Firefox 72 and 68.4.0esr released

[German]Mozilla's developers have just released (January 7, 2020) version 72 (and 68.4.0 ESR) of the Firefox browser. This is a major version and the 68.4.0 ISR is a maintenance update. Both versions close a number of security holes. Here is a brief overview of what changes in each new version.

German blog reader Ralf has pointed out the release of both Firefox versions in this comment (thanks). When I looked last night, this build was not yet scheduled for an auto-update. I just started Firefox and was offered the update to version 72.

Firefox 72 at a glance

The following changes or bug fixes are listed in the release notes of Firefox:

• Enhanced Tracking Protection: Firefox 72 now blocks fingerprinting scripts for all users by default with improved activity tracking protection.
• Firefox replaces annoying pop-ups for notification requests with a speech bubble displayed in the address bar. This means that pop-ups can no longer interrupt surfing.
• Picture-in-picture video is now available in Firefox for Mac and Linux: Select the blue icon at the right edge of a video (see illustration) to open a floating window so you can continue watching while working in other tabs or applications (see also).

In addition, Firefox 72 closes several security holes, which are described here, and which are classified as high. The developers have removed support for blocking images from individual domains from Firefox. Reason: It was rarely used and the usability is poor.

In Windows, experimental support for using client certificates from the OS certificate store can be enabled by setting security.osclientcerts.autoload to true. The browser should be offered via auto-update or manual update search in the help menu. The new Firefox is also available for download here for various platforms.

Firefox 68.4.0 ESR

Additionally, the Mozilla developers have updated the ESR version of Firefox to 68.4.0. The release notes for Firefox 68.4.0 also list various security fixes for this version of the browser.