Netscape Navigator 9 beta 1

Platform Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Type freeware
Manufacturer Netscape Communications
Size 5.56MB
Free download

Netscape Navigator 9 may just give Netscape a fighting chance of some sort of comeback. Maybe. The new look is certainly an improvement, and it offers a richer browsing experience, with much faster page rendering. It's based around the existing Mozilla Firefox engine, so shares many of the latest enhancements of the Firefox browser. It also means that Netscape Navigator supports the existing Firefox add-ons, extensions and more. Effectively, this is a version of Firefox with a custom theme.

There are some new and different features. For instance, Netscape Navigator 9 will attempt URL correction, if you enter an incorrect URL. Enter www.googlecom and it will recognise that this should be www.google.com, without you having to make changes yourself.

News and news tracking is built in to the browser, so you can keep track of the latests news, info and blog from within Navigator. Other minor new features include the ability to resize text boxes within forms on a website, tab history, better import functions and much more.

Note this is the first public preview of the forthcoming Netscape Navigator 9, so you shouldn't probably use it as your primary browser until the final release.