Mozilla releases Firefox 2 beta 1

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Jul. 12, 2006

Mozilla on July 12 released Firefox 2 Beta 1, a "developer preview" that features experimental anti-phishing and spell-checking tools, among other enhancements.

A Mozilla spokeswoman emphasized that Firefox 2 Beta 1 is a "developer preview release and is being made available for testing purposes only. Firefox 2 Beta 1 is intended for Web application developers and our testing community. Current users of Mozilla Firefox 1.x should not use [it]."

Firefox's new built-in phishing protection warns users when they encounter suspected Web forgeries and offers to return the user to their home page, the spokeswoman said. Phishing protection is turned on by default and works by checking browser destinations against a local list of known phishing sites. This list is automatically downloaded and regularly updated within Beta 1 when the phishing protection feature is enabled, she added.

In addition, a new built-in spell-checker function enables users to quickly check the spelling of text entered into Web text fields without having to use another application, the spokeswoman said.

Other new features include:

Automatic restoration of a browsing session: When your system or browser crashes, Firefox 2 Beta 1's new SessionRestore feature will start you where you left off
Links that would open new browser windows now open in tabs by default. Individual tabs now include a "close tab" button
Search suggestions now appear with search history in the search box for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com
Search plug-in manager for removing and re-ordering search engines
Support for JavaScript 1.7

Additionally, Firefox 2 boasts a new Windows installer based on the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS), which resolves many long-standing issues, the spokeswoman said.

For a detailed review of the new beta, see Jim Rapoza's eWEEK article here.

You can download the Firefox 2 beta 1 release here.

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