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Netscape patches get up-to-date

Joris Evers CNET News.com

Published: 20 Oct 2005 09:55 BST

Netscape on Wednesday released a new version of Netscape 8 to bring the Web browser up to date on security patches with Firefox, the code of which forms the basis for AOL's browser.

Netscape 8.0.4 includes the fixes that have been made in the Firefox browser, according to the update's release notes. That means it has all patches through Firefox version 1.0.7, which was made available by Mozilla last month.

Netscape typically trails Mozilla by a few weeks when it comes to security updates. The company revamped its browser in August to catch up to July fixes in Firefox.

The latest update fixes nine vulnerabilities, including a flaw in the way the browser handles Internationalised Domain Names, which are Web addresses that use international characters. The bug could let attackers run code remotely on vulnerable computers.

The Netscape 8 update is the fifth since the software was launched in May. Users can expect an update warning in their browsers.

Netscape 8 is a "hybrid" Web browser. It uses Firefox's Gecko rendering, but users can also switch to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser engine if a Web site does not display well.

HP plans to deliver Netscape preinstalled on new consumer desktops and notebooks starting early next year. The agreement, announced early this month, is the first browser distribution deal with a major PC maker since the end of the browser wars in the 1990s, according to Netscape.

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Why do so many (virtually all) software packages think that they are so important that they have to be started automatically every time the computer boots? What is the largest number of "speed access", "update check", "camera download" and whatever other background programs you have ever seen running? Of those, how many did you really need?