With good reason too. Firefox remains an incredibly powerful and customizable browser although persistent memory leakage problems and competition from Google Chrome have dented its popularity.

There are a few interesting improvements in Firefox 21. There's a new Enhanced three-state UI for Do Not Track (DNT) to enhance privacy protection. Firefox should also start a bit quicker on your Mac as it suggests what can be done to improve start-up time (such as disabling certain unused add-ons). There's also a new Firefox Health Report feature which monitors how stable and well oiled your version of Firefox is. Other than this, there have been some minor cosmetic changes to functionality and some developer focused improvements.

The interface is pretty much the same as previous versions of Firefox, with a minimalist toolbar and there's still no way of removing elements that you may not want such as Java and .Net Framework. The major downside for most users however is that some plug-ins or add-ons won't work with the latest version of Firefox yet - so if you have a lot installed, prepare to be disappointed.

One major problem that persists is the high usage of RAM when Firefox is displaying Flash videos such as YouTube. Firefox runs an extra "Plugin-container" process for Flash videos that can occasionally consume 100% of your CPU and cause your Mac to freeze temporarily.

Something that's been introduced in more recent versions of Mozilla Firefox is Facebook integration. Firefox now supports Facebook's social API so you can have dedicated buttons for Facebook in your browser. Mozilla Firefox supports Facebook's Messenger within Firefox, giving users desktop notifications as well as a persistent friends list and activity feed on the right. Conversations will open up as overlays on top of whatever website you're on so you can multitask while you chat.

Mozilla Firefox 20 isn't a revolution in the development of Firefox, but there are some useful improvements that still make it a decent browser.

Download Mozilla Firefox for Mac 21.0 in Softonic

If you design websites across different platforms, then you need an editor that can keep up with you. Komodo Edit is not only cross platform but it's completely free to use.

Komodo Edit offers support for just about every language out there, including Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Tcl, plus JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and XML, and template languages, such as RHTML, Template-Toolkit, HTML-Smarty and Django.

Even though it's free, Komodo Edit doesn't skimp on features, and includes everything you'd expect, such as autocomplete, syntax coloring and syntax checking. Even better, it's a little like Firefox in that it supports extensions and plug-ins to extend it's capabilities.

This shouldn't come as a surprise however as Komodo Edit is built on Mozilla code and the same licensing rules as Firefox. All of the extensions have been created by the Komodo community so as with Firefox, you're spoiled for choice. The overall benefits of Komodo Edit is it should enable you to write code faster and shorten the coding learning curve for those that are new to it. As with Firefox however, the drawback to it is that if you overload it with add-ons, you may experience plugin conflicts that result in crashes and actually slow down your programming.

If you're looking for a web editor designed in the same spirit as Firefox, then Komodo Edit is an excellent choice.

Download Komodo Edit 8.0.0 in Softonic

Every now and then you need clean your Mac and get rid of cookies, logs or history. It'll ensure that your Mac isn't clogged with obsolete files and runs smoothly.

Mac Cleanse is a shareware program mainly focused on cleaning internet applications, like browsers. It provides a list of the applications you can clean, and clicking on a a name will open up a drop down menu of the elements you can check for deletion, such as cookies, downloads, or recent searches. The right side of the interface features an information panel with a description for the selected application, something which isn't really necessary.

We were a little confused by the way Mac Cleanse worked. The + and - buttons on the left won't let you add more applications to the cleanse list. Instead these let you create or remove custom selections of the applications in the list. The 'cleanse' button isn't very apparent either. You'll find it on the bottom right of the interface.

The good thing about Mac Cleanse though is that it lets you select and clean multiple applications quickly and safely, saving you lots of time.

Despite the slightly counterintuitive interface, Mac Cleanse is efficient at cleaning up multiple internet applications at once.

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Songbird is an open-source music player and organizer with which you can manage, play and discover music.

It's free, cross-platform and highly customizable thanks to a wide variety of plug-ins and can be improved and extended by the contribution of its user community. The first thing you'll notice about Songbird is its resemblance to the iTunes interface, which means that if you've ever used iTunes you won't have any problem in learning how to use Songbird.

Songbird automatically imports your music files from a selected folder, monitors that folder for future music additions, organizes your music in a handy, easily browsable catalog, is compatible with iTunes and Last.fm libraries, can be controlled from any other app thanks to global hotkeys and also supports Last.fm scrobbling. It also includes album art and a simple equalizer.

Songbird is such a complete tool that's hard to find negative sides to it. Plus there's an army of developers constantly working on improvements and new features. The only thing that's missing is support for podcasts. It should also be noted that with each new release of Songbird, your plugins may be broken by the new release.

Songbird is a complete, full-featured music player and organizer with support for plug-ins and an extensive user community.

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After three release candidates that gave us a sneak peek at their latest version of Firefox, the guys over at Mozilla present us with the next step in their never-ending development agenda: the final version of Firefox 3.5.

Firefox 3.5 hardly includes any outstanding features, at least regarding the browser's external appearance. Web developers though will be glad to know that the new Firefox supports CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties, has improved Web standards in the Gecko layout engine and now features a much more efficient Tracemonkey JavaScript engine, which means that websites will now load significantly faster.

But what about the average Firefox user who spend a few hours every day browsing the web? Well, there are certainly a few new features that make the new Firefox even easier and more comfortable to use. One of them is the Awesome bar, which has been improved and now accepts special characters with which you can filter and narrow your searches. Browsing history has also been enhanced, with new tools to clear browsing traces from just the past two or four hours, or from a specific website only thanks to the "Forget about this site" option.

Other interesting features included in Firefox 3.5 are the Private Browsing mode (which lets you browse the web without leaving any traces behind) and support for Open Video, which enables you to right-click on certain videos and access extended options to control,

Video integration has also been improved in this version of Firefox. When you open certain videos, you’ll able to right-click to display options that allow you to control, save or send the video, among others. Flash videos don't seem to be supported though.

The new Firefox 3.5 includes many new exciting features that will make your web browsing even more enjoyable.

Download Mozilla Firefox 3.6.28 in Softonic

Firefox Beta 19 adds a built-in PDF viewer so you don't have to rely on a plug-in. The other big update is that Firefox will offer to reset the URL bar for the default search provider if a third-party program changed it.

Smaller improvements include faster startup performance so the browser should open quicker. Developers also gained new features with the debugger supporting pausing on exceptions, the remote web console being able to connect to Firefox on Android or the Firefox OS, and a browser debugger add-on.

Firefox Beta 19 didn't add many major features, but continues the steady development of the browser.

For the stable version Firefox, click here.

Download Firefox Beta 19.0 in Softonic

Thunderbird is Mozilla's award winning and free solution to manage your mail more efficiently. And there are many advantages of switching to it too. Unlike Mail for example, it can handle virtual identities and create on-the-fly addresses and it's widely regarded as having one of the best spam filters out there. Most recently, it's been updated with a slick tabbed interface to make managing your e-mail easier.

The fact that like Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird can be beefed up with all manner of extensions makes it an extremely competitive mail client. It's also now much faster and more stable than before due to the Gecko 5 engine.

Getting going

Setting up Mozilla Thunderbird is painless. You can quickly import your mail and contacts from your Outlook or Mail account and set up POP3, IMAP or SMTP accounts in a flash. To stay well organized, Mozilla Thunderbird offers filters to deliver your mail into separate folders and inboxes. And of course, there's a built-in spell checker to make sure that your mails are professionally crafted.

What makes Mozilla Thunderbird slightly more unusual is the fact that it comes with an integrated RSS reader. Nowadays, this is a little outdated because many people use a separate application - or even Firefox itself - to follow RSS feeds but it may be useful if you only want to mail and follow RSS feeds at the same time when composing mails.

Searching your mail

The search tool in Thunderbird is excellent and searches happen in real time as you type. Search results are displayed in a separate tab. Tabs in general are a very big part of Thunderbird and like Firefox, you can have multiple messages open in separate tabs. This is a fantastic feature of Thunderbird, although does tempt you to have too many mails open at once. Archiving is also another handy feature for those that don't want to delete messages but want to clear space in their inbox.

So what about security? You might think an open source mail client would inherently be less secure than a paid one but Thunderbird is surprisingly secure, with a fairly bulletproof spam filter. The reason being is that Thunderbird is regularly updated and crafted by volunteers who's main interest is making a better product rather than profiting from an end-product. Security updates are regular but small so as not to slow-down Thunderbird.

Exchange support

One of the biggest selling points of Mozilla Thunderbird is, due to the launch of Snow Leopard, that it now offers Microsoft Exchange support, meaning it will appeal to Office users who previously discounted it. Whats more, Mozilla has finally given Thunderbird a real OS X look and feel rather than just a clone of the Windows version as in previous releases.

On the downside, the app is lacking some finesse in certain areas. Thunderbird still doesn't have conversation style email views like in Gmail (although an extension to do this can be downloaded separately) and there aren't many options for managing attachments and photos. There's also no calendar but again, this can be downloaded separately in the form of "Lightening".

Overall, Thunderbird is an excellent free alternative to Microsoft Outlook.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 17.0 in Softonic

Mozilla Archive Format is a simple Firefox extension which allows you to view MHT files within Firefox. Once installed, all you need to do is drag and drop MHT web pages into Firefox and they will render properly to that you can see the content. Mozilla Archive Format also works with to open web pages saved with other browsers as long as they are in MHT format.

Mozilla Archive Format also has the advantage of allowing you to save entire web pages in MHT format. This has a few advantages over Firefox's own built-in save page system as a complete page can be saved as a single file (i.e. web archive), you can name files using the title of the page (title save) and the saved pages are faithful to the original (exact save)

Mozilla Archive Format is an excellent extension for anyone that needs to open MHT files.

Download Mozilla Archive Format for Firefox in Softonic

The mobile OS space is already crowded with iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Blackberry but that's not stopping Mozilla from developing its own. Firefox OS Simulator will let you test out Mozilla's offering without the need for fancy hardware.

Firefox OS Simulator is in an early alpha but it proved to be very stable and usable. The emulator worked flawlessly and didn't crash. There are elements in the emulator that don't look quite right, such as text overlaid on top of other text. This may just be an early (and rough) build of the Firefox OS.

You can download apps from Mozilla's marketplace to test within the Firefox OS Simulator. Apps loaded quickly and functioned much as you would expect apps to function. These apps are basically web applications but feel like native apps.

The Firefox OS Simulator provides an early taste into Mozilla's latest mobile operating system but doesn't offer any features beyond a simulator.

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FlashGot is a free Mozilla Firefox (and Thunderbird) extension that's designed for people who do a lot of downloading. It can handle large numbers of batch downloads with its own download manager. This simple but powerful plugin can even handle batch downloads for many anonymous or redirected download link services such as depositfiles.com, fileserve.com, filesonic.com, hotfile.com, netload.in, rapidshare.com, uploading.com, uploaded.to, ul.to, zshare.com.

FlashGot is very easy to use, and has lots of customization options that means you'll be able to tweak it just to your liking - you can modify everything from what action takes place when you click a link to what options appear in the FlashGot menu. It also supports a vast number of download managers, which means that you can continue to use favorites like IDM and DAP.

No more clicking multiple links and "Save as" - FlashGot simply scans the page for downloadable links and then you select which ones you need.

Download FlashGot Plugin 1.4.8.6 in Softonic

As of this writing, Firefox is currently on version 15, which didn't bring many dramatic changes to the browser. Firefox 17 Aurora follows Firefox 15 with minor updates to its interface and lots of back end enhancements for developers. The biggest though, though, is that Firefox 16 Aurora prepares the browser for its web apps store that will compete with the Chrome web store.

Notable changes that users will see in Firefox 17 Aurora are a tweaked 'new tab' page. Thumbnails of the most visited sites will still be there. Mozilla added easier access to bookmarks, history, settings, add-ons, downloads, and sync preferences to the new home page.

The Awesomebar also receives a much needed update which brings instant URL completion and selects the first result automatically instead of forcing the user to press the down arrow, then enter. Previous versions of Firefox required an add-on to do this so it's nice to see Firefox 17 Aurora have it built in.

On the Mac version of Firefox 16 Aurora, VoiceOver is enabled by default.

All of this is preparation for a more stable beta release of Firefox 17 Aurora, which will be released on October 9th, 2012.

Overall, Firefox 17 Aurora is a stable test release for the upcoming version of Firefox which features preparations for its upcoming web apps store.

Download Firefox 17 Aurora 17.0 a2 in Softonic

Firefox is of course Mozilla's big success story but the Mozilla Foundation do a lot more than web browsers. The unusually named SeaMonkey is a Mozilla product which has lofty ambitions - to be a web browser, advanced email, newsgroup and feed client, IRC chat, and HTML editor in one.

If this sounds a bit much to pull off well you'd be right. SeaMonkey is a bit of an outdated concept nowadays and it's no surprise that it carried on the work that Netscape started many years ago. It's a lot to get right in one go but this latest release sees SeaMonkey finally brought in line with the demands of Internet users today. And you know from the start it can't be that bad - under the hood, SeaMonkey is based on the same Mozilla source code which powers such things as Firefox, Thunderbird, Camino, Sunbird and Miro.

The similarities of SeaMonkey with Firefox are obvious from the start - and with good reason. SeaMonkey 2.0 has been refurbished with a modern version of Firefox based on Firefox 3.5.4 and is now much closer to Firefox as far as user profiles, add-ons, and functionality of user interface elements are concerned. Tabs in SeaMonkey can now be reopened after they have been closed and the way passwords and usernames are handled has been overhauled. To select another part of the suite you want to use, just go to the 'Window' option in the Menu Bar and select either Browser, Mail and Newsgroups, Address Book, IRC Chat and Composer.

There are several other major improvements related to the mail client. Setting up an account is easy and retrieving email using the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) protocol is now faster and mail is synchronized by default by your Mac. And at long last, email accounts, folders, and messages can be viewed in tabs. In terms of looks, SeaMonkey has also been given a much better OS X theme which goes a long way to shaking off it's Windows heritage.

On the downside, some people feel that the new SeaMonkey has moved too far away from it's original Netscape origins in look, functionality and feel. The IRC chat client still looks very basic, techy and intimidating too. Also, it seems there is no basic import function to import passwords from earlier versions of SeaMonkey or even Firefox which is a bit annoying.

SeaMonkey will still probably only appeal to those who have used it from version 1.0, but there's no doubt that this latest release makes it a much more competitive and Mac friendly suite.

Download SeaMonkey 2.9.1 in Softonic

Looking for an alternative to Apple's Safari or Mozilla's Firefox? Then why not take a look at Mozilla's other offering, Camino.

Camino evolved from being a side project of Mozilla into a fully fledged open source browser for Mac. Built over the Mozilla architecture, it functions in a very similar way as Firefox, is as secure, yet offers a different sort of interface. The slight advantage over Firefox is that its much more lightweight and it won't eat up memory like the latter.

Camino offers a limited degree of customization allowing you to add, remove and reorder all the search engines your own way. As far as passwords go, Camino also integrates with Keychain for storing all your passwords and certificate. However, there are several drawbacks.

One of them is that browsing simply isn't as fast as in Firefox. It's not unusual to see the spinning wheel of death occasionally as Camino processes certain pages. In addition, I kept receiving a strange error message related to the disk image it was being run from which kept popping up. However, the main drawback, is that unlike Firefox, Camino doesn't offer addons so you can't customize it half as much.

If you're really sick of Firefox hogging your memory, then Camino might be for you but for most people used to the extendability and customization of Firefox, it's not exactly up to scratch.

Download Camino 2.1.1 in Softonic

Firefox 3 still remains a great browser for all those that can't get extensions to work with more recent versions of Firefox.

The main innovations in Firefox 3 were the options for anonymous browsing are the ability to reopen tabs that have been closed by mistake. There aren't really any revolutionary changes in Firefox 3.6. The look remains the same but some new features have been introduced.

Perhaps the most significant of all is that it comes with Personas already installed so you don't need to install the add-on. If you've never used it, Personas gives you a huge degree of flexibility over how you customize Firefox. Also now, if a plug-in is outdated, Firefox will warn you so that you can maintain security while browsing.

Firefox is now completely compatible with HTML5, and allows you to view high-definition video in full screen. And of course, Firefox 3.6 benefits from the latest version of the Gecko browser engine and improvements in running JavaScript. It still suffers from the perennial Firefox problem of memory leakage though.

Firefox 3.6 isn't a drastic change from 3.5, retaining the same appearance with the main differences being Personas now coming as standard, support of HD Full Screen video and some small technical changes.

Download Firefox 3 3.6.23 in Softonic

Note that to install Facebook Chat Emoticons Bar, you must install Greasemonkey, which allows scripts such as these to run in third party applications. Fortunately, there is a free extension for Mozilla Firefox that adds the scripts you need to run Facebook Chat Emoticons Bar.

After logging in to Facebook, Facebook Chat Emoticons Bar immediately appears in your chat dialog. Inserting them is easy and there's a far greater selection than the default ones provided by Facebook. However, if its not to your taste for some reason, try Facebook ChatBar which doesn't require the Greasemonkey scripts.

Facebook Chat Emoticons Bar is a fun way to add some cute emoticons to your Facebook conversations,

Download Facebook Chat Emoticons Bar 0.0.17 for Firefox in Softonic

Like its more powerful version, Speed Download Lite sports the same glossy interface and gives you immediate control over all your downloads. The best way to browse through your content, apart from the search box, is the left side of the interface. You can view your library elements, servers, folders and specific searches. To keep the application running but have it out of the way, simply use the mini-controller.

Speed Download Lite also offers the same iTunes-like Minimized mode with user controlled color picker, a bandwidth throttle and even control over individual file scheduling. It's advisable that you use the file scheduling feature when doing lots of downloading as Speed Download Lite can take up a lot of RAM otherwise. Most recently, Speed Download Lite has been updated to work with Firefox 4 meaning it integrates perfectly with Mozilla's latest browser.

Speed Download Lite is a great download manager for anyone that does a lot of downloading.

Download Speed Download Lite 1.1.24 in Softonic

HTTPS Everywhere works by activating HTTPS on a selection of common websites, in other words, the secure 'safe mode' instead of the more usual HTTP. This encrypts your information, making it much more difficult for hackers or snoopers to detect what you are browsing.

Currently, HTTPS Everywhere works on Google Search, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, most of Amazon, GMX, Wordpress.com blogs, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Paypal, EFF, Tor, and Ixquick. If you are technically oriented, however, you can write your own ruleset, so there's no need to be limited to the default sites. Additionally, you can enable or disable HTTPS Everywhere for individual sites under Tools > Add-ons > Options. However, if you don't have any technical knowledge, you may find this tricky.

HTTPS Everywhere is a simple but effective way to keep yourself secure when browsing the web.

Download HTTPS Everywhere 0.9.2 in Softonic

Obviously to use the service you'll have to sign up with a username and password. It's not going to be much fun unless your friends are on it too though, so you'll have to convince them all to use Firefox and install BuddyFox too.

The chat window - and chats - are very simple. There are three statuses, Online, Away and Appear Offline, but beyond that your only configuration options are what color your username is and the ability to create groups. BuddyFox also allows you integrate your Skype account, so you can call contacts from within the messenger.

Anybody who uses a messenger client on a regular basis will find BuddyFox very limited. Even though separating the IM client from the desktop gives you more flexibility, the compromise you make in terms of functionality seems to be a step too far.

BuddyFox is a minimalist messenger client for Firefox, but some will think it's too pared down.

Download BuddyFox Firefox add-on 1.0.2 in Softonic

Firefox Sync is a Firefox extension that started off as a Mozilla Labs experiment but has now become a popular add on with over a million downloads from the Mozilla site. It basically enables you to sync browser data across multiple computers and devices.

Once you install it in Firefox and create a user account, you're ready to go. Note that you can create a Firefox Sync account using the developer's own servers or you can elect to choose your own personal server if that feels safer for you.

Firefox Sync lets you easily synchronize browser data between multiple instances of Firefox installed on different computers or mobile devices. You can choose which elements you want to sync (such as bookmarks, history, tabs, passwords and user preferences) and also in which direction they should be synced – that is, merging data between your local computer and the server, from your local computer to the server, or vice versa.

Firefox Sync is great not only to maintain all your bookmarks and other data updated between different instances of Firefox, but also to keep a backup copy in case something goes wrong with your browser.

On the downside, Firefox Sync's configuration options are not easy to tweak. For instance, if you want to change the syncing method, you need to log out and log back into the server again. You need to be aware of this, because otherwise you may overwrite the data server with an unwanted local copy.

Firefox Sync is a useful Firefox extension that lets you sync bookmarks, passwords, tabs, user preferences and browsing history between different computers.

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FoxyTunes brings yet another string to Firefox's bow giving you even less reason to leave the browser and do other things. FoxyTunes supports more than 30 media players with new ones being added all the time plus it also works with other Mozilla releases such as Thunderbird, SeaMonkey and Flock.

You can place FoxyTunes anywhere in the browser - on the status bar or on one of the toolbars. It features a volume control and even a slider to skip your track along. However, it does not allow you to see the track listings which would be a useful addition in the next release. Because you never have to refer to your audio player, you can lose track of what you're playing and which tracks are coming up next.

FoxyTunes provides an easy way to control a music player from Firefox although it can never replace the convenience of having a dedicated media player.

Download FoxyTunes for Firefox 4.2.3.1 in Softonic