Firefox 3 beta 3 was released to public for testing purposes on the 12th February 2008. The newer version of the Firefox browser sports a lot of exciting features. A lot has been done to enhance the browser security ,improve performance and better user experience of the browser. I have to say the browser loads a lot faster than it used to be.
Security feature include,
One-click Site information by simply clicking the Favicon of the website
Malware & Webforgery protection by blocking users landing on the websites that are found to phishing websites or plant malware, viruses trojans etc.
Antivirus integration into the browser
Disables insecure add-ons and disallows any updates by add-ons if found insecure.
Other features include a lot user friendly features like Auto-complete, quick bookmark, Download resume, secure database for cookies and cache, and lot of memory leaks plugged which enhances the browser performance.
Overall feel of the browser seems very positive. Good for test, don’t use in production or replace the existing version until the final version releases. For more details on the enhancements, check the release notes here
Firefox 3 Beta 3 can co-exist with the current version on your system. However, both the versions cannot run at the same time.
Installation Procedure
To install Firefox 3 Beta 3 to co-exist with the current version of your Firefox in your Suse or Opensuse Linux system, please follow the procedures listed below:
Download Firefox 3 Beta 3 from here
You have a great choice of languages to choose from.
Once downloaded, switch user to “root” and unzip and untar the files
Tester@OpenSuse:~/Desktop> su –
OpenSuse:~ # tar -jxvf firefox-3.0b3.tar.bz2
This unzips and untars the files creating a “firefox” folder.
Move the folder to /opt
OpenSuse:~ # mv firefox /opt
That’s it. Installation is now complete. Now, for accessibility create a new entry in the KDE Menu Editor. Leave the existing Firefox entry untouched as it would still be pointing to your current version of Firefox.
OpenSuse:~ # kmenuedit
kbuildsycoca running…
OpenSuse:~ # kbuildsycoca running…
From the menu, navigate to Internet – Web Browser.
Right-click “Web Browser” and select “New Item”
Enter the item name as “Firefox 3 Beta 3”
Under Command enter ‘/opt/firefox/firefox’
If you want to change the icon (default is blank), click the icon, select “Other icons” and select “firefox”
Click the save button to save the new KDE Menu item.
Thats it!!! Any time, you want to test Firefox 3 Beta 3, simply go to “Firefox 3 beta 3” from Start Menu – Applications – Internet – Web Browser.
Happy testing Firefox 3 Beta 3!!!