Mozilla has released a new version 19.0 of its popular web browser Firefox which comes with following fixes and new features:

• Built-in PDF viewer
• Canvas elements can export their content as an image blob using canvas.toBlob()
• Startup performance improvements
• Debugger now supports pausing on exceptions and hiding non-enumerable properties
• Remote Web Console is available for connecting to Firefox on Android or Firefox OS (experimental, setdevtools.debugger.remote-enabled to true)
• There is now a Browser Debugger available for add-on and browser developers (experimental, setdevtools.chrome.enabled to true)
• Web Console CSS links now open in the Style Editor
• CSS @page is now supported
• CSS viewport-percentage length units implemented (vh, vw, vmin and vmax)
• CSS text-transform now supports full-width
• FIXED: Certain valid WebGL drawing operations are incorrectly rejected, leaving incomplete rendering in affected pages
• FIXED: Starting Firefox with -private flag incorrectly claims you are not in Private Browsing mode
• FIXED: Plugins stop rendering when the top half of the plugin is scrolled off the top of the page, in HiDPI mode

You can download the new Firefox version using following link:

Download Firefox Latest Version

Release Notes

Thanks to our reader "coolkips" for the update...

Mozilla has removed the option to put tabs back on bottom, if you want to get it back, check out this tutorial.

If you want to read more details about new features in this new version, take a look at our exclusive Nightly update topic.

If you want to check the new Firefox version without installing it in your system, check out its portable version.

If your favorite extensions are not working in this new version, you can follow instructions given here.

Also take a look at following interesting topics about Firefox:

Read more…

UPDATE 53:

The latest Firefox 22.0 Nightly build comes with a new tab "Services" in Add-ons Manager (about:addons) which allows you to manage social API easily and quickly.

Thanks to our reader "Ahmad" for the update...

UPDATE 52:

Mozilla has released a testing build of its upcoming Metro version of Firefox for Windows 8. The latest Nightly build installs a new Metro version of Firefox in Windows 8 computers. You can launch and test it using the Start Screen in Windows 8.

You can read more about this version at following link:

How to Use Mozilla Firefox Metro Version in Windows 8?

UPDATE 51:

Latest Firefox 21.0 Nightly build comes with new options to customize tracking settings. When you open Nightly preferences, you see 3 new options in "Privacy" tab as shown in following screenshot:

Thanks to our reader "Ahmad" for the update...

UPDATE 50:

Latest Firefox 21.0 Nightly build adds a new option to the "New Tab" page which allows you to restore removed thumbnails to the page. Whenever you remove a thumbnail from new tab page, Firefox shows 2 new options: Undo and Restore all.

You can restore the most recently removed thumbnail by clicking on "Undo" option. If you want to restore all removed thumbnails, click on "Restore All" option.

Thanks to our reader "Ahmad" for the update...

UPDATE 49:

Latest Firefox 21.0 Nightly build comes with a new tab "Data Choices" in Options window which allows you to customize privacy settings such as:

• Enable or disable telemetry
• Enable or disable Firefox health report
• Enable or disable crash reporter

Mozilla has moved these options from "General" tab to this new tab. Thanks to our reader "a" for notifying us about this feature...

UPDATE 48:

With the release of new Firefox 18.0 stable version, Mozilla has released first alpha build of upcoming Firefox 21.0 version to the Nightly channel.

This new build features a new animation in download complete notification. When you download a file from Internet and the download completes, Firefox shows a new animation for the download manager icon present in the toolbar as shown in following image:

We would also like to tell that Mozilla has replaced the old download manager window with a new downloads section which is shown using the built-in Library which also shows History and Bookmarks.

Thanks to our reader "a" for letting us know about the new animation...

UPDATE 47:

When you open Firefox in private browsing mode, it overwrites the existing window with the new private browsing window and you lose all the tabs which you were working on. But the latest Nightly build fixes this issue.

The current Firefox 20.0 Alpha build opens the private browsing session in a new window instead of overwriting your running session. So now you can have both normal session as well as private browsing session running at same time. Good move Mozilla...

UPDATE 46:

Mozilla Firefox 20.0 Alpha 1 build has been released and available for download. If you are already using nightly build, it'll automatically update it otherwise you can download it using the link mentioned at the top.

UPDATE 45:

The latest Alpha build of Mozilla Firefox 18.0 version also comes with a Metro version of Firefox specially designed for Windows 8 Start Screen.

If you want to try it, you can download it using following link:

Download Firefox 18.0 Metro Version for Windows 8

If you are facing problems with Firefox Metro version in Windows 8, check out following article:

How to Use Mozilla Firefox Metro Version in Windows 8? Fix Metro App Launching Desktop Version

UPDATE 44:

Mozilla has released first Alpha build of Firefox 18.0. The most noticeable change in this new build is the come back of good old Download Manager. Mozilla has removed the new download manager and replaced it with the old classic download manager window.

Thanks to our reader "Bilal Haider" for the update...

UPDATE 43:

Mozilla has updated the "New Tab" page in the latest Nightly 17.0 build. Now a new "preload" function has been introduced which makes the "New Tab" page faster by preloading it in the background.

Currently the feature is under testing and users will need to manually enable it. To enable preload feature:

1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It'll confirm, click on I'll be careful, I promise! button.

2. Now type preload in the Filter box and look for following boolean key:

browser.newtab.preload

3. The entry "browser.newtab.preload" would be set to false. Double-click on it or right-click on it and select "Toggle". It'll set its value to true.

4. That's it. It'll immediately enable preload function for "New Tab" page and it'll load much faster than before.

UPDATE 42:

Mozilla Firefox 17.0 Alpha 1 build has been released and available for download. If you are already using nightly build, it'll automatically update it otherwise you can download it using the link mentioned at the top.

Thanks to our reader "Bilal Haider" for the quick update...

UPDATE 41:

Mozilla Firefox 16.0 Alpha 1 build has been released and available for download. If you are already using nightly build, it'll automatically update it otherwise you can download it using the link mentioned at the top.

UPDATE 40:

Mozilla has made 2 noticeable changes in latest Firefox 15.0 nightly build.

First change is the removal of "Tabs on Top" option. Now you no longer get this option when you right-click on toolbar or select "Toolbars" menu in Menubar. So you'll have to keep the tab bar on top even if you don't like it.

Second change is the re-allocation of "Don't load tabs until selected" option in Firefox Preferences window. In previous versions of Firefox, this option was present in "General" tab of Preferences window but now it has been moved to "Tabs" tab so that all settings related to tabs are present in a single place.

PS: If you are using the Nightly build and want to get tabs on bottom, you can do that using an easy about:config trick:

How to Put Tabs Back on Bottom in Mozilla Firefox?

Thanks to our reader "TheAslan" for sharing this trick...

UPDATE 39:

Finally Mozilla has finalized the "Silent Background Update" feature in Firefox. The latest Firefox 15.0nightly build comes with this new feature enabled. Now when you install an update in Firefox and restarts it to apply the update, Firefox no longer takes too much time to install the update and no longer shows any screen such as "Installing update...". Now the update is installed in background while you are using Firefox.

UPDATE 38:

Latest Firefox 15.0 Nightly build comes with new InContent Preferences feature which shows Firefox Preferences as web page in separate tab. Check out following topic for more info with screenshots:

How to Enable New InContent Preferences Feature in Mozilla Firefox Nightly Build?

UPDATE 37:

Mozilla Firefox 15.0 Alpha 1 build has been released and available for download. If you are already using nightly build, it'll automatically update it otherwise you can download it using the link mentioned at the top.

Thanks to our reader "TheAslan" for the update...

UPDATE 36:

Latest Firefox 14.0 Nightly build comes with a new simple website security certificate icon in addressbar as shown in following screenshot:

Thanks to our reader "Kyle" for the update...

UPDATE 35:

Latest Firefox 14.0 Nightly build comes with new re-designed "Download Manager". Now when a download starts, a new "Downloads" icon appears in Navigation toolbar which shows progress of download as shown in following screenshot:

Alternatively you can access the download manager using "Ctrl+J" keyboard shortcut.

Thanks to AskVG reader "Ahmad" for the update...

PS: If you don't like this new download manager and want to switch back to old one, you can use following steps:

1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It'll confirm, click on I'll be careful, I promise! button.

2. Now type ToolkitUI in the Filter box and look for following boolean key:

browser.download.useToolkitUI

3. The entry "browser.download.useToolkitUI" would be set to false. Double-click on it or right-click on it and select "Toggle". It'll set its value to true.

4. That's it. Now you'll be able to enjoy the classic download manager in a separate window instead of the new one.

UPDATE 34:

As mentioned in UPDATE 22, recently Mozilla re-designed built-in image viewer in Firefox and put a dark background when you directly view an image.

Now in the latest Firefox 14.0 Nightly build, Mozilla has again re-designed the image viewer and replaced dark background with a new textured background as shown in following screenshot:

What do you think about this change? Looking better?

UPDATE 33:

The latest Firefox 14.0 nightly build comes with new Script Debugger which is disabled by default. You can enable it using following steps:

1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It'll confirm, click on I'll be careful, I promise! button.

2. Now type debugger in the Filter box and look for following boolean key:

devtools.debugger.enabled

3. The entry "devtools.debugger.enabled" would be set to false. Double-click on it or right-click on it and select "Toggle". It'll set its value to true.

4. That's it. Now you can access this new Script Debugger using "Web Developer" menu or using "Ctrl+Shift+S" hotkey.

Thanks to our reader "Carbonize" for this info...

UPDATE 32:

The latest Firefox 14.0 nightly build comes with built-in PDF reader. By default its disabled, but you can enable it using following method:

1. Open about:config and type pdfjs in the Filter box and look for following boolean key:

pdfjs.disabled

2. The entry "pdfjs.disabled" would be set to true. Double-click on it or right-click on it and select "Toggle". It'll set its value to false.

3. That's it. Now whenever you'll visit a webpage containing a pdf file, Firefox will open it in its own built-in PDF reader.

This built-in PDF reader uses HTML5 to display PDF files directly in Firefox browser.

Thanks to our reader "Carbonize" for the update...

UPDATE 31:

We told you yesterday that Mozilla is working on a new homepage design and the good news is that the new homepage has been put in the latest nightly 14.0 alpha build.

Following is a preview of this new homepage in action:

The new homepage is very useful and provides quick access to Bookmarks Manager, History Manager, Settings, Add-ons Manager, Downloads Manager and Sync. It also contains Google search box as usual.

Thanks to our reader "Ahmad" for the update...

UPDATE 30:

Mozilla has added a new "Reset to Default State" button in latest nightly build which can be used to restore Firefox to factory settings.

Read more info at following link:

Mozilla to Add "Reset to Default State" Button to Firefox Browser

UPDATE 29:

Mozilla has once again redesigned "New Tab" page in the latest nightly build of Firefox 14.0. Now "New Tab" page looks far better compared to the previous one mentioned in Update 27.

The background color has been changed, also the page title doesn't overlap the website thumbnail. Its shown below the thumbnail which makes the whole "New Tab" page looking cleaner.

Following is a screenshot of this redesigned "New Tab" page in action:

Thanks to our reader "darkprop" for the update...

UPDATE 28:

Mozilla has added a new secret "about:compartments" page in latest nightly build of Firefox 13.0 version. You can access this secret page by just typing about:compartments in Firefox addressbar and press Enter.

This new page shows a list of all live JS compartments. If you don't know, compartments are little segments of memory which is used by JavaScripts in Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla's idea behind adding this new page was to make detection of zombie compartments as simple as possible. Zombie compartments are a kind of memory leak. In previous versions, you had to use about:memory page to find out zombie compartments which was a little bit complicated but now addition of this new about:compartments page makes it easier.

This page shows all running websites compartments separate from system compartments.

It also contains a "More verbose" link which can be used to show truncated URLs in full.

UPDATE 27:

The latest Mozilla Firefox 13.0 Alpha build comes with redesigned "New Tab" page enabled by default. Recently the new tab page appeared in an alpha build but Mozilla removed it from later builds. But now the new tab page is back.

Thanks to our reader "TheAslan" for the update...

UPDATE 26:

Mozilla Firefox 13.0 Alpha 1 build has been released and available for download. If you are already using nightly build, it'll automatically update it otherwise you can download it using the link mentioned at the top.

NOTE: Previous updates have been removed to reduce database overhead.

PS: If any of your favorite extensions is not working in this nightly build, you can use instructions given in following topic:

Read more…

The sheer scale of the Asus Zenbook U500 is quite a surprise when you first open it up - we're used to seeing thin and light laptops, yes, but not at this 15.6-inch screen size.
We'd argue that its size means it isn't truly portable. It's more like a desktop replacement to have around the home; one that's light enough to use on your lap, or carry between different rooms.
It's powerful too, and immensely sturdy, with an exquisite aluminium finish that follows on from the other Zenbooks Asus has released over the last few months.
We really liked the Zenbook's keyboard; Asus has chosen to move away from the shiny and frankly diffi cult-to-use keys seen on the original Zenbook UX31. The inclusion of a numeric keypad will be useful for some, but we found it annoying - we're not used to those extra keys being there on a laptop. The core specs are superb, with a quad-core 2.1GHz Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GT 650M graphics and 8GB of memory.
However, Asus has chosen to only include a 256GB of flash storage. That means the U500 is quick, but doesn't have the capacity for a vast archive of photos and videos.

Hours of power

Asus quotes six hours of battery life for this laptop, but we'd say that if you're using it for a decent amount of work then you're looking at around four hours. That's not unreasonable, though it's not in the same league as many smaller, less powerful Ultrabooks.

The high definition 1,920 x 1,080 IPS screen is, without doubt, high on the list of power-thirsty components. It's superb in terms of brightness and image quality though; we were truly impressed and text and graphics look very sharp. The screen, together with excellent Bang and Olufsen audio, makes this a great entertainment machine, although the chassis is too thin to accommodate an optical drive.

The array of ports is reasonably generous, with a flip-down Ethernet port and three USB 3.0 ports and a card reader. The laptop is 19.7mm at its thickest, but as with other Zenbooks, the front is tapered - down to 6mm in this case.

Display-wise, there's a full HDMI port on the side, but you also get mini-DisplayPort, too – there are included connectors in the box to hook this up to an older-style VGA port. Windows 8 edge gestures do work on the trackpad - for app switching and bringing up the Charms or app bar - but they aren't perfect and it takes some time before you're 100 per cent confident with them.

The main problem with the controls is the lack of a touchscreen, but Asus says a touch-sensitive version is on the way. There were a couple of small issues: the laptop's fan can be noisy even when idle, and the screen's autobrightness seemed rather sporadic. In a darkened room, it fl oundered between dimmed and bright modes.

Unwanted clutter

Sadly, many laptops come pre-loaded with a lot of superfluous software. Top of the list here are a trial version of McAfee Internet Security and a suite of apps from Asus. Pop-ups from such software are annoying, and can take away from that box-fresh experience.

This is a beautiful and powerful laptop, but the main problem with the U500 is its price tag. At around £1,417, you're talking about a considerable premium over many other Windows 8 laptops, and it just doesn't justify the cost unless you really do need a powerful yet large portable.

If you're just going to use it at home, there's no point in spending this kind of money; get a powerful desktop PC instead.

Read more…