Category: Mozilla: Browser of the Gods
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
The latest and greatest version of Firefox is hot off the grill and ready for you to download.
There's lots of nice improvements in 1.5, but the biggest one from my perspective is the new automatic patching system. Once you've got 1.5 set up, you won't ever have to run to mozilla.org to download new versions again -- when those new versions come out Firefox will automatically update itself. I've used this to upgrade from the betas of 1.5 straight on through to the final release and it's solid.
So what are you waiting for? Go get it already!
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So, if I just have the original, do I still need to update it, regardless?
Yep - if you're using any version prior to 1.5, you'll need to download the new version and install it yourself. There was no (reliable) auto-update feature in previous versions.
If you're not sure which version you're using, look in the "Help" menu on the menu bar. Just click "About Mozilla Firefox" in that menu and it will bring up a window that tells you what version number you're using.
If you're on an older version, upgrading to 1.5 is super easy. Here's instructions for how to do it on Windows.
1) Download the Firefox 1.5 installer from http://www.mozilla.com/
2) Close all open Firefox windows -- including the little Download window
3) In your Start Menu, go to Control Panel and once you're there, open the Add/Remove Programs panel.
4) This will bring up a list of programs you currently have installed. Find Mozilla Firefox on the list. Click it and you'll see a button that says "Change/Remove". click that button.
5) Follow the prompts to uninstall the old version of Firefox. (Don't worry, your bookmarks and preferences aren't deleted when you do this.)
6) Once the old version is uninstalled, run the Firefox 1.5 installer to set the new version up.
And that's that! All your extensions, bookmarks, preferences, etc. will be brought over from your old Firefox. And if it seems like a hassle to uninstall the old version and then install the new one, once you're on 1.5 you'll never have to do it again.