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Mozilla Firefox 3.0.3

The only fix in Firefox 3.0.3 is for a problem with Firefox Password Manager which started after the release of Firefox 3.0.2. This problem is being caused by non-ASCII characters being saved as something other than UTF-8 and then failing to convert back to Unicode. To confirm you are having particular problem, click the “Tools” menu and select “Error Console”. If you are suffering from this bug, you will see the following error: "this._storage is null Source File: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Mozilla%20Firefox/components/nsLoginManager.js Line 479"

If you are not currently using Firefox and would like to give it a try, you can download it at https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/09/26/firefox-303-now-available-for-download/

Release notes at: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.0.3/releasenotes/

Upgrading Firefox

If you are using an older version and would like to update, you can either receive automatic updates or do a manual update.

Automatic Updates

Firefox is configured to automatically update by default. A Software Update dialog box will be displayed automatically when an update is available.

At this point just click “OK” and the updates will be downloaded and installed.
Click “Done” and restart Firefox.

If you would like to disable automatic updates, do the following:

On the menu bar, click on ToolsFirefoxEdit
Select Options
Select Preferences
Click the Advanced icon
Click the Update tab

You will see the following update options:

Firefox
Installed Add-ons
Search Engines

Disable the options you don't want Firefox to automatically update or disable all three to totally disable automatic updates.

From this window you can see what updates have been downloaded and installed. Simply click on "Show Update History".

To apply any changes you have made, simply click on "OK".

If the "Check for Updates" box is disabled, it may be because the account you are logged in with does not have permissions to change the Firefox installation directory. You can log in using an administrative account and check for updates. To make it so you can receive updates from your original account, change the permissions on the Firefox installation directory.

Manual Updates

You can also manually check for updates. Click the "Help" menu and select "Check for Updates". If there are any updates available, click "Download & Install Now". If there are no updates available, click "Finish" then "Done". Restart Firefox.

Other Fixes

If you are having any problems like frequent crashes, you may want to investigate other fixes. Many of the problems with Firefox can be fixed by doing a clean install. Uninstall the old version, then install the new version. Also, try starting Firefox in "Safe Mode". This will start Firefox without any add-ons. This will allow you to see if your problem goes away. If it does then your problem is with an add-on. Make sure your firewall settings read allow for Mozilla Firefox.

Users are finding that Firefox 3.x is slower than version 2.x. The slowness is in startup but runs fine after that.

There is an issue when running 3.0.3 and Flash Player 10.0.12.36. When you go to www.xbox.com, you get an error starting "Please download Flash Player." 3.0.3 seems to work quite well when watching YouTube videos, but locks up while watching non YouTube videos.