mozilla Firefox 44: Find out what is new - [Updated]

[vissha]

Firefox 44: Find out what is new

 

Find out what is new and changed in Firefox 44 Stable, the latest version of the popular web browser for the desktop and Android.

 

The official release data of Firefox 44 is January 26, 2016. This overview provides you with detailed information about the new release including new features and changes in the desktop version of Firefox and the Firefox version for Android.

 

Mozilla updates all channels of the browser that it makes available at the same time. This means that Beta, Developer Edition, Nightly and Firefox Extended Support Release channels will be updated as well.

 

This means the following version changes: Firefox Beta 45, Firefox Developer Edition 46, Firefox Nightly 47 and Firefox ESR 38.6.

Information below cover only Firefox Stable for the desktop and Android, and no other release channel of the browser.

 

Executive Summary

• Add-on signing is again delayed and will be enforced in Firefox 46 Stable. The main reason given for the delay is the introduction of the temporary loading of unsigned add-ons in Firefox 45.

 

Firefox 44 download and update

 

Firefox 44 will be released on January 26 by Mozilla. Firefox is configured to download and install updates to the browser automatically, and if that is the case, users don't need to do anything to upgrade to the new version.

 

Since the update is not picked up in realtime, some users may want to run a manual check for updates in Firefox to download it as soon as it becomes available. This is done in the following way:

1. Tap on the Alt-key on the keyboard.
2. Select Help > About Firefox from the menu.

Firefox checks for updates manually then, and will prompt to download the update or download it automatically depending on its update preferences.

 

All versions of Firefox can also be downloaded directly from Mozilla. Please note that it may take a while before the new versions become available as downloads on Mozilla's website.

1. Firefox Stable download
2. Firefox Beta download
3. Firefox Developer download
4. Nightly download
5. Firefox ESR download

 

Firefox 44 Changes

 

Firefox 44 is a rather uneventful update for the most part. It is the first version of the browser that will enforce add-on signing in the stable version of the browser.

 

As you may know, Firefox 43 offered a configuration switch to override the enforcement, but Firefox 44 will not feature the switch anymore.

 

This means that you cannot load add-ons in Firefox Stable anymore that are not signed. Read our guide on running unsigned add-ons in Firefox if you want to continue running unsigned add-ons.

 

Video Support improvements

• Enable WebM/VP9 video support on systems that don't support MP4/H.264
• Enable H.264 if system decoder is available

 

Information is scarce at this point, and Mozilla failed to link to a bug report that would shed some light on the changes.

 

The most like explanation is that Mozilla will set media.mediasource.webm.enabled in Firefox to true.

 

It means better support for HTML5 video in Firefox, especially on operating system versions that don't support Mp4/H.264 natively.

 

Improved warning pages for certificate errors and untrusted connections

 

 

Firefox's new warning page uses less text and a clear "go back" call to action. A click on advanced displays information about the issue (which the old warning page listed under technical details).

 

There you find an option to add an exception to access the site nevertheless (formerly under "I understand the risks").

 

Basically, less text on the page but all important information are still there. Plus, the message "your connection is not secure" is more direct than the old "this connection is untrusted".

 

Other changes

• RC4 temporary whitelist is disabled in release versions of Firefox and no longer used. [bug 1201025]
• Support for Brotli compression algorithm has been added. [bug 366559 and bug 1211916]
• Warning page when RC4 is the only supported cipher.
• Firefox will no longer trust the Equifax Secure Certificate Authority 1024-bit root certificate or the UTN - DATACorp SGC
• To support unicode-range descriptor for webfonts, font matching under Linux now uses the same font matching code as other platforms
• Firefox uses a SHA-256 signing certificate for Windows builds as recommended by Microsoft.

 

Developer Changes

• Allow about:pages to load remote content. [bug 1204983]
• Size restrictions for extension icons to prevent too large toolbar icons from deforming the toolbar. [bug 1208715]
• MediaStream.stop() has been deprecated, MediaStream.addTrack()/removeTrack() have been added. [bug 1103188]
• Visual tools for Animation and Layout & Styles have been improved.
• WebRTC interfaces have been unprefixed: in particular mozRTCPeerConnection is now RTCPeerConnection, mozRTCIceCandidate is now RTCIceCandidate, and mozRTCSessionDescription is now RTCSessionDescription.

 

Firefox for Android

• Support added for urls with the mms protocol (multimedia messaging service).
• Long-press on search label in "quick search bar" opens customize search providers.
• Firefox users are prompted when "intent URLs" are about to be opened in private browsing tabs.
• New web-based Firefox accounts page.
• Support for cloud printing using Android print service.
• Users may set their homepage when starting Firefox.

 

Security updates / fixes

 

Security updates are disclosed after the official release. We update the article as soon as they become available.

Additional information / sources

• Firefox 44 release notes
• Firefox 44 Android release notes
• Add-on compatibility for Firefox 44
• Firefox 44 for developers
• Site compatibility for Firefox 44
• Firefox Security Advisories

 

Source

 

Tip: If you want to get rid of web notifications completely, you can Enable/Disable using about:config and toggle "dom.webnotifications.enabled" to "false" and Restart Firefox. If you want it back, just toggle to "true" and Restart Firefox.

[Kalju]

You're a fakir? FF 44 has not yet been released. Only RC3 is.

[Sylence]

Firefox 44 release notes  is actually Firefox 44 beta release notes

[steven36]

 

Quote

 

Mozilla has patched a number of critical vulnerabilities in Firefox 44 and Firefox Extended Release 38.6, which were released this week.

The most serious flaws were memory vulnerabilities that lived in both the public and extended support versions of the browser.

 

A buffer overflow (write) in WebGL, the browser’s Web graphics library, was patched. WebGL is a JavaScript API that renders 3D and 2D graphics in the browser without the need for a plug-in. Mozilla said the vulnerability was discovered in the buffersubdata method of the API.

 

Mozilla also addressed several “memory safety bugs” in the engine used in Firefox and other Mozilla products.

 

“Some of these bugs showed evidence of memory corruption under certain circumstances, and we presume that with enough effort at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code,” Mozilla said in its advisory.

 

Mozilla said the flaws cannot be exploited through Thunderbird where scripting is disabled, but cautioned against the risk in “browser-like contexts.”

 

Three other memory-related bugs were patched in Firefox 44. The vulnerabilities were found in the ANGLE graphics library, and in Firefox’s handling of zip files and parsing of the libstagefright library.

 

“The first two issues do not all have clear mechanisms to be exploited through web content but are vulnerable if a mechanism can be found to trigger them,” Mozilla said in its advisory. “The libstagefright issue could potentially be triggered by a malicious MP4 format video file, allowing for arbitrary code execution.”

 

Mozilla also patched vulnerabilities it rated “high severity” in Firefox 44, including two that facilitate address bar spoofing, and another set of issues in the browser’s Network Security Services that can introduce cryptographic weaknesses, theadvisory said.

 

https://threatpost.com/mozilla-patches-critical-vulnerabilities-in-firefox-44/116033/

 

 

[Fallon]

If you have a problem with 'multi-row' of Tabs in Firefox 44 or later, update the Tab Mix Plus extension to the latest development version:

Tab Mix Plus Home
Tab Mix Plus Versions
http://tabmixplus.org/version_update2.htm DIRECT DOWNLOAD .XPI

 

Info:

Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus more.

Example 1: Toggle between Tabs in Firefox versions 34 and later. Go to TabMixPlus Options. Here select: - Mouse - Mouse Gestures - Now enable 'Switch to last selected tab when clicking current one'. - Click Apply. Done.

 

Example 2: Go TabMixPlus Options. Now select - Display - Tab Bar - Go to 'When tabs don't fit width': Here select 'Multi-row' in drop down menu. - Click Apply. Done.

TabMixPlus has import and export of settings.

 

Example 3: Go TabMixPlus Options. Now select - Events - New Tabs - Go to 'Load on New Tab': Here select 'New Tab Page' with the address  chrome://speeddial/content/speeddial.xul  This will make sure that opening a New Tab will open a personal Speed Dial page, bypassing Firefox New Tab Controls. (If you don't want that bypass, the speed dial extension also opens with it's own toolbar button).

Speed Dial Extension (Josep del Rio)
Add Speed Dial to Firefox

Speed Dial extension. Direct access to your most visited websites. You can manually add sites to the speed dial by drag'n'drop from your Bookmarks or your History onto one of the speed dial slots. Speed Dial has import and export of settings.