firefox

Once upon a time, you couldn't go living a normal Internet-connected life without an anti-virus software of some kind. While the threat and effects of malware haven't really gone down, the quality of said security software sadly has. Some of the giants in that industry have been gobbled up by even bigger giants while others have been accused of using their reach for their government or for their own profit. The latest to fall prey to that tactic is Avast, which also owns the free AVG software, and its questionable activities are apparently also at work even on web browsers.

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Given the number of things they do on the Web and the number of news regarding hacks and scams, you'd think people would be more careful about their online activities. They would if not for the sometimes complicated process of ensuring that no one is watching you. That's why browser makers are bending over backward to make it easier for their users to protect their privacy, sometimes just by flicking a switch. For Mozilla, that goes beyond more powerful Do Not Track features in firefox and right into VPN territory, which is what its Firefox Private Network or FPN wants to offer to the next batch of beta testers.

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Scams have been in existence from the earliest days of human civilization but technology and the Internet have given less conscientious agents a broader and longer reach than ever before. Such scams cove a wide variety of techniques and consequences, ranging from the annoying to the destructive. A new breed of scams is now starting to go around affecting Firefox users that, while not entirely destructive, may appear so legitimate that it will scare users into some harmful reaction.

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Earlier this year, Mozilla revealed that it will be tackling the issue of annoying notification permission prompts that appear on many websites as soon as they load. In an update on the matter published on Monday, Mozilla detailed the results of its experiment on how best to deal with these notifications and explained how it will change its browser's way of handling them starting with a future version of the software.

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Mozilla has pushed out the latest Firefox browser update, adding a new Privacy Protections report related to the Enhanced Tracking Protection feature introduced earlier this year. As well, the browser is getting a couple of new security tools, the most notable being a new password generator that works with the software's Lockwise, a feature that safely stores passwords.

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Browser makers are implementing features that prevent sites from tracking users through various technologies, particularly encryption in HTTPS and TLS. Hackers of the dark kind, however, love to play this game of cat and mouse with security experts and software developers. A particularly notorious group hailing from Russia is proving that by turning the tables on browser makers. They are using the very same technologies Chrome and Firefox use for secure browsing, these hackers are modifying these web browsers on the fly to keep tabs on users and circumvent those privacy features.

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Earlier this year, Mozilla formally retired its Test Pilot program and graduated some of those tests into features for the Firefox browser. At that time, it seemed that Mozilla had learned all that it could from the program. Surprisingly, the nonprofit organization has suddenly come out with a new test pilot that ties into Mozilla's thrust in protecting users' privacy.

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Mozilla previously put third-party and cross-site tracking on notice and now it is finally flipping the switch. Starting with today's release, Firefox will have its Enhanced Tracking Protection turned on by default. Additionally, it will also be blocking cryptominers by default so that hackers won't be able to make money off your CPU cycles and battery life. Ironically, it won't yet do the same for sites that try to track your computer based on certain "fingerprints".

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Virtual reality is great for videos, games, and new experiences but if the technology is to be practical for the next wave of computing, platforms need to offer applications that let users also be productive. While office suites might be out of the question, web browsing is fortunately in a position to bridge the gap between entertainment and productivity. And fortunately for users of the new Oculus Quest, Mozilla just made Firefox Reality available for them.

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Firefox is one of the biggest and most popular web browsers around, second or equal to Google Chrome and, for Apple users, Safari. What few people probably know is that the Mozilla Foundation that owns and develops the browsers, among other things, is a non-profit organization that doesn't profit from the massive use of Firefox. As such, it has always been looking for revenue sources, some of which ended up in failure. Its latest attempt will probably be just as controversial, practically asking users how much they will be willing to pay for an ad-free Internet experience and a bit more.

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Despite still being one of the big names in the web browser market, Firefox has been struggling to increase its share on mobile, especially on Android. Part of that is Google’s strategy of having Chrome installed on every certified device, a strategy that has been legally questioned in Europe. The other part of that is the perceived stagnation of the mobile app and its slower performance, which Mozilla is addressing by eventually gutting out Firefox for Android and replacing it with Fenix, available now as Firefox Preview on Android.

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Given how regularly browser makers like Google and Mozilla release new versions of their software, a sudden new release is almost surprising. Firefox 67.0.3, however, is no simple minor release. Users are urged to make sure they're running this latest version of the browser because while it seems to fix just one thing, it is a critical security fix that could cause users headaches or maybe even lost cryptocurrencies.

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