Mozilla Releases Firefox 87

Firefox 87 adds improvements to Private Browsing and Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection and various other security and functional additions.

“Today, with the launch of Firefox 87, we are excited to introduce SmartBlock, a new intelligent tracker blocking mechanism for Firefox Private Browsing and Strict Mode,” Mozilla’s Thomas Wisniewski writes. “SmartBlock ensures that strong privacy protections in Firefox are accompanied by a great web browsing experience.”

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

SmartBlock has to straddle the line between effectively blocking web trackers and allowing the web to continue to function normally, Mozilla says, and it basically fixes webpages that are broken by Firefox’s tracking protection in a way that doesn’t compromise user privacy. It does so by providing local stand-ins for blocked third-party tracking scripts to ensure that the website works properly.

In addition to SmartBlock, Firefox 87 includes a new default HTTP Referrer policy that trims path and query string information from referrer headers to prevent sites from accidentally leaking sensitive user data. There’s a new “Highlight All” feature in Find in Page that now displays tick marks alongside the scrollbar corresponding to the location of search matches on the page. And it supports VoiceOver, the screen reader built-in to macOS.

You can download Firefox from the Firefox website.

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 8 comments

  • jumpingjackflash5

    24 March, 2021 - 9:52 am

    <p>Love is in the air, everywhere I look around …</p>

  • xperiencewindows

    24 March, 2021 - 2:50 pm

    <p>Those buttons look terrible</p>

    • Jester

      24 March, 2021 - 5:13 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#619927"><em>In reply to xperiencewindows:</em></a></blockquote><blockquote><em>Must be a add-on font. I'm on 87 and it looks the same as before. </em></blockquote>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        25 March, 2021 - 3:31 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#619961">In reply to Jester:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, same here. It looks like a typical Windows application. I'm assuming that is some Linux desktop theme that "bolds" the icons…</p>

  • kevin_costa

    24 March, 2021 - 4:25 pm

    <p>Still light context menus in dark mode… Firefox developers and Windows developers, are they the same?</p>

    • MikeCerm

      24 March, 2021 - 10:01 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#619951">In reply to Kevin_Costa:</a></em></blockquote><p>Windows has dark context menus in dark mode. </p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC