Mozilla has given a presentation discussing Firefox.Next, now officially known as Firefox 4, which bypasses the often talked about Firefox 3.7 version number.

New features set to make an appearance in the browser include:

• Speed – it will be “super-duper fast”
• Power – it will support “HTML 5 and beyond”
• Empowerment – users will be allowed to fully control their browser, its data, and their web experience
• Completely re-vamped user interface allowing layout customization and less chrome
• Improved stability and security
• Ability to install add-ons without restarting browser
• Better tools for developers
• 64-bit support
• Hardware acceleration
• Multitouch support

Currently, a Firefox 4 Beta is expected in June next month, with a possible final release planned for November, or Janurary if development slips past the November time-frame.

The full 50 minute presentation can be downloaded or watched online.

Mozilla has released a multi-process beta version of its Firefox browser, code named Lorentz.

“Firefox “Lorentz” provides uninterrupted browsing for Windows and Linux users when there is a crash in the Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime or Microsoft Silverlight plugins. If a plugin crashes or freezes, it will not affect the rest of Firefox. You will be able to reload the page to restart the plugin and try again” said the browser release notes.

The multi-process, or out-of-process plugins support first started appearing in early versions of Firefox 4 back in March, but Mozilla has now almost finished the task of porting the code back to the Firefox 3.6 branch.

Out of the box, it only supports Adobe’s Flash, Apple’s Quicktime and Microsoft’s Silverlight plugins, but support for other plugins can be added via the about:config menu.

The multi-process plugin feature is only available for Windows and Linux users, with support for Mac OS X coming in the near future.

A download is available from the Firefox Lorentz website.

Mozilla have released an update for Firefox 3.6 users, taking the browser to version 3.6.2.

The latest update fixes several security issues, one of which is rated as critical, the highest on the Firefox security severity scale.

A full list of changes can be read in the release notes.

Existing users are strongly urged to accept the update when their browser prompts them in the next 2-3 days, or alternatively, Firefox 3.6.2 can be downloaded from the Firefox website.

Mozilla is hard at work on the next version of Firefox, and the latest alpha builds include out-of-process support for plugins.

“Plugins such as Flash and Silverlight run in a separate process from the browser. If a plugin crashes it will not crash the browser, and unresponsive plugins are automatically restarted” said an announcement from Mozilla.

Currently, out-of-process support is only available on Windows and Linux versions, with Mac support still under development. This is only the first step, with each tab also expected to be moved to it’s own process in time, much like rivals Internet Explorer and Chrome have already done.

You can download the new test version of Firefox from the Mozilla Developer News Blog.

Mozilla appears to have let it’s guard down, with a Firefox add-on that included a Trojan that could allow remote access to a users PC.

Two add-ons were affected; Master Filer which was infected with a password-stealing Trojan called Win32.LdPinch.gen, and Sothink Web Video Downloader which was infected with a backdoor Trojan called Win32.Bifrose.32.Bifrose.

Mozilla has issued a statement:

“If a user installs one of these infected add-ons, the trojan would be executed when Firefox starts and the host computer would be infected by the trojan. Uninstalling these add-ons does not remove the trojan from a user’s system. Users with either of these add-ons should uninstall them immediately. Since uninstalling these extensions does not remove the trojan from a user’s system, an antivirus program should be used to scan and remove any infections.”

Mozilla believe only 4,600 people are infected after downloading these add-ons.

How these add-ons made it online is unknown, as Mozilla scans all add-ons for viruses before they are approved. Mozilla now plans on using two different malware detection tools to try and stop this issue from reoccurring in the future.

Mozilla has pushed out a second release candidate for Firefox 3.6.

The update is said to close a security flaw, of which very little details are available.

Current Firefox 3.6 testers will receive the update automatically, or it can be downloaded from the Firefox Beta website.

Firefox 3.6 final was expected today, but is now expected on January 26th.

Mozilla have pushed out two updates for Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 3.

The updates are merely bug fixes, resolving issues that could crash the browser. A full list of changes can be found in the Firefox 3.5.7 and Firefox 3.0.17 release notes.

The updates will be pushed out to existing Firefox users, or can be downloaded manually from the Firefox website.

Mozilla contributor Stephen Horlander is still hard at work, sharing his ideas for a revamped Windows 7 theme for Firefox 4.0.

According to Horlander, the expected Firefox facelift is now solely expected in Firefox 4, and not gradually through Firefox 3.7 and Firefox 4.0.

In this revision, the Application button (marked #1 on the mockup above) has been reworked to incorporate the new Windows 7 single button menus, already present in Paint and Wordpad on Windows 7.

Work has also been done on the toolbar and location bar.

More mockups and information can be found on Horlanders blog post.

Current Firefox users can download the Strata40 Firefox Theme, which gives the browser a similar appearance.

And just when we were hoping to see Firefox 3.6 before Christmas, Mozilla has pushed out another beta release for the browser.

This update fixes over 100 bugs from the last beta, and is an automatic update for current Firefox 3.6 Beta users.

Firefox 3.6 final is now not expected before early 2010.

A full list of changes can be found in the release notes, while the Firefox 3.6 Beta can be found below:

– Download Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 for Windows
– Download Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 for Mac
– Download Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 for Linux

Mozilla have pushed out updates to users of Firefox 3 and 3.5. The updates include several security and stability fixes.

Firefox 3.5.6 fixes 3 critical, 1 high, 2 moderate, and 1 low level security vulnerabilities.

Firefox 3.0.16 fixes 1 critical, 1 high, 2 moderate, and 1 low level security vulnerabilities.

A full list of changes can be found in the Firefox 3.5.6 and Firefox 3.0.16 release notes.

The update will be pushed out to existing users, or can be downloaded from the Firefox website.