Firefox 2 RC1 Is Out

Mozilla’s great web browser, Firefox 2, has reached its first release candidate version. You can download it here.

Firefox 2 Beta 2

I’m having far too much fun with Firefox 2 Beta 2. Memory usage is still way too high, but with its improved tab management, and built-in Google Suggest, browsing is even easier. No crashes so far and I have heaps of tabs open. You can read more about Firefox 2 features here.

Firefox vs. Safari screencast

Real world speed comparison of (G5 optimized) Firefox versus Safari. Installed extensions are: Adblock, NoScript and Fasterfox. All cache/history/cookies has been cleared prior to the test.

How to Reduce Firefox’s High CPU Usage

Running multiple tabs in Firefox has become a common habit for modern web surfers, but to the resource-conscious, it’s a CPU’s nightmare. Let me demonstrate. Have a go at opening these websites simultaneously then watch them grind your precious clock cycles to oblivion -whether you minimize the application or not! (My record was 87%)

Have no fret though, because there’s an already-popular NoScript extension, that dramatically lowers the load on your processor and lets you browse safer and faster, even if Flash remains enabled. Until Mozilla improves their code, I highly recommend all power users to install it for a better online experience.

Extra: For even more optimization, use optimized builds.