Mozilla has recently upgraded the Firefox browser to version 1.5.0.4, this release is mostly related to security issues so it’s safe to say: a must download if you want to stay secured.

Thunderbird, the e-mail/RSS solution provided by Mozilla, also received an upgrade to fix crashing situations and security problems.

But, what about the memory leak fix that many Firefox users have been waiting for? Is it a myth? Should I call the Myth Busters? Can Firefox and memory leakage coexist?

From personal experience, the memory leak which makes the computers memory go up and the performance go down is a pain in the ass and not a myth. It can be caused by:

• multiple tabs open – this happens to me a lot
• extensions that don’t work properly – not really
• simply using the browser for a couple of hours – happens sometimes

There is no info when this bug is going to be repaired, but lets hope its soon enough. Maybe in Firefox 1.3?

Anyway, at slashdot there are some comments that should be added on the “To Do List” of firefox, a list of problems that needs attention:

- And I *still* can’t find text within a textbox…
- It created it’s own user profile and is ignoring my old one. Now I have to re-enter all my passwords to sites, import my bookmarks and re-install all my extensions.
- When they fix the Windows Media Player plugin for the MacBook (Intel) then I’ll be impressed.
- Considering that privacy and security are big concerns for every large software project these days, I believe that Firefox’s default update setting should be changed. If you go to Tools –> Options –> Advanced –> Update, and you haven’t changed your default settings, you will find that it is set to “Automatically download and install the update”. Even Microsoft wouldn’t do this, so why is it acceptable in Firefox? It should default to “Ask me what I want to do.”, and during the first update, a checkbox should be provided asking the user if he wants automatic updates from then on.

Download Firefox 1.5.0.4
Download Thunderbird 1.5.0.4

Via Slashdot