Mozilla just launched the latest update to its popular Firefox browser. This new version (3.6.4) introduces a number of stability and security fixes, but most importantly, Firefox now protects Windows and Linux users from browser crashes when the Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime or Microsoft Silverlight plugins freeze.
Instead of taking the browser down with them, the plugins now run in a separate process and while they can still crash, this won’t lead to a full-blown browser crash anymore. Instead, users will simply see a gray background where the Flash, QuickTime or Silverlight content was supposed to be.
Only for Windows and Linux So Far – OSX Crash Protection Coming in Firefox 4
This crash protection feature is not available for Mac OSX users yet. According to Mozilla, “the technology used for crash protection requires major changes to Firefox on Mac OS X.” Crash protection will be available for OSX in Firefox 4, however. Mozilla also plans to add support for additional plugins in future Firefox releases.
While Mozilla didn’t specify how often these plugins lead to browser crashes, Mozilla’s Director of Firefox Mike Beltzner notes that “Firefox 3.6.4 will significantly reduce the number of Firefox crashes experienced by users who are watching online videos or playing games.”
Crash Protection as a Default Feature in Modern Browsers
Crash protection is slowly becoming a standard feature for most browsers. Google’s Chrome, for example, also protects users from plugin crashes by running every tab in a separate process and Apple has offered a similar crash protection feature since the release of Safari 4. Google also plans to ship a special version of Flash with its browser in the near future. This, according to Google, will allow the company to ensure that Flash works well in its browser and that users always run an up-to-date and secure version of Adobe’s plugin.
