In brief: New version of Mozilla released

Also: St. Bernard offers free Microsoft patch alert e-mail service

• The Mozilla Foundation last week released a new version of its open source Web browser with improvements to its download manager, extension and bookmark handling. With its new name, Firefox, it is aimed at skirting trademark complaints with the Firebird open source database project. Firefox improves on its predecessor with a new download manager aimed at tracking multiple downloads, easier bookmark handling, a new installer for Windows users and improved handling of extensions, Mozilla said. Mozilla members have created more than 200 extensions or small software applications that can be downloaded to increase the browser’s features, including an ad banner remover and a spell-checker. The group also released a preview of its Mozilla Thunderbird  e-mail application. Thunderbird 0.5 can synchronize address books with devices from Palm, secure password authentication for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and POP3 mail clients and includes an upgraded spell-checker and dictionary.

• Patch management vendor St. Bernard Software has launched a free opt-in e-mail service to alert users to the latest Microsoft security patches and critical updates. Users do not have to be customers of St. Bernard to sign up for the service. The company also has a new Web site for its subscribers that shows which recently announced patches have been added to its patch management database. Instructions for subscribing to the free e-mail service are available on the company’s Web site. The Patch Update Web page is here .