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July 2006

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Special Features of Firefox and Thunderbird

Auto Updates: Both Firefox and Thunderbird now have an auto update feature that maintains the security of the products. Similar to the way operating system patches are deployed to Windows computers, updates have been configured to automatically download (from Mozilla) and install.  This addresses the continuing need to keep products current, secure and functional. 

Tabbed Browsing: This feature allows you to open up multiple websites within the same window (avoiding the need to bring up new versions of the browser).  Some users bookmark a window with multiple tabs and use it as their home page.

Fixes: Thunderbird repairs what earlier versions of Mozilla had broken when the Lab transitioned from Netscape to Mozilla (e.g. the ability to copy images and paste into the body of the email being composed and PDA sync for address books).

Extensions: Both Firefox and Thunderbird have a feature called "extensions." Essentially, these are free programs contributed by the Open Source community that supports Mozilla.  Some may be of interest to you at home, if not at work.  Tong Lin, an intern with the IT Division, wrote a custom extension that enabled IT to set Lab preferences, and this was used when building the LBNL package. Angelo Flores, one of the CSEE High School students sponsored by the IT division, looked into extensions available through Mozilla, and found the Internet Explorer (IE) tab extension.  He notes that it is "extremely useful for a work environment, because there are numerous company websites and work related websites that only render correctly in IE." 

 

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