Firefox 7 is the dream Internet browser you've always been looking for.
It displays an elegant simplicity and makes your web experience better, much faster and thoroughly enjoyable.
Firefox currently accounts for about 27% of all browsers used worldwide, according to the most recent data from Stat Counter Global Stats Top 5 Browsers. Even with more than a quarter of the browser market, Firefox is still a distant second to IE's 41%, but is still slightly ahead of the current No. 3 browser, Chrome, which now has a global share of 23%.
Firefox 7 is about 20% faster than its predecessor, so you will easily be able to feel the improvement in overall speed.
"Firefox 7 manages memory more efficiently to deliver a nimble Web browsing experience," said Mozilla's Blog. "Users will notice Firefox is faster at opening new tabs, clicking on menu items and buttons on websites. Heavy Internet users will enjoy enhanced performance when lots of tabs are open and during long Web browsing sessions that last hours or even days."
So with faster start-up times, rapid graphics rendering and improved page loading speeds, the latest version of Firefox is full of performance improvements that you'll notice instantly!
Experience super-fast graphics acceleration of video and Web content with a brand new layers-based graphics system that takes advantage of Direct2D and Direct3D on Windows.
The Add-ons Manager has been redesigned to let you discover and install add-ons without ever leaving Firefox. Browse ratings, recommendations, descriptions and pictures of the add-ons in action to help you make your selection. Your Add-ons Manager even lets you view, manage and disable third-party plug-ins in a few easy clicks, checking and auto-updating any of your installed add-ons every time you open the Manager pane.
Add-ons are the cornerstone of customization, but adapting Firefox 7 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.
First introduced in Firefox 3.6 Personas are easy-to-install themes that help you to personalise the overall look and feel of your Firefox browser. There are thousands of Persona's to choose from. With a single click, you can dress your browser up in simple designs, colourful patterns, and content from partners like Harry Potter and Bob Marley. Just check out this persona's video on Mozilla's website.
Browse multiple sites at once, simply and easily. Each new site appears as a new tab (not a new window) and can be accessed with just one click.
Panorama lets you drag and drop your tabs into manageable groups that you can organize, name and arrange in a fun and visual way.
To get started with Panorama, simply select the Tab Groups icon when you customize your Navigation Toolbar or right click any tab to Move to Group.
Firefox 7 also includes many built-in security-related features, such as the best-of-breed anti-phishing protection, making it one of the most secure browsers on the market today.
This upgraded Phishing Protection takes Firefox’s security to a new level, helping to safeguard your financial information and protect you from identity theft.
Additional security features include Malware protection and a much improved password manager. There is also far greater security for add-ons and downloads.
To keep Firefox current with any security fixes, the browser is designed to check for updates automatically and pops up a box on your desktop to inform you when these are available for download.
Firefox 7 has many core features such as crash protection, sessions restore, built in spell checking, integrated search, pop-up blocker, clear private data, private browsing and automated 'behind the scenes' updates.
The browser interface has a few changes, such as the new Firefox button, and there are some additional add on's that can make your Firefox browser look unique, especially the Persona's.
The placement of the main navigation arrows has not changed, they are still on the left. However, the Home Button has been moved to the right side of the search-field.
Firefox provides uninterrupted browsing when there is a crash in the plug-ins for Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime or Microsoft Silverlight.
If one of these commonly-used plug-ins crashes or freezes, it won't affect the rest of the browser. You can simply reload the page to restart the plug-in and try again.
Session Restore instantly brings back your windows and tabs, restoring text you entered and any in-progress downloads. You can restart the browser without losing your place after you install an add-on or software update.
And, if Firefox or your computer 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.
A built-in spell checker works directly in Web pages, like blog posts and email. Save yourself a step and stop worrying about typos.
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 happy to see.
The Awesome Bar was first introduced in Firefox 3.
It's a great feature that lets you get to your favourite sites quickly - even if you don't remember the URLs. Type your term into the top location bar and the autocomplete function will include possible matches from your browsing history, bookmarked sites and open tabs.
The Awesome Bar learns as you use it. Over time, it adapts to your preferences and offers better-fitting matches.
For searches across the entire Web, a box at the top right provides a shortcut to Google and a drop down menu listing 9 other sites, including Yahoo!, Bing, Amazon, eBay, Answers.com, Chambers (UK) and Wikipedia.
Tired of trying to remember or retype your passwords every time you visit a favourite site? Firefox can help! You'll be prompted with a non-intrusive option to remember passwords when you first log in - after that, Firefox will take care of all the rest.
When you're filling out an online form like your shipping address, Firefox will suggest information for each field based on your most common answers for similar fields in other forms.
Sync seamlessly connects your desktop and mobile Firefoxes, so you can access your browsing history, passwords, bookmarks and even open tabs no matter which device you use. Access years of desktop browsing the first day you fire up your mobile, and use saved passwords from your desktop to fill out forms on your phone.
Now you can surf the Web on your desktop, get up in the middle of browsing and have your open tabs ready and waiting on your mobile, just as you left them. Your browsing will never be the same!
Firefox 7 also supports a built-in RSS (Really Simple Syndication) news reader to fetch updates from website's that publish their content using this standard.
You can add an RSS feed icon to your toolbar and create feeds using an online web service, a client-side feed reader or by creating a Firefox Live Bookmark.
In the file menu click edit - find and a "Find" bar appears at the bottom of Firefox's window which lets you search for words on a page without blocking your view of the page itself.
As you type a query, the first matching item is highlighted in green. "Find Next" and "Find Previous" buttons jump to other matches, and the "Highlight" button paints all of them in green.
Take your computer offline and still have your information at your fingertips. Certain sites may allow applications- like your Web-based email - to stay with you at all times.
Want to see captions and pictures in a larger size? An elegant new zoom feature lets you swoop in and see the details on web pages, zeroing in on what matters. The pages will scale equally, with all the elements of layout changing at the same level.
Web addicts can customize Firefox 7 with browser extensions that add functions, themes and persona's that alter the browsers look and feel.
To customize Firefox even more type about:config into the address bar and you'll see hundreds of preferences to tweak! But be careful what you change as you could accidentally prevent Firefox from starting up.
Download files seamlessly and securely!
A pause and resume feature means you can stop and start anytime. So, if you're halfway through downloading a big file and it's time to catch the bus, just pause and pick up where you left off later. The resume function also works if your system crashes or is forced to restart.
The download manager shows your download progress and even lets you search your files by name or the Web address where the download came from.
For the full feature list check out the mozilla website - http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/features/
With greatly improved performance, really useful features and first class security Firefox 7 stands out as one of the best internet browser available today.
Firefox 7 is free to download and is available on a variety of operating systems : Windows, Mac and Linux. There are also a wide variety of localised language versions to choose from.
If you haven't already tried Firefox, what are you waiting for?
You can download Firefox 7 for free from the Mozilla Website and see for yourself how good it really is!