Anti-Malware

Firefox 3 protects you from viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware. If you accidentally access an attack site, you’ll receive a full-sized browser message as a warning. A continuously updated list of attack-sites tells us when to stop you from browsing, so there’s nothing for you to update or maintain.

Anti-Phishing

Shop and do business safely on the Internet. Firefox gets a fresh update of web forgery sites 48 times in a day, so if you try to visit a fraudulent site that’s pretending to be a site you trust (like your bank), a browser message—big as life—will stop you.

Parental Controls

Enforce parental control settings you’ve entered on Windows Vista with Firefox 3—stop unwanted downloads and more. Firefox’s intuitive design keeps you from second-guessing your setup.

Anti-Virus Software

Firefox 3 integrates elegantly with your antivirus software. When you download a file, your computer’s antivirus program automatically checks it to protect you against viruses and other malware, which could otherwise attack your computer. [available in Windows only]

Add-ons

Firefox looks for a secure connection before installing or updating add-ons, 3rd party software, and Personas.

Password Manager

We’ve seamlessly integrated this feature into your surfing experience. Choose to “remember” site passwords without intrusive pop-ups. Now you’ll see the “remember password” notification integrated into your view at the top of the site page.

Clear Private Data

Clear your private data automatically—with just one click or a keyboard shortcut. Your info is gone for good—on your own computer or the one at your local library. It’s that easy.

Customized Security Settings

Control the level of scrutiny you’d like Firefox to give a site and enter exceptions—sites that don’t need the third degree. Customize settings for passwords, cookies, loading images and installing add-ons for a fully empowered Web experience.

Automated Update

Our open-source security strategy lets us find—and fix—security issues in record time, making Firefox the safest way to surf. Install upgrades when you receive automatic notification or wait until you’re ready.

Pop-Up Blocker

Banish pop-ups (and pop-under windows) from your surfing experience once and for all. Or, find a happy medium—choose to view blocked pop-ups or create an “allow” list of sites whose pop-ups you’re okay with seeing.

Over 5,000 ways to customize

The sky’s the limit with a growing library of over 5,000 Firefox Add-ons, little extras you choose to download and install for a browser that works your way. Manage online auctions, upload digital photos, see the weather forecast in a glance and listen to music all from the convenience of your browser. There’s no need to open a new window or tab for each task. Discover add-ons that help you streamline coding and Web development, like Firebug, which lets you look deep into the structure of a web page.

Browser Look & Feel

Dress up your browser as you like it. With themes, choose a darkened control panel reminiscent of a space ship, faux wood paneling, or hundreds of other unique looks to surround your surfing. With Personas, add a simple, lightweight “skin” to your browser in an instant. (Personas is a Mozilla Labs project.)

Beyond Add-ons

Add-ons are the cornerstone of customization, but adapting Firefox to suit your style doesn’t stop there. You can add new search engines, change toolbar preferences, display different sizes, shapes and styles for your browser’s navigation buttons and more. With additional preferences, you can specify a Web mail client, such as Gmail, to open up when you click on an address from a Web page or set up a news reader application for the blogs you encounter.

Spell Checking

A built-in spell checker lets you enter text directly into Web pages— like blog posts and Web-based email—without worrying about typos and misspellings. Work directly with the Web and save yourself a step.

Session Restore

If Firefox unexpectedly closes, you don’t have to spend time recovering data or retracing your steps through the Web. If you’re in the middle of typing an email, you’ll pick up where you left off, even down to the last word you typed. Session Restore instantly brings back your windows and tabs, restoring text you entered and any in-progress downloads. Restart the browser without losing your place after you install an add-on or software update.

Full Zoom

Visit your favorite news page and read the caption under the picture—or view the picture itself in a size you can see. An elegant new zoom feature lets you swoop in and see entire web pages. They scale in the way you’d expect them to, with all the elements of a page’s layout expanding equally, so you can zero in on what matters.

Image Loading

If you want to save time and bandwidth, view a site without images. Firefox will remember your setting the next time you view the page.

Integrated Web Search

Searching the Web is a breeze with the search box inline, just to the right of your location bar. Use the web engine of your choice to search by typing directly into the box. The width is adjustable so you can make it bigger if you need more space.

Hundreds of Search Engines

Access your favorite search engines quickly from the integrated search bar. You can use a new engine for each search, or stick to your favorite. Choose from a preset dropdown list of engines or select “manage search engines” from the same list to browse search engine options offered as add-ons. Check out your choices now.

Save on Exit

Now when you open Firefox, your tabs and windows look just like they did when you closed it down. No need to reopen all your windows each time you start a session.

Tabs

At first glance, they look like little labels living above the site you’re currently visiting. But they are a brilliant way to browse multiple sites at once. Simple and easy, you can think of them as the electronic version of a well kept filing cabinet, with the tabs as the dividers and the sites as the content kept in folders. Each new site appears as a new tab (not a new window) and can be accessed in one click.

Reopen Closed Tabs

If you accidentally close a tab, you can reopen it in one click. Just view Recently Closed Tabs in the History menu and select the tab you’d like to reopen.

Drag & Reorder Tabs

Get your sites in order. Simply arrange the order of your tabs by dragging them in one swift move of your mouse.

Smooth Scrolling

Like to have all 20 of your favorite pages open at once? An elegant new feature lets you scroll through tabs easily to see them all and access the one you want quickly.

Emphasis on Accessibility

By minimizing keystrokes, allowing users to zoom in on Web pages and supporting screen readers, Firefox is that much easier to use for those with mobility disabilities and visual impairments.

Improved Text Rendering

Read your language as it’s written—more like real life. With a new graphics engine, Arabic, Persian, Punjabi and other script languages now render in a remarkably seamless way.

Improved Memory Management

With all new management functions in place, Firefox 3 keeps memory usage under control. The XPCOM cycle collector continuously cleans up unused memory. Plus, hundreds of memory leaks are now remedied.

Faster JavaScript

Firefox now empowers even greater Web development, with JavaScript 1.8—including expression closures, generator expression and array reduce.

Smaller Memory Footprint

Short and sweet, Firefox now uses less of your computer’s memory while it’s running.

Faster Page Load

A redesigned page rendering and layout engine means you see Web pages faster—and in the way they were meant to be seen.

Graphics Engine Improvements

Improved text rendering is just the beginning of the benefits of an all new graphic engine for Firefox 3.

Advanced Graphics

You have to see it to believe it. The rendering of text and graphics, including SVG and Canvas, is faster, sharper and more true-to-life than ever before, thanks to our new graphics engine.

Online Application Support

Expand the power of Web-based applications. In the past you’d click on an email address in a Web site and your computer’s default email application would open up to send a message to the linked address—even if you never email through the program. Now you can choose a Web mail clients (like Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo! Mail) to launch when you click on that email address.

Support for Advanced Web Technologies

Brand new and enhanced functionalities enable Web site authors and developers to create advanced content and applications. Support is now available for CSS, ACID2, MathML, ECMAScript 4, Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) and Microformats, to name a few. See the full list of supported technologies.

Color Profile Support

Photographers and photo fans, your view of the Web from Firefox just gets better. You can choose to enable top-of-the-line image display which uses technical data, like the amount of light available and relevant distance information, to render images in an amazing new way.

Offline Browsing

Take your computer offline and still have information at your fingertips. Certain enabled sites may allow applications—like your Web-based email—to stay with you at all times. Many sites are not yet configured to work with this feature. Learn more about what works and what doesn’t.

Live Support

We have Firefox experts waiting on stand-by to help you with questions that simply demand a live person and a real conversation. Now you can chat with knowledgeable Firefox community members who troubleshoot via our live chat site. You won’t be put on hold or have to wait for a response—solve your problem on the spot.

Firefox Support

Help is right where you would expect it, as well as a few places you might not. A link at the top of your browser takes you to a support site with the answers you’ll need. Want to dig deeper—or have a really tough question?

Firefox’s support website has a searchable knowledge base of articles, plus forums and tutorials full of solutions and tips for a better experience.