Firefox has long been a top contender in the seemingly age-old battle of the browsers.  With its flexibility, stability, security, and ease of use, many people have jumped onto the Firefox bandwagon.  Another great feature of Firefox is the fact that Mozilla makes a constant and consistent effort to keep it up-to-date and working on the latest platforms, from mobile to PC to Mac.  Mozilla has done it again, releasing a new beta version of Firefox, dubbed Firefox 3.6 beta 1.  Among the numerous changes that have been made for this version, the most noticeable are the changes that help Firefox integrate more smoothly with Windows 7.  As one of the newest and most popular PC operating systems, Microsoft's Windows 7 is bound to be on millions of computers around the world and Firefox doesn't want to miss the runaway train.  Read on for some of the updates on Firefox 3.6 beta 1 that help with Windows 7 integration and compatibility.

Integrating Firefox functionality into Windows 7's Aero Peek

Some of the features that make Windows 7 such a joy to use are those that contribute to its intuitive interface and the new Firefox beta takes full advantage of these features.  Firefox 3.6 beta 1 is now fully compatible with the Aero Peek feature of the revamped Windows 7 taskbar.  When you hover your mouse over the Firefox icon on your taskbar, the Aero Peek feature will kick in, showing small displays of the tabs that you have open in your Firefox window.  The preview displays shrink as you open more tabs, ensuring that you can catch a glance of all the tabs you have open.  This feature is extremely useful, because you can easily view all of the open tabs and click on the one that you want to bring to the front of your display.

Getting total control over your Firefox browsing

Another useful feature of Firefox 3.6 beta 1 is the updated Control + Tab tool, which gives you full control over your open tabs.  When you have three or more tabs open and you use the CTRL + Tab hotkey, Firefox will open a preview pane of your open tabs.  Done in the Aero-look that Windows 7 is popular for, this CTRL + Tab functionality allows you to view and select open tabs without having to use the Aero Peek function mentioned above.  You can also activate another hotkey triggered by the Control + Shift + Tab buttons.  The CTRL + Shift + Tab hotkey brings up a similar Aero-style preview of your open tabs, with an added search bar feature.  The search bar allows you to search through the tabs that you have open by typing in all or part of the name of the tab you are looking for.  The list will then filter your tabs according to your search so you can find the exact tab you need at any given time.

Just recently, developers who use Mozilla Firefox found out that they cannot access certain Microsoft applications and plug-ins because of security issues. Two Microsoft plug-ins that have been blocked by Firefox were the .Net Framework Assistant, which has been unblocked just recently, and the Windows Presentation Foundation.

The reason behind Firefox's actions

According to Firefox, the reason why they blocked certain Microsoft applications is that Microsoft's .Net 3.5 SP1 install secretly adds a suspicious plug-in to the Firefox browser, leading to a launch of a malware, specifically an XAML browser app that can manipulate infected computers.

Microsoft's .Net Framework Assistant was originally blocked by Firefox. But after talking to Microsoft engineers, Firefox unblocked the program.  Firefox has learned that this specific Microsoft application doesn't open Firefox users to malicious threats and malware.  Because Microsoft provided a vulnerability patch for the users of the .Net Framework Assistant and Windows Presentation Foundation, the former was quickly unblocked by Firefox.  As for the Windows Presentation Foundation, it is still unclear whether this would be unblocked or not by Firefox.  Windows Presentation Foundation is a Microsoft application used by web developers to create applications through various Microsoft technologies such as Silverlight.  Currently, Firefox software engineers are still looking for an alternative to this problem.

How Firefox users found out about these blockades

Majority of home users may not have noticed any changes other than a warning about the suspicious Microsoft app when they opened up their Firefox browsers. However, some users may have dealt with apps that won't function right. Also, there may be certain developers who may have had trouble in gaining access to custom design capabilities and applications through Mozilla Firefox as a result of the blockade.

Microsoft's questionable apps and programs

Unfortunately for Microsoft, this is not the first time that their attention is called upon due to their programs that secretly install apps into the browser. The first time was when Microsoft actually included the Framework Assistant add-on in a .Net application framework service pack without giving the users proper warning.

What home users and web developers can expect from the blockade issue

Some may say that Firefox's reaction to the .Net Framework Assistant was over the top. However, Firefox responded promptly by unblocking the program. Despite the security threats provided by Microsoft's actions, engineers of Firefox and Microsoft seem to be working well together to offer alternatives and solutions to developers and home users that were affected by the blocking of certain Microsoft programs and applications.

For developers who use the Windows Presentation Foundation, they may have to wait awhile before this program could be unblocked by Firefox.  Microsoft and Firefox are both still in discussion as to whether the Windows Presentation Foundation will be soon unblocked.