Mozilla released Firefox 74 to the Stable desktop channel for Windows, macOS and Linux , yesterday . The new version comes with security updates, fixes , and new features bug .
New features include the Facebook container, blocking sideloaded add-ons , and disabling support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 certificates.
Windows, Mac and Linux desktop users can upgrade to Firefox 74.0 by following these steps: Options -> Help -> About Firefox. The browser will automatically check for the new update and install it as soon as it is available.
You can download Firefox 74 from the links below:
- Firefox 74 for Windows 64-bit
- Firefox 74 for Windows 32-bit
- Firefox 74 for macOS
- Firefox 74 for Linux 64-bit
- Firefox 74 for Linux 32-bit
If there is a problem with the links above or you cannot find the updated version, you can download it from the FTP release directory.
What changes does the new version of Firefox bring?
New Facebook Container
When users download Firefox 74 for the first time, they will see a message on the screen asking them to install the Facebook container.
Once the Facebook container is installed, all Facebook sessions will be isolated, so that your activities can no longer be tracked between different sites.
Or as Mozilla says:
"It's okay to like Facebook!"
If you like Facebook but don't trust it, try the Facebook Container extension from Firefox and make it harder for them to track you online.
Add-ons can no longer be installed (sideloaded) from external applications
With Firefox 74, add-ons can no longer be installed through external applications.
Malware often installs unwanted add-ons or extensions without the user's knowledge. With this change in Firefox 74, malware developers will no longer be able to install malicious extensions via adware bundles or other installers.
These are the new changes in Firefox 74 related to add-ons:
- Starting with Firefox 74, users will be able to install the extensions they want and remove (at any time) previously sideloaded extensions.
- Previously sideloaded extensions will not be automatically uninstalled upon upgrading to Firefox 74. Users will need to uninstall the extensions themselves.
- Firefox will prevent sideloading of new extensions.
- Developers will be able to push updates to extensions that were previously installed .
TLS 1.0 and 1.1 certificates are now disabled by default in Firefox 74
With the more secure TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 protocols now available , Mozilla has decided to disable support for TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 certificates
Other bug fixes and improvements
In addition to new features, Firefox 74 also adds various improvements and bug fixes, including:
- Firefox makes it easy to import bookmarks and history from the new Microsoft Edge browser on Windows and Mac.
- Firefox now provides better privacy protection for voice and video calls over the web through support for mDNS ICE, hiding your computer's IP address with a random ID.
- Fixes to issues with tabs in the browser.
- On Windows, Ctrl + I can now be used to open the Page Info window. Ctrl + B also opens the Bookmarks sidebar, making keyboard shortcuts more useful.
- The Firefox Debugger has added support for debugging Nested Web Workers.
These are some of the changes, but there are other improvements as well.
Firefox 74 also fixes several vulnerabilities
With the release of Firefox 74, Mozilla is also fixing several vulnerabilities in the browser.
Of these vulnerabilities, 5 are classified as "critical", 6 as "moderate" , and 1 as "low severity".
Critical vulnerabilities could allow remote execution of malicious code and cause other problems.
