Articles about Browser

It’s been a busy few days for web browsers. Last week, Microsoft Edge 88.0 rolled out several major new features, including a new sleeping tabs feature, while today sees the launch of Firefox 85.0.

Firefox 85 arrives with three new noteworthy features. The first is protection against so-called 'supercookies', trackers that are able to hide within browsers to track users online even after they’ve cleared cookies. Firefox achieves this by isolating the cookies so they can’t follow your progress between sites.

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Having already enjoyed success on macOS, Android and Windows, the security and privacy focused Avast Secure Browser has made its way to iOS and iPadOS. With security at the forefront, the undoubted headline feature of the browser is the integrated VPN facility.

On top of this, there is ad blocking and tracker blocking, both of which go a long way to improving your online experience and ensuring that your data does not fall into the wrong hands. The ad blocker is customizable, so you can choose to block absolutely everything, or opt to allow less annoying ads to be displayed.

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Mozilla has released Firefox 83.0, the latest version of its open-source, cross-platform web browser. A mere 28 days after the last major release, and version 83 makes its bow.

Despite the short time between releases, version 83 manages to pack in more performance improvements, a new optional HTTPS-only mode, support for pinch zoom on touchscreens, and compatibility with new Apple Macs running the M1 chip.

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Uniquely customizable browser Vivaldi gets another major update with the release of Vivaldi 3.3 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The new release adds a major new Break Mode feature to encourage regular screen breaks.

The new release also offers users the ability to create and apply custom themes to their Private Windows sessions -- a first among web browsers -- as well as several improvements to the Address Bar to improve security and navigation. Full-Page blocking is now supported in the Tracker and Ad Blocker tools, while users can now drag and drop Speed Dials to folders on the Vivaldi 'desktop' on the user’s home page.

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The latest update to Chrome has rolled out, and Google has done a lot to improve and evolve the browser. The company says that there are massive improvements to page load times as well as improvements to resource usage by open tabs thanks to Tab Throttling.

But this is not the only change to come to tabs. Google has also made tabs touch-friendly, added tab previews, and introduced a new option to collapse grouped tabs to save space. This last option is currently in beta, however, and you'll have to enable hidden setting to enable it.

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One week after launching Vivaldi 3.2 for desktop, Vivaldi Technologies has released Vivaldi 3.2 for Android and Chromebooks.

The new Android build adds several improvements to its built-in tracker and ad-blocking tools, plus makes even more use of the bottom of the user interface. It follows on from last week’s desktop release, which improved the browser’s pop-out video feature with the addition of a mute button.

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Mozilla has released Firefox 78.0, the latest in a long line of major updates to the veteran browser. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux, the new release is joined by Firefox ESR 78.0, the first major update of the Extended Support Release browser since Firefox 68 last year.

The release sees the Privacy Protections screen renamed to Protections Dashboard. It also gains two new features: the ability to track the number of resolved breaches directly from the dashboard itself, plus an option to check to see if any saved passwords have been exposed in a data breach. Type about:protections to access the dashboard quickly.

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In the crowded web browser market, finding unique selling points can be hard. Opera 69 launches with one major headline feature: a new sidebar providing users with easy access to their Twitter accounts.

The new feature joins other recent additions designed to make Opera stand out -- from ad and tracker blockers to free browser VPN -- and follows on from recently added support for Instagram, which Opera claims allowed it to "reach a record number of users in March 2020".

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Vivaldi Technologies has unveiled Vivaldi 3.1 for Windows, Mac and Linux. The release comes 48 hours after the first major update for Vivaldi for Android.

The desktop build unveils a major upgrade to its existing Notes feature in the form of a full-blown Notes Manager tool. The tool is now accessible via its own full-screen tab in the main browser window (click the link in the Start page or type vivaldi://notes/ into the browser’s address bar).

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Increasing numbers of internet users are becoming aware of the privacy and security implications of being online, and it is for this reason that secure browsers such as Tor are growing in popularity. Now, with the release of Tor Browser 9.5, the browser features an option that can automatically switch to the secure .onion version of a site if one is available.

In short this means that sites are able to actively promote the fact that they have a secure .onion site available. Publishers now can advertise their onion service to Tor users by adding an HTTP header, so if someone visits the regular version of a website, a notification will appear informing them of the more secure option.

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With more and more people expressing concern about privacy and security online, companies have had to start to take notice and deliver tools to help. This is particularly noticeable in the browser market, and with the latest version of Chrome, Google has doubled down on security.

Having tested DNS over HTTPS (DoH) for some time, Google has added enhanced support for DNS lookups over an encrypted HTTPS connection to Chrome 83.  In the Windows, macOS and Linux versions of the browser, Google's implementation of the security feature is called Secure DNS; here's how to use it.

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Mozilla has released Firefox 76.0 for Windows, macOS and Linux, the latest in its long line of major updates to the venerable open source browser.

The chief focus in this new release is the further development of Mozilla’s Lockwise password manager. Users gain several enhancements including alerts of website breaches with prompts to update all online accounts that share the same password.

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It’s a day of double celebration for fans of the Vivaldi web browser. Not only does Vivaldi 3.0 get released for Windows, Mac and Linux, but the company -- led by Opera co-founder Jon S von Tetzchner -- unveils the first stable release of Vivaldi for Android.

Both releases come with a brand new feature in the guise of built-in ad and tracker blockers. The desktop release also unveils a new clock for its status bar, plus improvements to its pop-out video feature.

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Avast has launched an Android version of its security- and privacy-focused web browser. Avast Secure Browser features various DNS options and a built-in VPN to calm the fears of those concerned about their privacy.

This is not all the browser has to offer. There's also anti-tracking technology and complete data encryption to take care of the security side of things as well.

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Google Chrome is still the leader of the pack, but there's a different rival tailing it. New figures show that Microsoft Edge is now the second most used browser in the world, pushing Firefox down into third place.

The silver medal now belongs to the Chromium-based version of Edge on the desktop which has seen a great increase in popularity, even though it has only been available for a matter of months.

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