I rock!!There used to be a real me, but I had it surgically removed!!

The first thing that a user will notice with the new Firefox 3 is its visual appeal.It does not look that different but it has a rich feel to it.

The back/forward button is combined into one with the Back button bigger than the Forward button. It makes sense to have it this way as the Back button is by far the more used of the two.

Some more straight forward changes include the removal of “Go” button, though it appears in the form of an arrow while typing in the web address, and addition of the “Bookmark this page” (with a star icon) and “Subscribe to this page” (the ubiquitous RSS icon) which I believe is in sync with where the web space is heading towards.

As in Firefox 2.0, the extensions and plugins continue to help Firefox stay a step above the rest. Though some of my old add-ons do not work with the new version, I am sure an updated one is just round the corner. But when it comes to themes, Firefox really lets you down. The default theme is the best to say the least.

The concern over the memory utilization of Firefox stays, though the problem, I believe, is more to do with the add-ons than the core browser.

My advice to the users would be to go slow with the extensions and add the extensions only if it is bringing in something new to your existing browser functionality.

Some new features that come bundled with Firefox 3.0 comprise of “Library” which is a combination of bookmarks and web history; “Tags” which helps you label a site. For me, tagging was one of the best features.

The location bar in Firefox 3.0 has been renamed to “Awesome bar”. As the name suggests, it is more like a thinking bar which displays the search results in a drop down list with some information about each website it finds (from your web history of course). Location bar has a new Site identity button on the left side corner. Clicking on this button displays the supply identity information about the website. Even if the information is not available, the “More information” button will help you with the cookies and saved passwords.

Anti-Malware protects your computer from worms, viruses, spywares and Trojan horses while Anti-Phishing helps you do business safely on the internet.

Add-ons Manager is well integrated with the browser making it much easier to manage your add-ons compared to the older version. It also has a “Browse Add-ons” and an easily visible “Restart Firefox” button as well.

Improvement from old features in Firefox like Download Manager, Pop up blocker, Session restore along with new features like the integrated Password Manager and Feed Reader gives you enough gun powder to have an enormous blast!!

I strongly recommend you to take a plunge into this highly exciting and wonderfully developed feature rich product.

Fire it up with the new Firefox 3.0…cheers!!

Tags: add-on, adware, awesome bar, bookmark, browser, clicks, cookies, developer, download, feed, firefox, internet, password, phishing, plugin, pop up, reader, restore, review, RSS, session, spyware, theme, trojan, virus, visual appeal, worms