The Better Browser

By Josh Quittner

Do you have Firefox 3 yet? Since June 17, more than 22 million folks have downloaded the latest version of the Web's second most popular browser. (If you're not among them, hie thee to www.getfirefox.com I'll wait for you.) While Microsoft's Internet Explorer is still the most installed browser in the world--mainly because it ships on the vast majority of new PCs--Firefox is the one that tech folks tend to love. Free, open source and built by thousands of volunteers worldwide, Firefox is kind of the Web's home-team favorite--as independent and full of promise as the Internet itself. Firefoxers even tried to set a Guinness World Record for most downloads (8.2 million) in a 24-hour period. Since no one currently holds that title, it's a safe bet that Firefox 3 will claim it. Other reasons for the mad rush: Firefox 3 is stable, meaning it hardly ever crashes. It's fast. You'll see performance differences on sites like Gmail. It's secure. Pop-up alerts tell you when you're visiting sites suspected of pushing virus-laden software or "phishing" scams--pretending to be, say, your bank, in an attempt to get account information. And with more than 5,000 add-ons to choose from, you can change everything about Firefox from the way it looks to how it behaves. Not a bad deal for free.