I’m currently using Firefox 1.9, which I find quite satisfactory except it won’t run Netflix instant view. Is there any reason I shouldn’t upgrade to 3.0, or anything I need to know before I do?
Just my opinion but I am unaware of any reason not to upgrade and many reasons why you should.
3.0 is just fine.
Not if you are happy with your current version. Do you a lot of “extensions” or “add ons”? A lot of the more recent extensions require higher versions of Firefox.
Also, I’m sure that some will tell you that you will run into compatibility issues with web sites, but if you aren’t hitting that now, then it must not be a factor for you.
Yes…so if you don’t list the reasons for him/her to upgrade, how is your post useful?
1.9 (and all the other older versions) will be bound to have lots of flaws that can be exploited by hackers or unscrupulous website owners.
Well, I’m happy with it except I can’t run instant view on Netflix, which I’d like to be able to do. I have a few extensions (speed dial for a few sites that I visit more than weekly but less than daily; the weather bar at the bottom), but not so many that it would be a PITA to have to reload them. Would all my bookmarks go away, too? That would be annoying.
I am profoundly ignorant about the operation of my computer, and so I get nervous about downloading a big ol’ program like a new OS, which is why I’m asking.
No, upgrading to Firefox 3 won’t change anything on your computer. It’s a program, not an operating system 
Your bookmarks will be carried over automatically.
Firefox 3.0 is very crashy on XP systems. Not everyone will have this problem, but it’s a fairly widespread issue. If you have Vista, you’ll be fine.
:smack:
I knew that.
:o
Nope, no Vista – this is an ancient (seven-year-old) machine.
And Firefox 1.9 isn’t crash-free for me, either.
No Firefox 3.0.10 crashes on my aging 7-year-old PC (WinXP).
Firefox 3 is the only version of Firefox that’s still receiving security updates, so it’s a good idea to upgrade to Firefox 3 and then keep it constantly updated from there. Firefox has an option to automatically check for updates – enable it, and update when there’s a new release.
For most people, the web browser is the application that does the most communication with other sites. If you don’t keep it up-to-date with security updates, you run the serious risk of getting malware on your machine.
As for the Netflix issue, once you upgrade to Firefox 3, you still won’t be able to watch Netflix instant viewing. However, once you’re updated, you can install IE Tab which will make it open the Netflix instant viewing pages in IE. Just be sure to add “Netflix*” to IETab’s site filter list, and it’ll automatically use IE when you go to play a movie. Note that that doesn’t include the Watch Instantly navigation pages, so you’ll still get the “wrong browser” warning on those. You can either add those as well, or just ignore the warning.
Anyway, you should really keep your web browser up-to-date in order to protect your system. You should also go to “Windows Update” and install any Windows-related security updates that’re on there. Finally, if you’ve got Java on your system, either remove it (if you don’t use it) or make sure it’s updated – a couple of recent attacks have been targeted at Java vulnerabilities that’ve already been fixed in the latest version of Java.
Oh, and there is one caveat of Firefox 3: They changed the interface a little. Nothing major, but it did tick a number of people off (myself included). But it’s not worth foregoing security updates just to maintain the old interface.
The main issue with the new Firefox interface I has was with the so-called Awesome Bar–the “smart” address bar. I absolutely hated it. Fortunately, I was not alone and there was very shortly thereafter an extension called OldBar which fixed that.
Thanks very much for the info, everyone!
I thought I was the only one to find myself crashing with frustrating regularity after upgrading to FF3.
It does seem to have eased up lately, though. From three or more crashes per hour to one or fewer a week.
Never had a Firefox crash yet, on XP, Vista or Ubuntu.
How does one know if they are running 1.9 or 3.0?
Thanks!
Click the Help menu and select About Mozilla Firefox. The subsequent information box will tell you.
I’m running the 3.5 beta, and have had very, very few crashes on any OS - and, when it does happen, it can reload all of the pages I had open at the time.
I love Firefox.
3.0.x can do that, too. Which is good, since it crashes fairly frequently here. I’m off to try 3.5 Beta.
Update: this does not appear to have helped. In fact, it crashed again as I was typing this post.
There’s no reason you actually have to upgrade: you can install concurrent versions of Firefox if you’d like.
But if you’re only doing it from one site, and would have to install IE TAB anyways (which uses IE), why not just open Netflix in IE and keep using the FF you like?
(As for security: FF 1.9 has one of the same benefits as running Linux or MacOS: protection by obscurity.)
ETA: Also, with a 7 year old computer, you could conceivably not be running Windows XP, and be stuck with, at most, Firefox 2.0.20