Mozilla Upgrades Firefox Browser to Version 18

The Firefox logo. CREDIT: Mozilla View full size image

The Mozilla Foundation has upgraded the Firefox Web browser to version 18, adding support for Apple Retina Display, a faster JavaScript engine and, of course, crucial security updates.

The security updates revoke the certificates of authentication issued by a Turkish company that were recently found to have been compromised.

They also patch vulnerabilities in the way Firefox handled JavaScript and browser plug-ins, both of which could have allowed an attacker to hijack the user's computer.

The JavaScript engine allows for faster translation of website-based applet commands into language the computer can understand. It's all terribly complicated, but if you want to know more, Mozilla developer David Anderson has a detailed explanation on the official Mozilla blog.

More immediately user-friendly is built-in support for the newest line of MacBook Pro laptops with Retina Display, or "HiDPI," a very high screen resolution that Apple says shrinks pixels down to a size at which humans can no longer see them. ("DPI" is an old printing term for "dots per inch.")

"If you are a Retina-owning Firefox user, upgrade to Firefox 18 now for the HiDPI text rendering alone," wrote the uncharacteristically exuberant Paul Ducklin on Sophos' Naked Security blog. "It really is groovy."

Do You Know How to Secure Your PC?

In this age of hackers, keeping your computer's files and applications safe is of great importance. Yet many of us don't know how to secure a PC.

Test your security skills by taking the quiz below. If you don't do well, we'll tell you the correct answers so that you can apply them to your own computers.

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In this age of hackers, keeping your computer's files and applications safe is of great importance. Yet many of us don't know how to secure a PC.

Test your security skills by taking the quiz below. If you don't do well, we'll tell you the correct answers so that you can apply them to your own computers.