Noh the convincing performance of Firefox 51 , the developers of the Mozilla browser to create and enter with Firefox 52 the successor officially download free. At the same time, the developers turn once again to a few set screws to make surfing with Firefox faster and safer. You want to know what's new? COMPUTER BILD, the new version has already looked up and presents all important changes to Firefox 52 for you.
Firefox 52.0.1: Mozilla stuffs data leak
The annual hacking competition "Pwn2Own" has brought numerous vulnerabilities in browsers, programs and operating systems again this year . In addition to Edge and Safari, Firefox also had to beat the assembled security researchers. But Mozilla has quickly reacted and released a security update that the critical vulnerability in Firefox closes. Firefox users should now also respond quickly and install Firefox 52.0.1:
Firefox 52: Off for Windows XP
As the last browser manufacturers ended Mozilla support for Windows XP after the release of Firefox 52nd Firefox users who still rely on the more than 15-year-old operating system from Microsoft are expected to receive security updates with the ESR version of Firefox 52 until September 2017, but no updates with new features or improvements. After that, the final conclusion is final. If you are still interested in new Firefox features, then the long overdue change to a more recent Windows version is no longer around. Even Microsoft has not supported its operating system for three years; Google's Chrome has not received updates for Windows XP for a year.
Firefox 52 on security
With Firefox 52, the issue of security is high. For example, Mozilla strengthens its efforts to warn users against the transmission of sensitive data about unsecured connections. So far the browser "only" in the address line, if sensitive information like passwords should go through an unencrypted HTTP line through the net. Firefox 52 goes a significant step further and displays a clear message under the input field. Good: This is how the user is warned that his access data may fall into the wrong hands. Bad: In this case, the user has no choice but to not use the service. Only when the provider has switched the connection to an encrypted HTTPS line is the data transmission secure.
In the footsteps of the gate browser
Firefox uses the gate browser and integrates an option to improve privacy. Specifically, this is a measure that is intended to make the unambiguous identification of the browser more difficult by reading out the installed fonts ( font fingerprinting ). Basically, for example, advertising networks collect all available information that a browser transmits, such as the operating system used, installed extensions, used screen resolution and the installed fonts. As many studies show, each user leaves a digital fingerprint in the network, combining the characteristics of the user, to identify him / herself without cookies.
Firefox 52 makes this kind of tracking more difficult - at least theoretically. This gives Firefox users the option to create a list of fonts (whitelists) that the browser is allowed to use. The option is not (yet) activated by default, users set it via the advanced settings ( about: config ), as Sören Hentzschel describes it. The process requires a lot of technical skill and makes web pages that use a different font do not appear correctly on the screen. But not only the readout of fonts wants to prevent Mozilla, at the same time the browser manufacturer pushes the tap of the "Battery Status API". This is an interface introduced in 2012, which allowed websites to query the loading status of notebooks.
Firefox says goodbye to Java, Silverlight & Co.
With the release of Firefox 52 provides Mozilla support all NPAPI plug-ins one . These include Microsoft's Flash alternative Silverlight and Java. Only for Adobe Flash makes the producer due to the still high dissemination an exception. However, only those users who are still using the 32-bit version of Firefox are affected by this measure. In the more modern, 64-bit version Mozilla decided against the support of the obsolete interface from the beginning. For users who use Firefox in a professional environment and rely on the use of Java, Mozilla still granted a reprieve: The ESR version of Firefox 52, the outdated interface for browser extensions will receive . By the beginning of 2018 these users have time,
Other improvements for Firefox 52
In order to increase the security of encrypted connections, Firefox version 52 or higher supports the encryption protocol TLS 1.3. This is only beneficial to the user when the Web providers start delivering their content via TLS 1.3. This should take some time. The security protocol is not finalized, it is only a draft. From Firefox 52, Mozilla does not use the "Primetime" decryption module: The "Content Decryption Module" (short: CDM) was used by the browser to play encrypted videos from streaming portals. The reasons why the manufacturer renounces the DRM module from now on is not known. However, most streaming portals probably work on the Google module called "Widevine" Which is still installed in Firefox and soon to land in the Android version of the Firefox browser. In addition, multi-process architecture (electrolysis) is also landing on devices with a touch screen for the first time. If you want to know if Firefox is already using the power of multiple data cores, type about: support in the address line and check the entry behind "Windows with multiple processes". If there is 1/1, the new technique is activated.
Wasm: Fast is not fast enough
Mozilla enabled WebAssembly , or Wasm, in Firefox for the first time in a final version of the browser. It is a bytecode developed by the big browser manufacturers (Mozilla, Google and Microsoft), a kind of new programming language for the web. Using Wasm, browsers will be able to compute complex applications in the shortest possible time as the format is specially designed for these requirements. WebAssembly is thus an alternative to Javascript, the previous standard in the area. Firefox 52 is now the first browser to enable the new technology by default. A short time later, Google wants to move with Chrome 57, in Microsoft Edge, Wasm needs to be activated by the user, as Sören Hentzschel describes.
Conclusion: Firefox 52
With Firefox 52, Mozilla shows again how important the browser manufacturer is to security and data protection. The new features also show the dilemma in which enlightened (Firefox) users are stuck in: in many places, the browser can only warn and point to problems. As long as the providers offer their content not appropriately secured, the user has a choice on the PC. It is therefore very welcome that Firefox now warns unequivocally when websites are asking for access data unencrypted, but the user does not have more possibilities than not to use the service. Pleasingly, Mozilla's theme is fingerprinting. However, a simple implementation is required if the majority of Firefox users are to use it. The end of support for Windows XP is overdue: anyone who still uses the hopelessly outdated operating system on the Internet in 2017 is irresponsible, and software vendors should not support it.
Predecessor check: Firefox 51
With Firefox 51 Mozilla started hopefully into the year 2017. The new version offered essentially only changes in the detail, the convinced however. In everyday use, the display of the zoom level was very helpful. This is how you immediately see why websites look too small or big and create the problem with one click from the world. If you watch a lot of videos on the net, the automatic stop function of movies loaded in the background, the hectic panning and pause is no longer required. Also welcomed was the fact that Mozilla advanced its mammal project Electrolysis with Firefox 51 and made the modern engineering base accessible to more and more users. The fact that Mozilla removed the social API for the most part from the browser, was comprehensible, but also a pity:
