Firefox 76 and 68.8.0esr released

[German]Mozilla's developers have completed the version 76.0.0 and the version and 68.8.0esr of the Firefox browser on May 5, 2020 and are delivering these now. These are new major updates for the browser. Tor has also been updated.

Blog reader Gerold posted a comment about the browser update – and the blog has this comment from EP – thanks for that. But at that time, no release notes has been published, and I had tested the portable version of Firefox 75 a few hours ago – version 75 was reported to me as current – so the new Browser was not yet available via update. When I repeated the test a few hours ago, the auto-update was done.

Firefox 76.0.0

The Release Notes states, that the new Firefox strengthens protection for online accounts during login and password entry.

• Firefox shows a warning in the Lockwise password manager when a website has been hacked.
• If one of your accounts has been compromised by a hack and the user uses the same password on other websites, Firefox will prompt the user to update the password. A key icon indicates which accounts are using this vulnerable password.
• You can automatically generate secure, complex passwords for new accounts and then simply have them saved directly in the browser.
• Previously, users could access and easily view stored passwords under Logins and Passwords in the main menu. If a device is shared within the family or by roommates, the latest update helps prevent passwords from being spied out. If no master password is set up for Firefox, Windows and MacOS now require you to log in to your operating system account before you can view your stored passwords.

The Picture-in-Picture feature allows multitasking, i.e. the small video window follows the user no matter what he or she is doing on the computer, across different applications and even workspaces. The small window can be brought into full screen mode by double-clicking. Double-clicking again shrinks the window again.

Firefox now supports audio worklets that enable more complex audio processing such as VR and games on the web. With this change, zoom calls in Firefox can now be made without requiring additional downloads.

WebRender is also rolled out to more Firefox users on Windows. It is now available as standard on modern Intel laptops with a small screen (<= 1920×1200) for improved graphics rendering. There are also minor cosmetic changes to the interface.

Audio playback currently does not work when running the 32-bit Windows version of Firefox from a network drive. This will be fixed in a future version of Firefox.

The new version 76 of Firefox fixes several vulnerabilities from previous versions that were considered moderate and critical. A list of the vulnerabilities can be found here. The browser can be updated via the help menu and About Firefox (worked fine here). The new Firefox is also available for download here for various platforms. Alternatively, you can download the browser via FTP.

Firefox 68.8.0esr

There is also an update of Firefox 68.8.0esr, which according to the Release Notes only fixes the vulnerabilities described on this page. The browser can be downloaded via FTP.

Tor-Browser 9.0.10

There is a new Tor bundle version 9.0.10 with security fixes for Firefox 68.8.0esr. Details can be read here.