Firefox 15

[HansV]

Although the official download site still offers Firefox 14.0.1, the built-in update mechanism has already updated my browser to version 15.0.
The new version is available from several third-party download sites, so I assume it'll be available from the Mozilla site within hours.
The major change appears to be improved memory management for add-ins. Native support for viewing PDF files appears to have been dropped from this release at the last moment.

[HansV]

Update: version 15 is now available from http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jim Cone]

For what it is worth...
The beta version of FireFox 15 crashed several times on me.
I reinstalled FireFox14.

I will stay awhile with release 14.

[stuck]

Well I bit the bullet and checked for updates and applied update.

It took ages to complete and MSE popped up at one point saying the PC was at risk because the MSE service had stopped. MSE gave me a button to click to restart it so I did.

All seems OK again now and I'm on FF 15.

Ken

[viking33]

For what it is worth...
The beta version of FireFox 15 crashed several times on me.
I reinstalled FireFox14.

I will stay awhile with release 14.

Both TB and Fx 15 updated fine, no problems.

[Bigaldoc]

Both TB and Fx 15 updated fine, no problems.

Glad to hear that report, Bob. I downloaded both but was waiting until after I have a few cold ones to get up my nerve... and I usually have NO hesitation about Fx and TB.

[PaulB]

Why do you have reservations about upgrading this time, Al?

[Bigaldoc]

Why do you have reservations about upgrading this time, Al?

See Stuck's post above.

[HansV]

When I installed Firefox 15, it took a bit longer than an update usually does, but I didn't experience any problems - MSE didn't protest (and it's still running).

[TonyE]

I had no issues updating to Firefox 15. The time for installing the updates has increased for those with MSE, for me the increase is only a few seconds. This issue is being worked on, for details see bug 775458.

For info, native support for pdf files is included in Firefox 15 but is switched off by default. You can turn it on by taking 2 steps. First in about:config set the preference pdfjs.disabled to false. You will need to restart Firefox for that change to take place. Next in the Options/Preferences dialog, go to the Applications panel and set the action for "Portable Document Format (PDF)" to "Preview in Firefox".

Another feature that is switched off by default is "In content preferences", which is used to display the Firefox options dialog inside a tab. If you want to test this, in about:config set browser.preferences.inContent to true.

These features are not yet on by default as they still some work done on them before they are ready for general use.

[HansV]

Thanks, Tony. For me, the delay was noticeable but not spectacular - by the time I started wondering what was happening, Firefox came up again.

[StuartR]

I upgraded a couple of PCs to Firefox 15 and didn't notice the slowdown.

I have been getting crashes once or twice a week with Firefox 14.0.1, I shall find out if Firefox 15 is any more stable.

[Bigaldoc]

My concerns were ill founded as I didn't have any problems with the install except as some of you have noted, it DID take a lot longer than it usually does.

I guess I don't care about PDF reading since I use Foxit and its plugin is still working.

[stuck]

Further to my earlier post...

My initial FF15 install experience was on my netbook (runs Win7). This is not very speedy at starting FF the best of times so any additional delay is likely to be noticeable.

I've subsequently upgraded my desktop (runs XPMCE) and while it did take longer than I'd expect to complete the update, MSE did not protest.

Ken

[TonyE]

For info Mozilla will be releasing Firefox 15.0.1 to repair private browsing mode, no date confirmed but it is likely to be in the next few days.

Whilst in private browsing mode Firefox should not record details of sites visited, but there is a serious regression in Firefox 15 and it is retaining data in the cache.

[BobH]

No problems or noticeable delays upgrading TB and Fx here

[ChrisJakarta]

...For info, native support for pdf files is included in Firefox 15 but is switched off by default. You can turn it on by taking 2 steps. First in about:config set the preference pdfjs.disabled to false. You will need to restart Firefox for that change to take place. Next in the Options/Preferences dialog, go to the Applications panel and set the action for "Portable Document Format (PDF)" to "Preview in Firefox".

Another feature that is switched off by default is "In content preferences", which is used to display the Firefox options dialog inside a tab. If you want to test this, in about:config set browser.preferences.inContent to true.

These features are not yet on by default as they still some work done on them before they are ready for general use.

Tony,

There's another more useful (to me) hidden feature in Firefox 15: "click-to-play" plugins. This disables plugins like Adobe Flash by default but you can still play them with a single click. This prevents Flash and other plugins from loading automatically. To enable this feature, type "about:config" in the address bar, search for "plugins.click_to_play" and set it to "true".

This enabled me to remove the FlashBlock Add-in.

Chris

[HansV]

Firefox 15.0.1 has been released; you can install it by selecting Help > About Firefox.