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Mozilla releases Firefox 3.6 with new security feature

Mozilla on Thursday released an updated version of its Firefox web browser to include a new feature to detect out-of-date plug-ins, Mozilla said in its release notes.

Firefox 3.6 will warn users if one of their plug-ins, such as Adobe Flash Player or Windows Media Player, is outdated, Mozilla said. Having an outdated plug-in could expose users to security vulnerabilities.

Users will see the warning if they visit a web page that uses the out-of-date plug-in. The warning will take users to a site where they can download the latest version of each outdated plug-in.

Older versions of Firefox (3.5.3 and 3.0.14) warn users if their Flash Player plug-in is not up to date, but this feature has been expanded in version 3.6 to warn users if any plug-in is vulnerable, Mozilla said.

The updated browser also includes stability improvements that decrease the number of crashes caused by third-party software, Mozilla said. In addition, Mozilla said the new browser is more than 20 percent faster than Firefox 3.5, has improved JavaScript performance, and contains a feature that allows users to customize the theme of their browser.

The new version does not contain any security fixes.

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