It is therefor usually not a good idea to download and install an old version. It might be different during beta testing but it is generally recommended to figure out other ways of coping with a problem.

There is however a very easy way of downloading old versions of either Thunderbird or Firefox. Just point your web browser to ftp.mozilla.org and visit the ftp repositories for either program. The ftp server not only lists the latest version but also all other releases that have been created in the past. Here are the direct links:

• ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/
• ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

Again: It can be highly problematic to install old releases. Make sure you backup the data before installing an older version of Thunderbird or Firefox.

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The very same page lists a few known issues of the Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 web browser. This includes a Google Mail bug (can be resolved by reloading the page), no new window creation when dragging tabs on the desktop, choppy OGG audio and video playback on old computers and SSL website loading problems after returning from private browsing mode.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 will access the user profile on the computer if another version of the Firefox web browser is installed. Several of the installed Firefox add-ons are at this time not compatible with the latest beta version of Firefox and will fail to load unless the user forces compatibility with Nightly Tester Tools.

Users who do not want to mess with their default installation of the Firefox web browser can download and use a portable version of the beta instead.

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The following list contains the most important Firefox download extensions. The concentration on the most important (and not an overinflated list) makes it easier for anyone to handpick the best download extensions from the list.

The list is divided into the categories files, images, movies and misc. Each category lists a handful of extensions linking directly to their download page at the Mozilla website.

Files

Down Them All – Firefox Download Manager.

Fire FTP – ftp client for the Firefox web browser.

Flash Got – Download Manager integration in Firefox.

Get Filesize – Retrieves the file size of a selected file.

Save File To – Makes it possible to save files into custom folders without having to open the file browser.

Spiderzilla – A website mirroring software based on the excellent HTTrack.

Images

Image Grabber – Download images that are protected by a transparent spacer image.

Save Image In Folder – Save images in personalized folders.

Save Images – Saves the images from the current tab to a specified location.

Movies

MP4 Youtube Downloader – Downloads Youtube videos as mp4 videos.

Flash Video Resource Downloader – Compatible to most flash video websites.

Video Download Helper – Excellent video downloader that is compatible with hundreds of video portals on the Internet.

Misc

Amazon S3 Firefox Organizer – Helps you organize/manage/store your files on Amazon S3

Clean And Close – Replaces the clean up button in the Firefox Download Manager with a clean and close button.

Download Rapidshare @ Office – The add-on converts all Rapidshare download urls to IP and uses the IP to download them.

Download Sort – The extension saves downloads automatically into different folders.

Download Status – Displays detailed download information like the average download speed, the time remaining and the number of files.

Download Statusbar – Displays downloads in a status bar instead of the default download manager window.

Link Alert – Changes the mouse cursor according to the file type.

MD5 Hasher – Calculates hashes of files that have been downloaded to the local computer.

Open Download – Allows to download and open any file from the Internet in the default application for that file type.

RDown – Rapidshare Downloader – Rapidshare Download helper.

Snap Links – Use the right mouse button to mark multiple links at once.

Did we miss any noteworthy extension? Let us know in the comments.

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A total of eight security vulnerabilities are patched in Firefox 3.05 including three critical vulnerabilities. Critical vulnerabilities are described as vulnerabilities that require “no user interaction beyond normal browsing”.

The other security vulnerabilities are rated as high, moderate and low. Most Firefox users should already be able to check for a new update directly in their web browser by clicking on the Help > Check For Updates link in the main Firefox menu.

The alternative is to head straight to the Mozilla website and download the latest version of the Firefox web browser from there.

Five new languages (Bengali, Esperanto, Galicia, Hindi, and Latvian) have been added in this release as well. This is also the first release without an EULA during setup.

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Download Sort addresses the Save As problem. It can be configured to store information about file extensions and their download directory on the local computer. A user could for instance select to save zip files on a big external hard drive and mp3 files in his music collection folder.

This also means that the Firefox add-on has to be configured to be of any use. It should also be kept in mind that the extension will only become active if the user right-clicks a file and selects the Save As menu entry. It will however download the file automatically after selection which means that the usual file save dialog will not appear.

Download Sort comes with some interesting options that might make it worthwhile for some users. Besides being able to select a folder for every file extension it can also add subfolders automatically. Subfolders can be created by domain, date, extension or hierarchy. Other options include the management of identical file names.

Besides being able to handle file extensions it can also be used to handle keywords instead. A file that matches the keyword would then be downloaded into the specified folder. Users who download many files might want to use a different application that can handle massive file amounts. The add-on can be a time saver for users who download medium amounts of files and who like their files sorted on their hard drives.

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If you happen to download the new Firefox release from the official website you should be aware that you download the full version which overwrites the previous version of Firefox if installed in the same directory. All of my installed extensions are compatible with the new release and I suppose that only a few will not work initially with this release. Below is the list of fixes in this release.

MFSA 2007-25 XPCNativeWrapper pollution
MFSA 2007-24 Unauthorized access to wyciwyg:// documents
MFSA 2007-23 Remote code execution by launching Firefox from Internet Explorer
MFSA 2007-22 File type confusion due to %00 in name
MFSA 2007-21 Privilege escallation using an event handler attached to an element not in the document
MFSA 2007-20 Frame spoofing while window is loading
MFSA 2007-19 XSS using addEventListener and setTimeout
MFSA 2007-18 Crashes with evidence of memory corruption

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