Mozilla on Tuesday releases the newest version of Firefox, complete with a variety of features and improvements. One of those many changes is the ability for internet users to automatically prevent websites from playing videos and sounds right off the bat.
Time For Some Peace And Quiet
Labeled Firefox 66, the latest Mozilla Firefox update is now available for download across platforms. It comes with a feature that automatically blocks autoplay videos that have sound. Firefox users may identify certain websites that they primarily use for watching videos, and include them in the list of exceptions.
However, websites that autoplay videos without sounds, such as Facebook, will still work normally. Services that put new videos in cue such as Netflix would not be affected either. In addition, the new update will also prevent certain slow loading ads from popping up, which can be quite annoying for users.
Aside from the auto disable of autoplay videos, Firefox 66 also has some minor improvements under the hood. There is a new search box through open tabs, and users can now use scroll anchoring to keep the content stable.
Lastly, Mozilla's newest update will bring WebAuthn support for Windows Hello. Soon, this will allow consumers to use Microsoft's advanced security features such as PINs, security keys, fingerprints, and facial recognition.
Better Late Than Never
The latest Firefox version does not actually offer anything new at the table, especially after Google launched a similar feature for Chrome 66 last year. By default, it only allowed 1,000 popular websites to autoplay videos, although users can change that autoplay setting. However, Google's auto-disable feature was more complex to tweak, and it ultimately led to a few problems in some web games and apps.
This move comes at a time where Mozilla aims to rebrand Firefox and finally step up its game amid competition.
