Firefox Version 49.0 Released with Critical Security Updates

Mozilla sent Firefox Version 49.0 to the release channel today.  The update is a major release and includes four (4) critical, ten (10) high, two (2) moderate and two (2) low security updates. 
Detailed information about the security updates is available at Security vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox 49 — Mozilla.

The next scheduled release is November 8, 2016.

Firefox ESR will continue to ship point releases on the same day that Firefox ships and can be downloaded from here and has been updated to Version 45.4.0.

New

• Updated Firefox Login Manager to allow HTTPS pages to use saved HTTP logins. It’s one more way Firefox is supporting Let’s Encrypt and helping users transition to a more secure web.
  
• Added features to Reader Mode that make it easier on the eyes and the ears
  
  • Controls that allow users to adjust the width and line spacing of text
  • Narrate, which reads the content of a page out loud
• Improved video performance for users on systems that support SSSE3 without hardware acceleration
  
• Added context menu controls to HTML5 audio and video that let users loops files or play files at 1.25x speed
  
• Enhancements for Mac users
  
  • Improved performance on OS X systems without hardware acceleration
  • Improved appearance of anti-aliased OS X fonts
• Improvements in about:memory reports for tracking font memory usage
  
• Improve performance on Windows systems without hardware acceleration
  

Fixed

• Fixed an issue that prevented users from updating Firefox for Mac unless they originally installed Firefox. Now, those users as well as any user with administrative credentials can update Firefox.
  

Changed

• Ended Firefox for Mac support for OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8.
  
• Ended Firefox for Windows support for SSE processors
  
• Removed Firefox Hello
  
• Re-enabled the default for Graphite2 font shaping
  

Update

To get the update now, select "Help" from the Firefox menu at the upper left of the browser window, then pick "About Firefox."  Mac users need to select "About Firefox" from the Firefox menu. If you do not use the English language version, Fully Localized Versions are available for download.

References

• Common questions after updating Firefox
• Security Updates
• Mozilla Firefox Release Notes
• Bug Fixes  
• Update Release Schedule for 2016

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