first time will prompt a message that Firefox will save and close your current tabs so you can continue accessing them after you finish your Private Browsing.

Firefox high performance consists in its speed, latest version including TraceMonkey JavaScript engine that makes it 20% faster then the previous version, small memory use, memory management, crash protection, even if one of your plugins freezes or crash your browsing experience will not be affected, reloading the page will restart the plugins allowing you to continue without interuptions.

Pros

• Pop-up control

• Simple installation and settings  importing

• Clear and comprehensible interface

• High popularity assuring that add-ons and extensions are always up to date and keep getting developed

• Highly customizable

• Multi-language support

Cons

• Crashes due to instability of some plugins when opening many tabs

• Slower then some of the competitors, like Google Chrome

Conclusion 

The 2^nd most used web browser, Mozilla Firefox has continually improved its speed, security and customization features and backed-up by an impressive database of add-ons and extensions, provides the needs for large different categories of Internet users. Therefore I give it 4.5/5 stars.

Editor's rating:    Very good