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Statcounter: Edge falls below 10%, Safari continues climbing by Taras Buria The first day of a new month means it is time for Statcounter's latest findings. The May 2023 report is now available with details about the most popular browsers and their market share changes. Click here to learn how Statcounter gathers its data. To no one's surprise, Google Chrome is still the number one go-to browser on most platforms. Its desktop variant holds a 66.02% share with minor fluctuations from month to month. In May 2023, Chrome lost 0.2 points. Apple's Safari, the only non-cross-platform desktop browser, is cementing its new place after taking over Microsoft Edge in April 2023. Safari's customer base increased from 11.89% to 12.79%, further gapping Microsoft Edge. The latter once again dipped below the 10% mark and reached a 9.91% share (-0.98 points). According to Statcounter, Edge is not the only browser having problems with increasing its market share. Firefox continues bleeding customers, and in May 2023, its share decreased from 5.59% to 5.28%. For reference, in July 2022, its market share was at 8%. Opera is the fifth most popular desktop browser, with a market share of 4.02% (+0.9 points). Finally, the honorable mention goes to Internet Explorer and its 0.45% share. Google Chrome - 66.02% (-0.2 points) Apple Safari - 12.79% (+0.9 points) Microsoft Edge - 9.91% (-0.98 points) Mozilla Firefox - 5.59% (-0.31 points) Opera - 4.02% (+0.9 points) And here is the mobile side of the market, where Google, Apple, and Samsung hold over 93% of users. Interestingly, Google Chrome lost a notable chunk of customers during the last three months. Safari, on the other hand, is experiencing a continuous spike. Google Chrome - 61.09% (-0.67 points) Apple Safari - 27.81% (+0.81 points) Samsung Internet - 4.97% (+0.14 points) Opera - 1.8% (-0.09 points) UC Browser - 1.54% (-0.17 points) You can find more information on the official Statcounter website.

Mozilla finally reveals the end of support date for Firefox on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 by Taras Buria Windows 7 and 8/8.1, two highly polarizing operating systems from Microsoft, are no longer with us. They went six feet under in January 2023, when the software giant ended the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, causing third-party developers to follow suit and stop supporting their software. Still, even though Edge and Chrome were the first to abandon ship, Mozilla Foundation decided to keep supporting Firefox users on Windows 7 and 8/8.1. However, this cannot last forever, so after months of careful consideration, Mozilla is finally ready to reveal the end of support date. According to a document published on the official Mozilla Support website, customers unwilling to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11 can use Firefox 115 Extended Support Release (ESR) until September 2024. Mozilla pledges to continue shipping security updates for 15 more months, giving plenty of time to plan the upgrade process. Here is how the company explains its decision: Microsoft ended official support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 in January of 2023. Unsupported operating systems receive no security updates and have known exploits. With no official support from Microsoft, maintaining Firefox for obsolete operating systems becomes costly for Mozilla and dangerous for users. Although Windows 7 and 8/8.1 have relatively minor market shares (approximately 5% combined), Mozilla says quite a lot of people continue using Firefox to access the internet from PCs with the now-dead operating systems. Keeping testing machines alive for a few extra months "is not the end of the world" for Mozilla, but the non-profit company cannot run them indefinitely. Of course, another end of support will probably mean nothing to die-hard Windows 7 fans. After all, some people still use Windows XP like nobody's business. Still, it is worth reminding that using a connected PC that no longer receives security updates is not a great idea, and you risk getting malware that utilizes unpatched security holes and various vulnerabilities.

LibreWolf 113.0.1-1 by Razvan Serea LibreWolf is an independent “fork” of Firefox, with the primary goals of privacy security and user freedom. It is the community run successor to LibreFox. LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. This is achieved through our privacy and security oriented settings and patches. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. LibreWolf features: Latest Firefox — LibreWolf is compiled directly from the latest build of Firefox Stable. You will have the the latest features, and security updates. Independent Build — LibreWolf uses a build independent of Firefox and has its own settings, profile folder and installation path. As a result, it can be installed alongside Firefox or any other browser. No phoning home — Embedded server links and other calling home functions are removed. In other words, minimal background connections by default. User settings updates Extensions firewall: limit internet access for extensions. Multi-platform (Windows/Linux/Mac/and soon Android) Community-Driven Dark theme (classic and advanced) LibreWolf privacy features: Delete cookies and website data on close. Include only privacy respecting search engines like DuckDuckGo and Searx. Include uBlockOrigin with custom default filter lists, and Tracking Protection in strict mode, to block trackers and ads. Strip tracking elements from URLs, both natively and through uBO. Enable dFPI, also known as Total Cookie Protection. Enable RFP which is part of the Tor Uplift project. RFP is considered the best in class anti-fingerprinting solution, and its goal is to make users look the same and cover as many metrics as possible, in an effort to block fingerprinting techniques. Always display user language as en-US to websites, in order to protect the language used in the browser and in the OS. Disable WebGL, as it is a strong fingerprinting vector. Prevent access to the location services of the OS, and use Mozilla's location API instead of Google's API. Limit ICE candidates generation to a single interface when sharing video or audio during a videoconference. Force DNS and WebRTC inside the proxy, when one is being used. Trim cross-origin referrers, so that they don't include the full URI. Disable link prefetching and speculative connections. Disable disk cache and clear temporary files on close. Disable form autofill. Disable search and form history...and more. LibreWolf 113.0.1-1 changelog: Upstream release, see the Firefox 113.0.1 Release Notes Notes: To receive automatic updates, you may refer to the unofficial LibreWolf-WinUpdater that employs a scheduled task to accomplish the same. Alternatively, if your aim is solely to receive notifications upon new version releases, the unofficial LibreWolf Updater extension is a suitable option. Download: LibreWolf 64-bit | Portable 64-bit |~100.0 MB (Open Source) Download: LibreWolf 32-bit | Portable 32-bit | Other Operating Systems Links: LibreWolf Home Page | Addons | Screenshot | Reddit Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Firefox 113.0.2 by Razvan Serea Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. It offers great security, privacy, and protection against viruses, spyware, malware, and it can also easily block pop-up windows. The key features that have made Firefox so popular are the simple and effective UI, browser speed and strong security capabilities. Firefox has complete features for browsing the Internet. It is very reliable and flexible due to its implemented security features, along with customization options. Firefox includes pop-up blocking, tab-browsing, integrated Google search, simplified privacy controls, a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online. Firefox 113.0.2 fixes: Fixed an issue which caused Picture-in-Picture windows to not be snappable on Windows 11 or on systems with the FancyZones PowerToy installed Fixed a video playback crash on some Windows systems with Intel graphics Fixed a bug which could cause Firefox to freeze on some pages when loading them with the Developer Tools Web Console open Fixed a bug which would cause the bookmarks and history sidebars to not properly react to the browser window being vertically resized Download: Firefox 64-bit | Firefox 32-bit | ~50.0 MB (Freeware) Download: Firefox 113.0.2 for Linux | 64-bit | ~70.0 MB Download: Firefox for MacOS | 128.0 MB View: Firefox Home Page | Release Notes Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

LibreWolf 113.0-3 by Razvan Serea LibreWolf is an independent “fork” of Firefox, with the primary goals of privacy security and user freedom. It is the community run successor to LibreFox. LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. This is achieved through our privacy and security oriented settings and patches. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. LibreWolf features: Latest Firefox — LibreWolf is compiled directly from the latest build of Firefox Stable. You will have the the latest features, and security updates. Independent Build — LibreWolf uses a build independent of Firefox and has its own settings, profile folder and installation path. As a result, it can be installed alongside Firefox or any other browser. No phoning home — Embedded server links and other calling home functions are removed. In other words, minimal background connections by default. User settings updates Extensions firewall: limit internet access for extensions. Multi-platform (Windows/Linux/Mac/and soon Android) Community-Driven Dark theme (classic and advanced) LibreWolf privacy features: Delete cookies and website data on close. Include only privacy respecting search engines like DuckDuckGo and Searx. Include uBlockOrigin with custom default filter lists, and Tracking Protection in strict mode, to block trackers and ads. Strip tracking elements from URLs, both natively and through uBO. Enable dFPI, also known as Total Cookie Protection. Enable RFP which is part of the Tor Uplift project. RFP is considered the best in class anti-fingerprinting solution, and its goal is to make users look the same and cover as many metrics as possible, in an effort to block fingerprinting techniques. Always display user language as en-US to websites, in order to protect the language used in the browser and in the OS. Disable WebGL, as it is a strong fingerprinting vector. Prevent access to the location services of the OS, and use Mozilla's location API instead of Google's API. Limit ICE candidates generation to a single interface when sharing video or audio during a videoconference. Force DNS and WebRTC inside the proxy, when one is being used. Trim cross-origin referrers, so that they don't include the full URI. Disable link prefetching and speculative connections. Disable disk cache and clear temporary files on close. Disable form autofill. Disable search and form history...and more. Notes: To receive automatic updates, you may refer to the unofficial LibreWolf-WinUpdater that employs a scheduled task to accomplish the same. Alternatively, if your aim is solely to receive notifications upon new version releases, the unofficial LibreWolf Updater extension is a suitable option. Download: LibreWolf 113.0-3 | Portable | Other Operating Systems ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Links: LibreWolf Home Page | Addons | Screenshot | Reddit Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Firefox 113.0.1 fixes a desktop window manager (DWM) bug on Windows 11, incorrect colors by Sayan Sen Mozilla released the latest update to Firefox today. The new version, 113.0.1, fixes incorrect colors on Windows, which was the result of an issue with Windows Color Management. The previous Firefox version 113 apparently broke something in the color management. Aside from that, the developers have also fixed an issue related to the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) where it was not updating non-client region caching information. This issue was leading to users experiencing tearing while watching videos in the fullscreen mode. Speaking of that, another fullscreen-related bug has also been resolved with this update. The full changelog alongside their associated bug IDs and links are given below: Fixed incorrect colors for Windows users with installed monitor/display color profiles, particularly on wide gamut displays (bug 1832215) Fixed borders being visible around fullscreen windows for some configurations (bug 1830721) Fixed an issue which may cause users in some configurations to experience tearing when watching videos in fullscreen mode (bug 1830792) In case you want to download Firefox 113.0.1, it can be availed from Neowin software page at this link. You can also download it from Mozilla's official website as well. If you already run Mozilla's browser, which is currently the only non-Chromium mainstream option, get Firefox 113.0.1 by heading to the Menu > Help > About Firefox.

Firefox 113.0.1 by Razvan Serea Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. It offers great security, privacy, and protection against viruses, spyware, malware, and it can also easily block pop-up windows. The key features that have made Firefox so popular are the simple and effective UI, browser speed and strong security capabilities. Firefox has complete features for browsing the Internet. It is very reliable and flexible due to its implemented security features, along with customization options. Firefox includes pop-up blocking, tab-browsing, integrated Google search, simplified privacy controls, a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online. Firefox 113.0.1 fixes: Fixed incorrect colors for Windows users with installed monitor/display color profiles, particularly on wide gamut displays (bug 1832215) Fixed borders being visible around fullscreen windows for some configurations (bug 1830721) Fixed an issue which may cause users in some configurations to experience tearing when watching videos in fullscreen mode (bug 1830792) Download: Firefox 64-bit | Firefox 32-bit | ~50.0 MB (Freeware) Download: Firefox 113.0.1 for Linux | 64-bit | ~70.0 MB Download: Firefox for MacOS | 128.0 MB View: Firefox Home Page | Release Notes Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Report: Microsoft Bing may indeed replace Google as Firefox's default search engine by Sayan Sen Nearly two years ago, back in September of 2021, Mozilla announced that it was testing Microsoft's Bing as the default search engine on its Firefox browser. This was part of the month's SUMO (SUpport MOzilla) study announcement. Now, a new report suggests that Microsoft too is eyeing a contract with Mozilla in a bid to replace Google as the default Firefox search with its own Bing. The report comes via The Information which claims, citing sources close to the matter, that senior Microsoft executives are keen on a deal with Mozilla this year as the contract with Google is due for renewal by the end of the year. It is fair to assume that Microsoft is probably looking to gain some traction and close some of the gap in terms of market share with Google as the latter continues to be an absolute behemoth. Latest Statcounter data suggests that Bing's share has mostly been static. The latest figures has Bing at 2.79% which is far behind Google's 92.63%. Meanwhile, Statista suggests Bing actually dropped off since October last year, when it had peaked at 9.92% share. The latest March percentage share puts Bing at 8.23. However there is some positive here though, as Bing has increased its share slightly compared to last month. Perhaps Microsoft hopes to capitalize on the buzz around AI chatbots. The New Bing itself has seen increased engagement as a consequence of this. The search engine reached 100 million active users recently in March. As it does from time to time, Microsoft seemingly tried pushing some users onto Edge via a recent Patch Tuesday update, where it was opening Default Apps page up when it noticed users were on Google Chrome. Source: The Information

Firefox 113 is out: improved Picture-in-Picture, search bar, password manager, and many more by Taras Buria Firefox 113 is now available for download in the Release channel. It is a massive, feature-packed update with changes improving various aspects of the browser. After installing Firefox 113, you will notice an improved Picture-in-Picture (PiP), a slightly better search bar, a redesigned accessibility engine, a safer password generator, privacy improvements, AVIF Image Sequence (AVIS) animation support, and more. What is new in Firefox 113? Here is the official changelog for Firefox 113: Say hello to enhanced Picture-in-Picture! Rewind, check video duration, and effortlessly switch to full-screen mode on the web's most popular video websites. Firefox's address bar is already a great place to search for what you're looking for. Now you'll always be able to see your web search terms and refine them while viewing your search's results - no additional scrolling needed! Also, a new result menu has been added making it easier to remove history results and dismiss sponsored Firefox Suggest entries. Private windows now protect users even better by blocking third-party cookies and storage of content trackers. Passwords automatically generated by Firefox now include special characters, giving users more secure passwords by default. Firefox 113 introduces a redesigned accessibility engine which significantly improves the speed, responsiveness, and stability of Firefox when used with: Screen readers, as well as certain other accessibility software; East Asian input methods; Enterprise single sign-on software; and Other applications which use accessibility frameworks to access information. Importing bookmarks from Safari or a Chrome-based browser? The favicons for those bookmarks will now also be imported by default to make them easier to identify. Firefox 113 now supports AV1 Image Format files containing animations (AVIS), improving support for AVIF images across the web. The Windows GPU sandbox first shipped in the Firefox 110 release has been tightened to enhance the security benefits it provides. A 13-year-old feature request was fulfilled and Firefox now supports files being drag-and-dropped directly from Microsoft Outlook. A special thanks to volunteer contributor Marco Spiess for helping to get this across the finish line! Users on macOS can now access the Services sub-menu directly from Firefox context menus. On Windows, the elastic overscroll effect has been enabled by default. When two-finger scrolling on the touchpad or scrolling on the touchscreen, you will now see a bouncing animation when scrolling past the edge of a scroll container. Firefox is now available in the Tajik (tg) language. Besides visible changes and new features, Firefox 113 contains security fixes, enterprise-specific improvements, and enhancements for web developers. Firefox 113 is available for download from Neowin or from the official website. If you already run Mozilla's browser, which is currently the only non-Chromium mainstream option, get Firefox 113 by heading to the Menu > Help > About Firefox.

Firefox 113.0 by Razvan Serea Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. It offers great security, privacy, and protection against viruses, spyware, malware, and it can also easily block pop-up windows. The key features that have made Firefox so popular are the simple and effective UI, browser speed and strong security capabilities. Firefox has complete features for browsing the Internet. It is very reliable and flexible due to its implemented security features, along with customization options. Firefox includes pop-up blocking, tab-browsing, integrated Google search, simplified privacy controls, a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online. Download: Firefox 64-bit | Firefox 32-bit | ~50.0 MB (Freeware) Download: Firefox 113.0 for Linux | 64-bit | ~70.0 MB Download: Firefox for MacOS | 128.0 MB View: Firefox Home Page | Release Notes Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Mozilla acquires fake review identifying startup Fakespot by Ishtiaqe Hanif The developers of Mozilla recently announced it acquired Fakespot, a startup whose browser extension can detect fake product reviews on shopping sites like Amazon. People rely on reviews to make shopping decisions online and loads of positive reviews on one product can sway decisions in its way. Many sellers use paid reviews to boost their product ratings and rankings and Consumer Choice reports companies are not doing enough to fight back against scammers. Integrating the technology in Firefox will go toward helping users to shop with the confidence of knowing fake reviews will be flagged. Since the rise of ChatGPT usage, bad actors have started using it to flood the market with realistic fake reviews to better fool buyers. It's more challenging now for an average consumer to identify a manufactured review due to the (mostly) good wording of the AI chatbot. However, as Techradar points out in its report, AI bots also have a tendency to not hide the fact that an AI wrote them, with one literally writing: “As an AI language model, I don’t have a body” in the text of a review. Mozilla plans to invest more in Fakespot and claims it will enhance the online shopping experience for millions of people. According to Mozilla, the extension will continue working on other platforms and browsers like Chrome on Windows, Android, iPadOS, and iOS. Addinjg that with its goal to put customers first, it will also develop features that will stay exclusive to Firefox browsers to identify authentic products with real reviews and ratings. On the company's site, the founder of Fakespot, Shouid Khalifah writes, “ We are joining a company that develops one of the most popular browsers in the world in Firefox with a lineage that dates back to the origins of the internet.” Mozilla shared in a press release, that they are continuing their work around ethical AI and responsible advertising. Customers have higher satisfaction when using Fakespot according to their data. Fewer product returns also mean less environmental damage through reduced shipping and packaging. Source: Techradar via Mozilla

LibreWolf 112.0.2-1 by Razvan Serea LibreWolf is an independent “fork” of Firefox, with the primary goals of privacy security and user freedom. It is the community run successor to LibreFox. LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. This is achieved through our privacy and security oriented settings and patches. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. LibreWolf features: Latest Firefox — LibreWolf is compiled directly from the latest build of Firefox Stable. You will have the the latest features, and security updates. Independent Build — LibreWolf uses a build independent of Firefox and has its own settings, profile folder and installation path. As a result, it can be installed alongside Firefox or any other browser. No phoning home — Embedded server links and other calling home functions are removed. In other words, minimal background connections by default. User settings updates Extensions firewall: limit internet access for extensions. - Multi-platform (Windows/Linux/Mac/and soon Android) Community-Driven Dark theme (classic and advanced) Changes in LibreWolf 112.0.2-1: Upstream release, see the Firefox 112.0.2 Release Notes Notes: To receive automatic updates, you may refer to the unofficial LibreWolf-WinUpdater that employs a scheduled task to accomplish the same. Alternatively, if your aim is solely to receive notifications upon new version releases, the unofficial LibreWolf Updater extension is a suitable option. Download: LibreWolf 112.0.2-1 | Portable | Other Operating Systems ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Links: LibreWolf Home Page | Addons | Screenshot | Reddit Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Statcounter: Microsoft Edge is no longer world's second desktop browser by Taras Buria According to Statcounter's April 2023 report, Microsoft Edge is no longer world's second most popular desktop browser. Apple Safari, the only non-cross-platform browser, has taken over Microsoft's Chromium-powered Edge. Disclaimer: Reports from Statcounter and other companies are never 100% accurate, and the idea is to provide average values and pinpoint general trends. You can learn how Statcounter gathers its data in the official FAQ. Statcounter says Safari is now in second place with a market share of 11.87%, a 0.95 points uplift compared with the previous month. Edge is now third, struggling to surpass an 11% mark for almost a year. In April 2023, Microsoft Edge lost 0.15 points. As for Chrome, it holds 66.13%, with a 0.36 points month-over-month increase. Here are the most popular desktop browsers per Statcounter's latest findings: Google Chrome - 66.13% (+0.36 points) Apple Safari - 11.87% (+0.95 points) Microsoft Edge - 11% (-0.15 points) Firefox - 5.65% (-0.82 points) Opera - 3.09% (-0.08 points) Most things have stayed the same on the mobile side of the market. Chrome and Safari continue holding almost 90% of all users, leaving a little less than 5% to Samsung, 2% to Opera, and the rest to less-known browsers. Google Chrome - 61.96% (-2.66 points) Apple Safari - (+1.73 points) Samsung Internet - 4.8% (+0.31 points) Opera - 1.88% (+0.08 points) UC Browser - 1.71% (+0.18 points) You can learn more about the April 2023 browser report from Statcounter on the official website.

Firefox 112.0.2 fixes high memory usage, broken notifications on Windows 8, more by Taras Buria Mozilla has released another bug-fixing update to address a bunch of nasty bugs plaguing users on different platforms. Version 112.0.2 is now available for download with a fix for high memory usage, broken notifications on Windows 8, and invisible text on Linux. Here are the details. What is new in Firefox 112.0.2 Fixes a high memory usage issue with animated images in minimized (or completely covered) windows, especially when using animated themes. Fixes an issue where Linux users with bitmap fonts installed may have had entire sections of text invisible to them on some sites. Fixes an issue where web notifications with images were not displaying for Windows 8 users. Firefox is currently the only mainstream browser that supports Windows 7 and 8/8.1. Microsoft, Google, and other Chromium-based browsers discontinued their browsers support on pre-Windows 10 versions after Microsoft put Windows 7 to its final rest in January 2023. In contrast, Mozilla wants to give those sticking to Windows 7/8 another year of support. Last month, Mozilla revealed plans to issue security updates and fixes for Firefox 115 ESR until at least Q3 2024. You can download Firefox 112.0.2 by heading to Menu > Help > About Firefox. Alternatively, download an installer from the official website.

Firefox 112.0.2 by Razvan Serea Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. It offers great security, privacy, and protection against viruses, spyware, malware, and it can also easily block pop-up windows. The key features that have made Firefox so popular are the simple and effective UI, browser speed and strong security capabilities. Firefox has complete features for browsing the Internet. It is very reliable and flexible due to its implemented security features, along with customization options. Firefox includes pop-up blocking, tab-browsing, integrated Google search, simplified privacy controls, a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online. Firefox 112.0.2 fixes: Fixes a high memory usage issue with animated images in minimized (or completely covered) windows, especially when using animated themes (bug 1828587). Fixes an issue where Linux users with bitmap fonts installed may have had entire sections of text invisible to them on some sites (bug 1827950). Fixes an issue where web notifications with images were not displaying for Windows 8 users (bug 1822817). Download: Firefox 64-bit | Firefox 32-bit | ~50.0 MB (Freeware) Download: Firefox 112.0.2 for Linux | 64-bit | ~70.0 MB Download: Firefox for MacOS | 128.0 MB View: Firefox Home Page | Release Notes Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

LibreWolf 112.0.1-2 by Razvan Serea LibreWolf is an independent “fork” of Firefox, with the primary goals of privacy security and user freedom. It is the community run successor to LibreFox. LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. This is achieved through our privacy and security oriented settings and patches. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. LibreWolf features: Latest Firefox — LibreWolf is compiled directly from the latest build of Firefox Stable. You will have the the latest features, and security updates. Independent Build — LibreWolf uses a build independent of Firefox and has its own settings, profile folder and installation path. As a result, it can be installed alongside Firefox or any other browser. No phoning home — Embedded server links and other calling home functions are removed. In other words, minimal background connections by default. User settings updates Extensions firewall: limit internet access for extensions. - Multi-platform (Windows/Linux/Mac/and soon Android) Community-Driven Dark theme (classic and advanced) Notes: To receive automatic updates, you may refer to the unofficial LibreWolf-WinUpdater that employs a scheduled task to accomplish the same. Alternatively, if your aim is solely to receive notifications upon new version releases, the unofficial LibreWolf Updater extension is a suitable option. Download: LibreWolf 112.0.1-2 | Portable | Other Operating Systems ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Links: LibreWolf Home Page | Addons | Screenshot | Reddit Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Firefox 112.0.1 by Razvan Serea Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. It offers great security, privacy, and protection against viruses, spyware, malware, and it can also easily block pop-up windows. The key features that have made Firefox so popular are the simple and effective UI, browser speed and strong security capabilities. Firefox has complete features for browsing the Internet. It is very reliable and flexible due to its implemented security features, along with customization options. Firefox includes pop-up blocking, tab-browsing, integrated Google search, simplified privacy controls, a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online. Firefox 112.0.1 fixes: Fixed a bug where cookie dates appear to be set in the far future after updating Firefox. This may have caused cookies to be unintentionally purged. (bug 1827669). Download: Firefox 64-bit | Firefox 32-bit | ~50.0 MB (Freeware) Download: Firefox 112.0.1 for Linux | 64-bit | ~70.0 MB Download: Firefox for MacOS | 128.0 MB View: Firefox Home Page | Release Notes Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Firefox 112.0.1 is out with a fix for the bug causing an unintentional cookie purge by Taras Buria Several days ago, Mozilla released Firefox 112 in the Release channel, improving the browser's resource consumption, adding better password fields, and more. Those preferring the only non-Chromium mainstream browser can now download version 112.0.1, which fixes an annoying issue causing an unintentional cookie purge. According to Mozilla, updating Firefox to version 112 makes cookie dates change to the far future, resulting in an unintentional removal of all saved cookies. Deleting stored cookies usually signs you out of all websites, resets preferences, and more. Therefore, a random cookie removal may cause significant frustration and break the user experience. Here is the complete changelog for Firefox 112.0.1: "Fixed a bug where cookie dates appear to be set in the far future after updating Firefox. This may have caused cookies to be unintentionally purged. (bug 1827669)." You can download Firefox 112.0.1 from the official Firefox website. If you already have the browser on your computer, head to Menu > Help > About Firefox to force-install the latest release. If you want to learn what is new in Firefox 112, the latest major update for Mozilla's browser, check out our dedicated coverage.

LibreWolf 112.0.1 by Razvan Serea LibreWolf is an independent “fork” of Firefox, with the primary goals of privacy security and user freedom. It is the community run successor to LibreFox. LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. This is achieved through our privacy and security oriented settings and patches. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. LibreWolf features: Latest Firefox — LibreWolf is compiled directly from the latest build of Firefox Stable. You will have the the latest features, and security updates. Independent Build — LibreWolf uses a build independent of Firefox and has its own settings, profile folder and installation path. As a result, it can be installed alongside Firefox or any other browser. No phoning home — Embedded server links and other calling home functions are removed. In other words, minimal background connections by default. User settings updates Extensions firewall: limit internet access for extensions. - Multi-platform (Windows/Linux/Mac/and soon Android) Community-Driven Dark theme (classic and advanced) LibreWolf 112.0.1 release notes: Firefox v112.0 release notes. To check the signature files: https://gpg.librewolf.net/ Fixed small desktop icon (https://codeberg.org/librewolf/windows/issues/3) All the files are now using a consistent naming scheme, this could break some automated scripts. ltguillaumes winupdater is already compatible with this. We now have 32-bit builds available in the bsys6 repository. In the future we plan to move all the releases there. Notes: To receive automatic updates, you may refer to the unofficial LibreWolf-WinUpdater that employs a scheduled task to accomplish the same. Alternatively, if your aim is solely to receive notifications upon new version releases, the unofficial LibreWolf Updater extension is a suitable option. Download: LibreWolf 112.0.1 | Portable | Other Operating Systems ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Links: LibreWolf Home Page | Addons | Screenshot | Reddit Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Microsoft finally fixes 5 year old Windows Defender high CPU bug on Mozilla Firefox by Sayan Sen It looks like a bug nearly half a decade old has finally been fixed by Microsoft and Mozilla. The issue was related to Windows Defender and its Antimalware Service Executable (MsMpEng.exe) real-time protection service, which would lead to high CPU usage on Mozilla Firefox. The resource usage was noticeably higher compared to Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. For example, the image below (taken at the time of initial reporting of the bug) shows average CPU usage when reloading YouTube six times. As you can see, the spikes were clearly higher on Firefox. The bug was recently resolved by the efforts of Microsoft and the Mozilla development team. Yannis Juglaret, a Firefox developer confirmed this around three weeks ago: According to Microsoft, this will be deployed to all users as part of regular definition updates, which are packaged independently from OS updates. This includes even Windows 7 and 8.1 users, even though these platforms should not have had the performance issue with Firefox in the first place because the ETW events that cause it do not exist on these older versions of Windows. Later on, Yannis Juglaret added that the recent Microsoft Defender March-2023 definition update (Platform: 4.18.2302.x | Engine: 1.1.20200.4) fixed the issue: mpengine.dll version 1.1.20200.4 was released on April 4, so the fix should be available for everybody now. Here are details for the Defender update: March-2023 (Platform: 4.18.2302.x | Engine: 1.1.20200.4) Security intelligence update version: 1.381.61.0 Release date: April 4, 2023 (Engine) / April 11, 2023 (Platform) Platform: 4.18.2302.x Engine: 1.1.20200.4 Interestingly, it has also been found that there is further scope of improvements to the processor usage in Firefox when compared to Chrome. Perhaps we will see such performance improvements in upcoming browser updates and it won't just be exclusive to Microsoft Defender alone. Update: Mozilla engineer Yannis Juglaret, who isolated and worked on this bug, has shared additional context and details regarding the issue since some other news outlets were apparently sharing incorrect information that the global CPU usage would be reduced by 75%. According to Juglaret, this is not the case as the 75% reduction percentage in CPU resource use is only taking into account the MsMpEng service and does not apply to global usage. Jugarlet explains that the CPU usage is so high on Firefox due to the browser being heavily reliant on VirtualProtect, a virtual memory API, which in turn is monitored by Defender's Real-time Protection or MsMpEng.exe via Event Tracing for Windows (ETW). Hence, after this fix, MsMpEng processor usage, when monitoring Firefox, should drop by around 75%. They write: There has been some coverage in online news about the fix mentioned in comment 82. You may read online that Defender was making too many calls to VirtualProtect, and that global CPU usage will now go down by 75% when browsing with Firefox. This is absolutely wrong! The impact of this fix is that on all computers that rely on Microsoft Defender's Real-time Protection feature (which is enabled by default in Windows), MsMpEng.exe will consume much less CPU than before when monitoring the dynamic behavior of any program through ETW. Nothing less, nothing more. For Firefox this is particularly impactful because Firefox (not Defender!) relies a lot on VirtualProtect (which is monitored by MsMpEng.exe through ETW). We expect that on all these computers, MsMpEng.exe will consume around 75% less CPU than it did before when it is monitoring Firefox. Which is really good news. This will bring a nice performance bump for our users that have limited CPU resources, where MsMpEng.exe would sometimes consume 20%-30% CPU, and will now consume a single-digit percentage of CPU. It will also benefit other users through lower power consumption.

Firefox 112 is out with reduced GPU usage on Intel CPUs, improved password fields, more by Taras Buria Firefox 112 is now available for download in the Release channel. Mozilla has started rolling out the latest feature update for its browser, bringing reduced GPU usage on PCs with Intel processors, slightly improved password fields, the ability to restore closed sessions with the Ctrl + Shift + T shortcut, and more. What is new in Firefox 112? Here is the official changelog from Mozilla: Right-clicking on password fields now shows an option to reveal the password. Ubuntu Linux users can now import their browser data from the Chromium Snap package. Currently, this will only work if Firefox is not also installed as a Snap package, but work is underway to address this! Do you use the tab list panel in the tab bar? If so, you can now close tabs by middle-clicking items in that list. You've always been able to un-close a tab by using (Cmd/Ctrl)-Shift-T. Now, that same shortcut will restore the previous session if there are no more closed tabs from the same session to re-open. For all ETP Strict users, we extended the list of known tracking parameters that are removed from URLs to further protect our users from cross-site tracking. Enables overlay of software-decoded video on Intel GPUs in Windows. Improves video down scaling quality and reduces GPU usage. Various security fixes. The deprecated U2F Javascript API is now disabled by default. The U2F protocol remains usable through the WebAuthn API. The U2F API can be re-enabled using the security.webauth.u2f preference. Clear button, newly added to the date picker panel, allows users to quickly clear the input with type date or datetime-local and provides a familiar experience across browsers. You can also find what is new for developers in Firefox 112 in the official documentation. A similar page with updated policies and specific fixes is available for enterprise customers. Firefox will update itself automatically upon the next restart. Alternatively, you can force-install the latest version by navigating to the Menu > Help > About Firefox section or download the official installer from Mozilla's website.

Firefox 112.0 by Razvan Serea Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. It offers great security, privacy, and protection against viruses, spyware, malware, and it can also easily block pop-up windows. The key features that have made Firefox so popular are the simple and effective UI, browser speed and strong security capabilities. Firefox has complete features for browsing the Internet. It is very reliable and flexible due to its implemented security features, along with customization options. Firefox includes pop-up blocking, tab-browsing, integrated Google search, simplified privacy controls, a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online. Download: Firefox 64-bit | Firefox 32-bit | ~50.0 MB (Freeware) Download: Firefox 112.0 for Linux | 64-bit | ~70.0 MB Download: Firefox for MacOS | 127.0 MB View: Firefox Home Page | Release Notes Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

Microsoft Weekly: Windows 12 rumors, Windows 11 secrets, and Windows 7 support by Usama Jawad It's the end of yet another week as well as the start of the new month, which means that it is time to discuss all the important things that happened in the Microsoft-verse in the past few days. This time around, we have news items related to Windows 12, some potential upcoming Windows 11 features, and support for Windows 7 in a browser. For further details, dive into our weekly digest for March 26 - March 31 below! Windows 12 rumors Rumors about Microsoft's next operating system, "Windows 12", surfaced multiple times this week. First, we learned of some purported requirements for the OS, which include the continuation of TPM 2.0, but increase the RAM requirement to 8GB. Additionally, Microsoft may decide to ditch older CPUs once again, similar to what it did with Windows 11. Of course, none of this has been confirmed yet so lay down your pitchforks for now. Next, we got some more confirmation that Microsoft did accidentally reveal a Windows 12 prototype a few months ago. Notable changes include a floating Taskbar and a notification area on the top rather than the bottom. Microsoft's recent Insider builds have also included strings to hide certain elements of the system tray and the Taskbar, which could be intended for Windows 12. Finally, a report claiming that Microsoft is building a more customizable and modular variant of Windows emerged. The project reportedly has the codename "CorePC" and is supposedly similar to iOS and Android in the sense that it will have read-only partitions. This should allow the CorePC OS to be more secure and update faster. CorePC may be a flavor of Windows 12. That said, it is important to understand that all of these speculations are just rumors for now. Even if they are true, the next-generation operating system isn't expected until late 2024. Windows 11 secrets Returning to the present, we had some interesting news stories about Windows 11 (now on 20% of PCs) too. It seems that Windows 11 may soon let you move Widgets to the right on the Taskbar. This makes it more Windows 10-like and is obviously just a personalization preference. These changes are present in the Canary build 25324 and can be enabled using a third-party utility but note that the implementation is a bit buggy for now. The Redmond tech firm is seemingly experimenting with redesigned and improved Windows Widgets too. This comes in the form of a larger 3-column canvas with dedicated sections for widgets and My feed. These changes are present in the aforementioned Canary build too and can be force-enabled by following the process outlined here. There are some other capabilities being planned too. Windows 11 may soon let you disable annoying account-related notifications on the Start menu in a move that should please many consumers. The option is present in Dev Channel build 23419 and can be force-enabled by anyone too. And while it's not strictly related to Windows 11, Microsoft may finally be working on a portable version of Windows Terminal as well. In terms of what's available to Windows 11 users right now in an unhidden state, we have several new Insider builds. Beta Channel Insiders were treated to build 22624.1537 which introduced access keys in File Explorer, the ability to create live kernel memory dumps through Task Manager, and lots more. Dev Channel build 23424 brought the improved Widgets board described earlier to more users, along with performance improvements to the Settings app. And Canary Channel users netted build 25330 with lots of relatively minor changes and improvements. Stable channel customers received some love from Microsoft in the form of new builds too. KB5023778 features an improved Taskbar search bar, Microsoft Account notifications, and more. Furthermore, Microsoft has done away with the Acropalypse by releasing Snipping Tool fixes to everyone on Windows 10 and Windows 11. And since we have ventured into the domain of cybersecurity, it's worth highlighting that Microsoft is rolling out the next phase of its Domain Controller hardening to patch a Kerberos security flaw via Windows Update. Additionally, Microsoft Defender started generating false positives by alerting users about safe links, this issue has now been resolved. Finally, if you want to create Windows 10 and Windows 11 ISOs but find Microsoft's Media Creation Tool cumbersome to use, check out this alternative utility instead. And if you use Rufus for your other Windows-related tinkering, the latest version of the software includes an option to disable BitLocker. Windows 7 support... and other app updates Continuing from the previous section which we wrapped up with mention of a Rufus update, we would like to bring your attention to a Ventoy update. The bootable USB solution, which supports Windows 7, now supports over 1,100 ISOs with version 1.0.90. The latest version also improves the Fedora boot process and addresses a Ventoy remount bug on Linux kernel 5.18 and newer. And speaking of Windows 7, Mozilla has decided to extend Firefox support on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 through Firefox 115 ESR, which is due to arrive on July 4, 2023. This version of the browser is supported until Q3 2024, which gives plenty of time for Firefox customers to continue using the browser before they decide to eventually upgrade their OS or consider alternatives. As is the case near the end of each month, there was lots of Teams news this week too. Teams 2.0 is now live in public preview with a major design revamp and performance boosts. The process to launch the app and join meetings is twice as fast and the app uses 50% less memory. Another feature now available in preview for Teams is 3D avatars. Similarly, Teams mobile is getting a new Chat Dashboard while Teams enterprise customers with certain licenses are getting advanced security protections through Microsoft Defender 365. The Redmond tech giant has also shared a changelog of all the features it added to the free SKU of Teams during the month of March 2023. It also detailed a similar changelog for Excel along with introducing the ability to add local videos in PowerPoint for the web. There are a couple of updates related to Microsoft's Edge browser too. Microsoft is working to make it easier to use vertical tabs in its browser and may be planning the return of an upgraded version of the Mica effect too. It's almost impossible to talk about Edge without mentioning Bing Chat. The AI-powered chatbot now supports 200 daily turns and 20 in-session turns, it is slated to receive better formatting of mathematical equations too. In fact, it even supports video and image search now. But with these peaks in super-charged search engines and chatbots, there are some valleys too. Italy's data protection agency has banned OpenAI from using the data of Italians in ChatGPT due to privacy concerns. Additionally, some security researchers also reported a Bing flaw to Microsoft through which they could game search results, which is a major problem considering it's hard enough to trust results generated in conversations by Bing AI too. Some might also be disheartened to know that Microsoft plans to continue with its plans to monetize Bing AI through ads in chat, it has shared some more details in this area too. The company is super-protective about Bing search data as well and does not seem willing to share it with other AI chatbots. Git gud As usual, we will start this section off with some news about Microsoft's ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The purchase has now been approved by Japan's antitrust regulator, which is a major win for Microsoft, especially since it concerns Sony's "home town". Meanwhile, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has published an email slamming Sony for its "disappointing behavior" during the ongoing deal. On the other hand, Microsoft has dismissed rumors claiming that it pulled in-development ZeniMax games for the PlayStation 5 following a similar high-profile back in 2021. On the hardware side of things, Microsoft has unveiled red and blue variants of the Xbox Elite Series 2 – Core controller, in addition to the standard white. Moreover, if you are a Diablo fan, you can nab an Xbox Series X console with Diablo IV and its in-game items included for $559. And if you are already an Xbox owner and an Insider, grab the Omega console update which brings better subscription management and other fixes. We had some news items related to specific games too. If you're facing problems while trying to open Red Dead Redemption 2 via the Rockstar Launcher on Windows 11 version 21H2, Microsoft has recommended upgrading to version 22H2 if you really want to play the title ASAP and can't wait for the Redmond firm's investigation to complete. But if you're a Minecraft player instead, you might want to check out this Dungeons and Dragons mashup DLC coming soon. Wrapping up this section with news about subscriptions and deals, Microsoft has gotten rid of the popular $1 Game Pass trials on Xbox and PC, while hinting at different promotions in the future. But if you're a Games with Gold subscriber instead, you can claim Peaky Blinders: Mastermind and Out of Space during the month of April, with the latter up for grabs already. Meanwhile, Xbox Free Play Days has four games up on offer this weekend, with the major one being Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. On the other hand, Deals with Gold is headlined by Batman: Arkham Knight and several LEGO titles. However, if you're a PC purist, check out this Weekend's PC Game Deals, curated by our News Editor Pulasthi Ariyasinghe. Dev Channel Prices for Microsoft Cloud services are increasing in Europe very soon New Windows drivers for Surface Duo have brought unofficial Windows 10 support and tons of improvements, the official late March update is available too Microsoft is partnering with certain organizations to protect journalism and improve news distribution Microsoft Viva Connections for Education will help kids keep track of everything, now available More layoffs have hit Microsoft's security division in Redmond and Bellevue, Washington Microsoft has delayed the deprecation of Remote PowerShell in Exchange Online Microsoft Security Copilot will use generative AI to create alerts The second-generation Surface Hub 2S is now official Updates for Microsoft Teams Rooms and Devices include new Cisco digital whiteboards PowerToys' upcoming registry tool will let you preview and edit registry files A Microsoft data center in the Netherlands is generating environmental concerns Google is making file sharing between Windows and Android much easier Under the spotlight We published several interesting original pieces over the past few days. The first one is from News Reporter Taras Buria who highlighted five interesting features that you should give a go in Windows 11 Insider Preview builds. We also have a couple of nostalgic pieces for News Reporter John Callaham. The first talks about how Steam's Early Access popularized this concept of rolling out paid early-stage software to the public for testing and gathering feedback, for better or for worse. In the wake of Intel's founder Gordon Moore recently passing away, John also took a quick look back at Moore's Law, wondering if it will continue moving forward. We also have a couple of guides. The first one is from Taras Buria, who explained how to remove news from Widgets in Windows 11. Finally, we have a Tech Tip Tuesday piece from Adam Bottjen, who guided our readers regarding the process for enabling voice isolation during a phone call on iOS 16.4. Logging off Our most interesting news item of the week is about a person who got caught in China while trying to smuggle 239 Intel Core CPUs worth thousands of dollars... by taping them to his body. He was caught by customs inspectors who decided to investigate him since his because of his "abnormal" and "bloated" experience. There is no word yet on what the punishment for his crime is, but it's certainly interesting to see the lengths certain people will go to in order to pass customs checks at airports and seaports. If you'd like to get a weekly digest of news from Neowin, we have a Newsletter you can sign up to either via the 'Get our newsletter' widget in the sidebar, or through this link. Missed any of the previous columns? Check them all out at this link.

Firefox gives Windows 7 and 8 users more than one extra year of support by Taras Buria According to a new post on Firefox's bug tracker website, Mozilla does not plan to end Firefox support on Windows 7 and 8.1 any time soon. Initially, Mozilla Foundation considered pulling the plug for the browser on the now-dead operating system in August 2023, but the revised plans now give users much more time. Mike Kaply, a Mozilla employee, has revealed that Firefox 115 ESR (due to arrive on July 4, 2023) will support Windows 7 and 8.1. Moreover, the browser will receive security updates and fixes until at least Q3 2024. Furthermore, the development team has yet to pick a specific date to stop supporting Firefox on outdated operating systems. In November 2022, Mozilla said Firefox still has "a lot of users on Windows 7," and keeping their test machines running for a little longer would not make a big difference. Of course, sticking to a now-outdated operating system with no security updates is a questionable decision. However, it is not all black and white, and some users cannot move to Windows 10 or 11. Therefore, it is still good to see developers giving those unable to upgrade a supported and up-to-date mainstream browser. Unlike Mozilla, Google and Microsoft have already ended Chrome and Edge support on Windows 7 and 8.1. That, in turn, threw a wrench into apps relying on Chromium. For example, Valve recently announced that Steam would stop working on Windows 7 and 8.1 in January 2024.

LibreWolf 111.0.1-1 by Razvan Serea LibreWolf is an independent “fork” of Firefox, with the primary goals of privacy security and user freedom. It is the community run successor to LibreFox. LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. This is achieved through our privacy and security oriented settings and patches. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. LibreWolf features: Latest Firefox — LibreWolf is compiled directly from the latest build of Firefox Stable. You will have the the latest features, and security updates. Independent Build — LibreWolf uses a build independent of Firefox and has its own settings, profile folder and installation path. As a result, it can be installed alongside Firefox or any other browser. No phoning home — Embedded server links and other calling home functions are removed. In other words, minimal background connections by default. User settings updates Extensions firewall: limit internet access for extensions. - Multi-platform (Windows/Linux/Mac/and soon Android) Community-Driven Dark theme (classic and advanced) Notes: To receive automatic updates, you may refer to the unofficial LibreWolf-WinUpdater that employs a scheduled task to accomplish the same. Alternatively, if your aim is solely to receive notifications upon new version releases, the unofficial LibreWolf Updater extension is a suitable option. Download: LibreWolf 111.0.1-1 | Portable | Other Operating Systems ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Links: LibreWolf Home Page | Addons | Screenshot | Reddit Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware