Portable Firefox is now Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition (Firefox Portable among friends), and version 1.5.0.5 has been released. It's the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser packaged with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you. This new release adds in a ton of new features, including: the ability to run from a CD, complete Firefox partial update support, in-place upgrades, lots of handy bug fixes, support for running within Wine on *nix and more. And this release is also paired with releases of Firefox Portable 1.0.8 and Firefox Portable 2.0 Beta 1 using the same updated launcher, for all the web developers and testers out there. Read on for all the details...
Portable Firefox becomes Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition
The first thing you'll notice is that the name has been changed from Portable Firefox to Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition (or, Firefox Portable, for short). Why the name change? In working closely with Mozilla, we determined that a name that fully respected Mozilla's trademarks and branding was much more in order. The new name is meant to indicate that it is an official copy of Mozilla Firefox within and that it includes add-ons by PortableApps.com that allow it to work its best portably. It also reflects the start of a naming change here at PortableApps.com as all our apps are switched to this new naming convention. Over the next week, all 12 apps will be changing to this new naming as well as getting some of the handy new features in this next-generation launcher.
What's New?
Enough about naming... what's new? Quite a few things:
Live/CD Support - Firefox Portable supports running from a CD or other read-only media right out of the box. You just need change one setting to do it, too. Best of all, Firefox Portable will even detect if you're running from a read-only location and offer to run locally, which is handy if you have a write-protection switch on your flash drive or memory card. Full details are in the support topic on Running from a CD.
In-Place Upgrades - Firefox Portable now supports the ability to do what we're calling an "in-place upgrade". This means that you can extract it right over an existing installation of Firefox Portable without losing any of your existing data and it'll Just Work. This will apply to future releases of Firefox Portable as you'll still need to manually update due to the directory changes.
Partial Upgrade Support Fixed - Firefox Portable now fully supports the ability to use Firefox's partial upgrades. No changes are needed. Firefox Portable will automatically let you know when an update is available and let you choose when you'd like to install it. This is important, since some flash drives can be very slow, taking several minutes to update. Just be sure you have at least 40mb free on your drive when you do an update, since Firefox's update process doesn't yet check for low disk space.
Wine Support in Linux/Debian/Unix - Firefox Portable now supports the ability to download, install and run within Wine. That means you can run it right within your *nix of choice without any changes. You can even copy things like your bookmarks and cookies back and forth to your local copy of Firefox.
Multiple Versions For Multiple Purposes
Instead of just a single release, since there are so many more features in the new launcher, Firefox Portable has been released with multiple versions:
Firefox Portable 1.5.0.5 - This is the release that most folks will want. The current version of Mozilla Firefox, with all the latest security updates and bug fixes, made portable.
Firefox Portable 2.0 Beta 1 Preview - A portable version of the first beta of Mozilla Firefox 2.0. This package is great for testing out the new features of the browser without affecting your local install. And for testing out your web pages in the next release of the Gecko rendering engine.
Firefox Portable 1.0.8 - A portable version of the last release in the Mozilla Firefox 1.0 series. This package is great for testing your web pages in the older Gecko rendering engine that many people still use.
That's about it for this release today. I hope you enjoy all the handy new features. :-)
- John
Mozilla®, Firefox® and the Firefox logo are registered trademarks of the Mozilla Foundation and are used with permission.
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Comments
DOM unimportant
Why U put DOM into the suite? In my opinion there exist more convenient extensions you could consider to integrate. How about SearchPluginHacks or Mouse Gesture?
Why the name was changes from Portable Firefox to Firefox Portable? Are you going to change all other apps bit by bit, too?
CU
Andreas
DOM, extensions and the name
The DOM Inspector module is only available when you're installing Firefox, so it has to be included ahead of time. (If you don't want it, you can easily uninstall it within Tools - Extensions.) Including other extensions or themes is not permitted under Mozilla's Trademark Distribution and Visual Identity Guidelines. The name change was the result of trademark discussions with the Mozilla Foundation. All the apps hosted here at PortableApps.com will be changing similarly over the next week so that they're all consistent.
Congratulation
Fine job done, is faster than an Alfa Romeo, well done.
fulvio
Faster than a Ferrari
IMHO it is fasther than a Ferrari.
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Greetings from Spain.
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Lphant
Slick
It's been awhile since the last PortableApps update, but it looks like you've been busy. The new Firefox is pretty sweet. Thanks for a great product!
The new features look useful, I'm sure I'll be trying some out soon.
More Updates
There were a couple delays due to a few issues: my 2-week vacation in Russia - first one I took in years, trademark and licensing discussions with Mozilla, multiple denial of service and theft of service attempts on the PortableApps.com server, behind the scenes work on the website, portable apps development, me working on my paid work. But, this release of Firefox Portable is the start of a string of updates that will bring all 12 apps up to speed... and start the release of several new apps I've been working. A new release of Sunbird is coming today, followed by Thunderbird on Monday and OpenOffice.org on Tuesday, for starters.
John, you've brought a ray
John, you've brought a ray of sunshine into my life! Heheh. I've got some RL probs right now, and you've given me a chance to escape by geeking in up. Looking forward to the other releases.
Glad to help
Happy to hear they've brightened your day. The funnest stuff is yet to come.
(Yes, funnest is now a word)
Thanks for the update, but why didn't you stop in?
Thanks again for all your hard work, John. A 2-week vacation in Russia? You should have have stopped by while you were in the neighbourhood!
Kevin R. Hamm
Many Thanks
Hey John,
Many thanks for this new release. Y'm looking forward for the new release of OpenOffice.Org. Changing into my language is very easy, so it is pretty to have a portable app on my USB flash drive in my own language.
Thanks a lot.
Greets.
...
If at all possible, John, could you remove the superfluous hyphen from the full title? "Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition" is clunky; "Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition" looks much nicer and would be preferable.
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Lauren She eats everything! It's like having a goat. A giant, two-Godzillaton goat.
maggie Hey, I resent that remark! I only weigh ONE Godzillaton!
~ Spectacles: Bruce's Story
I like it
Thanks John,
I like the new name and splash screen. I think the hyphen makes it more readable. Bruce will have to get over it
It seems faster, or is it my imagination?
Just waiting for the rest. Plan to create a distribution disk for a couple of neighbors!
Clair
Startup and Distro Disk
I'm actually working on a couple things that will speed up launches in the later releases, especially secondary launches... where the drive letter/path hasn't changed. I'm also planning on doing a distro disk with all the apps on in about 3 weeks from now after I release everything. May need some help with that. I'll post more in the forums in the near future.
Where to put old profile and plugin directories?
Hey, so when upgrading from portablefirefox v1.5.0.3 to this new FirefoxPortable v1.5.0.5, I was following the instructions given on the support page (https://portableapps.com/support/firefox_portable#upgrading) which says to put those directories into the same DATA directory as in the previous PortableFirefox version.
Now, granted, that directory is still there, but this very page refers to "directory changes" that should affect the transition to v1.5.0.5, so now I'm not sure. There's also a potentially relevant DATA directory at the path ..\FirefoxPortable\App\DefaultData . Maybe that's the one we want to put our old plugins and profile directories in?
Nope
Same place. It's just FirefoxPortable\Data instead of PortableFirefox\Data... which is why an in-place upgrade (extracting the new one over the old) would fail. Or did you miss the readme in the App directory which states: "The files in this directory are necessary for Firefox Portable to function. There is normally no need to directly access or alter any of the files within these directories."
Thanks!
Thanks for the reply! and actually, no, I didn't see that readme.
Even had I read it, though, I think I'd wonder whether my particular circumstances (upgrading through a renaming of the app, and accompanied by an upgrade of the launcher) would constitute "normal" circumstances.
Thanks again for the product and keeping it up to date with the current Firefox!
privacy
I'd like to see a feature that shreds the temp folder and deletes all data when closing firefox, just like the feature that's available for portable opera.
...
Shredding the temp folder? Wow, you're really paranoid, aren't you? In any case, I doubt John Haller will implement this, seeing as it's not a feature too many people have asked for (in fact, I think you're the first).
John? What's your take on this?
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Lauren She eats everything! It's like having a goat. A giant, two-Godzillaton goat.
maggie Hey, I resent that remark! I only weigh ONE Godzillaton!
~ Spectacles: Bruce's Story
i don't think it's a matter
i don't think it's a matter of being paranoid, just safe.
i'd like to be able to use portable firefox on computers at university which are packed with evilware.
if there were a way to bypass keloggers then i might even feel safe enough to do online banking (maybe).
right now i don't even check my email account.
this version of portable opera implements the shredder:
http://www.kejut.com/operaportable
i like that feature but prefer using firefox.
There's no need
Firefox Portable keeps your personal data on your device. Opera uses the local temp directory and there's nothing you can do about it. Firefox Portable, running from a USB flash drive, iPod, etc, DOES NOT copy your personal stuff to the local temp drive or store cache anywhere on the local machine when cache is disabled.
The copy to local thing is ONLY when you run it from a burned CD (read-only mode).
Well...
There is the issue of files opened directly from the Internet ("Open" option in the download dialog as opposed to "Save To") being stored in the local temp folder, regardless of the cache setting. But I don't think that's such a huge problem.
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Lauren She eats everything! It's like having a goat. A giant, two-Godzillaton goat.
maggie Hey, I resent that remark! I only weigh ONE Godzillaton!
~ Spectacles: Bruce's Story
It's very important to change target cache to local temp PC
because i use Firefox Portable just for viewer of this SSP www.slideshowpro.net
on burned CD (read only) and share albums slideshow everywhere. not for online, SSP is html flash, full of jpg or swf, so it's very significant to use cache.
i waiting so long how to change the cache directory in Firefox Portable.
Opera Portable is the choice but i don't want to use it for SSP,
because in Opera when i clik load up/down albums just like a dog.
i mean it not so smooth when i use Firefox's. you can try latter.
Opera didn't fix it just like the previous version it was unable to show loading pie on SSP. neither in IE 7, it was too fast for loading up/down SSP albums.
just use it
When used in Live mode with the cache enabled, it's stored on the local PC and deleted on exit. So, just head into options and enable it.
PS - Please post future support issues to the forums instead of as comments on a news story.
may i enable the cache then burn it to CD?
may i enable the cache?
i want to enable the cache to use SSP, but if i wrong please fix:
1. i set enable cache option in installed firefox,
2. then exit firefox right?
3. then copy that profile to FP directory (without the last cache),
4. then burn it?
pls correct if i have wrong.
thank u.
yup
yup, that's all there is to it
yes, indeed.
Hey,
sure, I think John can simply look into the NSIS script provided by kejuts Opera Portable and integrate such a function/feature into the Firefox Portable Launcher..
I think it would be cool and useful and you can make it optional, so you can use the ini-config-file from the Launcher to activate the "shredding" (delete and overwrite once) option.
So everyone should and would be happy
thx in advance!
best regards,
iNsuRRecTiON
No Need
Again, there's no need. The reason it's in the portable version of opera is because Opera saves personal data to the local PC no matter what... so you HAVE to do this. Firefox Portable DOES NOT save personal data to the local PC. So, there's no reason to shred anything.
...
Well, now that I've been using it for a few days, I have to say: I love the new version of Eatingeverythinglizard Portable, John! I mean, wait--that didn't come out right. What I meant to say was that I love the new version of Firefox Portable!
I'm having way too much fun with the Firesomething extension. :lol:
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Lauren She eats everything! It's like having a goat. A giant, two-Godzillaton goat.
maggie Hey, I resent that remark! I only weigh ONE Godzillaton!
~ Spectacles: Bruce's Story
great, finally :D
Hey,
thx for the new version. (Yes I know there is already a newer version out).
I would like to see, that you can use several instances of the Firefox Portable Launcher, in memory/RAM.
So you can start e.g. the newest Firefox Portable edition and some older at the same time. (You can start two instances..)
At the moment that is not possible..
At the moment you get the same Firefox Portable version (if you start another instance (second, third, etc.) of the Firefox Portable Launcher), even if you launch the Firefox Portable Launcher from another folder (with another Firefox Portable Version in it..).
I hope you can integrate/implement such a feature.
As opt-in with ini-file setting.
Thx in advance!
best regards,
iNsuRRecTiON
...
There already is such a feature, and has been for quite some time. In order to use it, you have to copy the INI file from Other/FirefoxPortableCode into the same folder as FirefoxPortable.exe, then edit it so that the AllowMultipleInstances setting is set to true.
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"You’ve always been the peacemaker, haven’t you, Bruce? You see injustice and suddenly you become blind to everything else. And for what? To save one innocent? You missed the bigger picture, Bruce. You always have."
You can
It's an INI option called AllowMultipleInstances. Check the readme.txt in the Other\FirefoxPortableSource directory.
Now please stop posting support requests as comments on a news story. That's what forums are for.
...
I think the biggest problem, John, is that the news stories show up with all the other forum posts in the "active discussions" list, so people tend to treat them like normal threads. I'm guilty of it, too, though I usually catch myself at the last minute.
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"You’ve always been the peacemaker, haven’t you, Bruce? You see injustice and suddenly you become blind to everything else. And for what? To save one innocent? You missed the bigger picture, Bruce. You always have."
hmm
Hey,
ok, sorry, but that wasn't a support request..
It was an suggestion, I don't know that you shouldn't post suggestions and comments here on the news story..
(just joking..)
I thought only support requests..
I hope you know the difference between them..
I already know the option, but hadn't know that you have to put the ini-file in the FirefoxPortable.exe directory.
I had already change the ini-config-file with the AllowMultipleInstances option some months ago, but leave the ini-file in the "\FirefoxPortableCode" folder..!
So I will test it again and copy the ini file in the right folder and then post a thread in the support forum if necessary.
best regards,
iNsuRRecTiON
PS: I hope you know, that I mean two instances of Firefox Portable with different versions, but same Firefox Portable Launcher in memory. NOT one local Firefox (installation) and one Firefox Portable at the same time..
Possibly a dumb question but....
OK, I'm new to the "Portable App" opportunities so there is a very good chance this is an absolutely dumb question, but there's only one way to find out. I have read up on the Portable-Firefox application, and I have a USB drive, and want to know what exactly you all mean when referring to what is left on the "local computer." Specifically, I want to know if by using this, if I were to use the Firefox @ work without it being detected. Yes, I'm an internet dork, and during the football season most of that web-surfing involves my fantasy football webpage & email, and don't want my employer (who does review sites visited) to find out.
Winning Fantasy Football = Good
Losing my Job = Bad
....does this help?....