Firefox 3.5 Portable Available For Download

@GrantMcPhee: An update. What I decided to do in the end, was copy my entire custom profile for the installed version of FF 3.5, right over top of the default profile in the Portable version. All works fine. It even *seems* to be as lively as 3.0.11 is / was. There is a definite improvement in how PFF runs on this machine, now that it's using the exact same network settings as the installed versions.

paintbox

@Al Iguana: It narrowed it down to either Cooliris or Jetpack killing 3.5. (I run 30+ plugins so it took a while). I suspect Jetpack.

@GrantMcPhee: Hey thanks! I had never thought to check the network cache settings in any of the portable versions I've tried. I think I assumed that the problem was there and there to stay and somehow baked in as permanent. I will have a go at 3.5 portable soon. Maybe this will get rid of the speed problem once and for all. Cheers and happy lifehacking.

paintbox

@sbolton: I do the same thing!

I sync my gmail email's over to thunderbird every week or so, and then I've always got my emails with me, wherever I go ;P

Ahh sweet! I'm definitely downloading this version and whacking it on my usb. Thanks.

Yay! I am trying out using portable Firefox to run Zotero, so that all my data are on a high-capacity thumb drive. Low tech I know, but I had some major problems getting Windows Live to sync between desktop and laptop, and this is the elegant (and cheap) solution.

thirdfury

@AlexDancho: If you don't need it then you don't need it. I'm a grad student and I use several different computers every day (the computer in the class i teach in, the computer labs, my gaming computer, and my laptop). Sure I can customize my personal computers but I can't customize the computers owned by the university. They don't have the extensions I like. Sometimes the browser is out of date or broken. Sometimes things like flash are screwed up. It is just easier to plug in my usb drive on the school computers and use a version of the browser customized to my preferences and that i know works than it is to struggle with a vanilla or broken one.

@paintbox: I believe it may have something to do with the cache settings, found in Tools--> Options --> Advanced --> Network tab. The portable version probably has this setting at 0 MB whereas the HDD version has it at, say, 50 MB.

GrantMcPhee

@atomicrabbit: it finally works. Seems like SF got off their asses finally!

atomicrabbit

I don't know much about portable apps. except I have used Thunderbird portable for a long time now for backing up gmail, Outlook Express, and Outlook 2007. I can carry this email on a flash drive and there are many other uses. I love that particular portable app.

sbolton

What keeps happening with me is that the portable versions of Firefox are always slower. It has never failed. On the local hdd, the (installed) version is always faster to get going, faster for browsing. I don't know why that is, but it is. And how much laggier will it be on any of my thumb drives? A lot. That's my guess. Anyone else have this problem with FF?

paintbox

Looks like SourceForge.net is back up for downloads as of about 5pm NY time.

Major Geeks has a mirror up.
[majorgeeks.com]

@strang: It's a beautiful thing!!!

@CharmPeddler: It's a browser just like other browsers, so he would "see" all network traffic from it. If he has a firewall device like a Barracuda, or anything that's loggin Internet activity, then yes, he knows EXACTLY where you've been through that connection. And all he needs is administrator rights, and he can "see" pretty much anything on your machine be it "installed" or portable.

Most businesses don't care about occasional personal email and news browsing. The typical intent of Internet use policies is to reduce bandwidth abuse, reduce liability, and to try to ensure that the employees remain productive. The best action is to find out what your company's policy is and adhere to it. If you decide to not comply, then you had better be prepared to accept any potential consequences.

@AlexDancho: "portable" app. Means you're not locked to one PC, it's portable :P

@AlexDancho: For some, it's convenience, for others, its somewhat out of principle. So many Windows-based applications install themselves ALL OVER THE PLACE and when you try to uninstall, they almost NEVER clean up after themselves completely. Registry settings, temporary directories, hidden files--the list goes on.

Well-designed portable applications, on the other hand, (typically) reside exclusively in a single directory tree enabling quick and easy access, moving, and deleting.

Want to move or copy the application to another directory, drive, network share, or computer? Just copy it to the new location, and you're up and running. Want to "uninstall"? Just delete the directory and it's gone.

Just know that not all portable applications are completely "clean" in that sometimes the DO drop files and registry entries into often hard-to-find places.

I was using portable version 3.x, and when i clicked "Check for Updates" yesterday, it found them and installed them. As far as I know, everything installed into my portable directory tree.

Is there really any reason to download the latest version if the existing version will update?

@AlexDancho: Perfect example: my work doesnt allow us to install programs, so I've loaded Portable firefox onto a flash drive and i have full access to all my bookmarks, history, previous tabs, and auto fill for forms.

i also have dreamweaver, aMSN, filezilla, Nero, and the VLC Media Player. i can take this flash drive ANYWHERE and have all my programs/files on hand, same as if i was home on my own computer. i literaly dont leave home with out em.

@Al Iguana: Try disabling the new JavaScript engine "TraceMonkey". Open about:config and set the pref "javascript.options.jit.content" to false. You should consider reporting this bug.

Phil_768

I don't mean that to be snarky by the way, I just don't get it.

AlexDancho

You know, I never really understood the "portable apps" concept. What's the point?

AlexDancho

@Dr.Jeckyl: sourceforge has been having issues with their download pages since at least yesterday. it's been annoying the fuck outta me. I was trying to download subversion server and tortoiseSVN yesterday and a few other apps that I needed ASAP and couldn't.

For a site that thrives on downloads of open source files/apps, SF is definitely screwing the pooch on this. They're taking their sweet ass time to fix it. >:(

atomicrabbit

i've been using Portable FF for awhile now, and love it. one question though, with it being portable and "not leaving a footprint" on that comp, what if any can/could my IT guy actually see? history (through server?), pages, downloads? anything?

They are having download issues. From their page:

Please note that there are ongoing download issues with SourceForge.net due to configuration issues with their site. Some files will not be available at some times. We apologize for the inconvenience.

bigbill25

Anyone have a direct link to the download? My work computer seems to not like sourceforge this morning.

Much appreciated.

My copy of FF Portable 3.0.11 just automatically updated when I started it.

@jkrell: Nope. You can install a new version or the same version of any of the apps from PortableApps.com over itself and it'll work just fine. All data and settings will be preserved. We call it an 'in-place upgrade'. :-)

@HurtsSoGood: Yes, it would be good for that, especially with the new privacy mode.

jkrell

@John T. Haller: Good point. I've used the auto-update feature since beta 3 but it might make sense to do a reinstall -- it is not as if it is difficult. Any harm to auto-updating and then installing the new PortableApps.com version (of the same FF version) right over top of it?

jkrell

Hopefully BitBlinder's copy of portable Firefox that's shipped with it is updated to 3.5 along with some AdBlock Plus built-in (hopefully).

AtomFury

@jkrell: Yes and No. There are still a couple issues with the automatic update. And it's a good idea to install a new copy from PortableApps.com now and then even if you auto-update to get any updates made to our launcher (occasional bug fixes, tweaks for certain extensions, etc).

I used to have Prodigy Classic set up to run on a Zip disk so I could look at pr0n without any of it ending up on the hard drive. This sounds pretty damned cool.

@Al Iguana: I'd guess a buggy plugin or extension. I use Firefox 3.5 on all those sites without issue. Try starting it up in safe mode (for local installs, run firefox.exe -safe-mode from the command line. for the portable one, run FirefoxPortable.exe -safe-mode from the command line) and see if it works properly. You can also install a new copy of the portable one alongside an existing portable one or a local one (even directly to your Desktop) and troubleshoot that way since its settings are independent.

Yeah, this was actually up two days ago (Tuesday) but there were some problems with Sourceforge. Pretty sweet, although now that the Firefox update feature works, you shouldn't have to worry about when PortableApps.com updates with the new versions.

jkrell

@forpeterssake: It's always nice when you can use good technology at work, instead of the crap they normally force you to use.

RenegadeIrishman

Having issues with 3.5. Every time I go on Facebook, or Gmail, (or anything else overly java-scripty) Firefox locks up. Infact, my whole computer does. I have to kill Firefox to get control back. Didn't happen with 3.0.* . Buggy plugins, buggy javascript, or buggy Firefox?

Thanks for the post! Don't forget to mention that it's now available in Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish (Spain) and Spanish (International). And we'll be adding more languages to later releases in the 3.5.x line!

It went up yesterday, and I pounced. I use Firefox Portable at work, and the Release Candidate had a few quirks, so I was glad to get the stable release.

forpeterssake