It's the day that Mozilla released Firefox 3, a new and improved version of its free web browser that has become the biggest rival of Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

I've been using Firefox as my 'browser of choice' for just about as long as I can remember.

I originally made the switch because it had a built in RSS reader long before Explorer ever thought about it.

A creature of habit, I've stuck with FF ever since, even though I now use Blogbridge to organise my RSS feeds.

People have been looking forward to this new release because it's designed to adapt to the individual's online activities.

So the more you use the browser, the faster, more secure and easier it is to customise.

As part of Mozilla's launch strategy, they planned an attempt to set a world record for downloads in one day. It started at 10 a.m.

Pacific time when Firefox 3 was officially released and the 24-hour race into the Guinness Book of World Records was on.

But with the global fan base for Firefox, it didn't take long for things to start to go wrong.

Within an hour of the launch, the deluge of traffic was threatening to sink the effort.

The company said that, at its peak, traffic for the new browser hit 14,000 downloads per minute.

And after only two and half hours, the massive rush caused a download speeds to slow to a trickle and the download site crashed. But the team at Mozilla were furiously working behind the scenes to get things up and running.

At the time of writing it's too soon to know if the world record has been broken, but it looks good.

Once downloaded, Firefox users are greeted by a browser that not only has had a major face lift, it's chock full of new features and cools tools to make surfing the web easier, faster and more secure. The coolest new tool is something that Mozilla is calling 'The Awesome Bar'. And it is actually pretty awesome.

As you begin to type in a destination it suggests a list Web addresses based on your own browsing history and on frequency and 'recentness'.

I played around with it for a few minutes as soon as the download was complete (that took much less than a minute) and the suggestions were pretty much accurate right from the start.

I think it has potential to change browsing habits fundamentally. I may never have to use the triple w again.

I typed in 'Isle of Man' and suggestions included my bank, the newspaper and my own website. Then I was taken directly to the bank's site. Handy! It will cut my time on Google significantly, I think.

Also, Firefox 3 automatically updated with all my various toolbars.

Google, StumbleUpon and RoboForm are all there where I'm used to finding them. There is one exception though. Del.icio.us has disappeared so I'll have to re-install that.

But what has always made Firefox stand out are all the cool plugins and add ons that you can get to suit your own specific needs.

I've been using Twitterfox for a couple of months now and would be lost with out it. It allows me to follow and participate in my microblogging community almost effortlessly.

However the most popular add-on is Adblock Plus which gets rid of ads and banners so you can surf without having to see a commercial message.

Video Downloadhelper makes it easy to download and organise both video and audio files.

DownThemAll! is similar, but also greatly improves the speed of downloads. There are 4,995 Firefox add ons in all, so you'll be sure to find something to suit your needs.

To make these downloads manageable, there is the Firefox 3 Download Manager which couldn't be simpler to use.

Just click on any downloaded item and you can open the file and folders, go to the download page copy the link, and away you go. It's a great tool to keep on top of upgrades.

But the thing I love most about Firefox 3 is its speed. It's twice as fast as its predecessor and 9X faster than Explorer. Blinking is quicker, but that's about it. And when you spend as much time online as I do, speed is everything.

Would I ever use Explorer again? Well yes, but not often.

Some sites do have browser compatibility issues and are best viewed with IE.

I that will probably change as the rest of the world migrates to Firefox 3!


>>Sherrilynne Starkie is the managing partner of Strive Public Relations, a strategic communications consultancy serving the Isle of Man. Visit her business blog, Strive Notes for frequent updates www.strivepr.com/wordpress or follow her on twitter.com/sherrilynne.