Mozilla is trumpeting several adjustments to its popular Firefox browser that accelerate the speed at which users can surf the Internet -- including tweaks in the release candidate that run JavaScript three times faster than the previous Firefox installment and a halving of time spent on page loads and manipulation.

The latest release candidate for Firefox comes in flavors for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X and Linux. The browser has several new features for the privacy crowd, including a private-browsing mode and the ability to erase all traces of visiting either a specific Web site or for several hours of recent surfing activity.

The new release candidate also jacks up the multimedia bells and whistles, integrating open-source video and audio playback into the browser itself. New navigation architecture includes location-based browsing, the ability to "undo" the closing of a window and a feature that lets users convert a tabbed window into a new, stand-alone window.