The Statusbar is gone, never to return.

See this for information about Link Previews.
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/what-happened-status-bar#w_what-do-link-previews-look-like

The Statusbar is gone, never to return.

Thank you. Knowing that, I will NOT be downgrading from the 3.xxx versions of Firefox to any of the new "at risk" versions. Firefox used to be a very secure browser and well recommended but dropping such basic security measures from the package makes it a complete fail. Now I understand why it's been so difficult to find an answer to this in the knowledge base.

You can use this extension to get the Status Bar back:

• Status-4-Evar: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/

EASY. Follow these instructions: http://www.wlug.net/3072/enable-status-bar-in-firefox-6/

Thanks for your help, people, but I have to assume that if the writers of Firefox could come up with something so glaringly -wrong- as to ignore the need for a status bar, then I can't possibly trust the security of anything else in the package either. The more I look at the new version and how it works, the less I'd have wanted to be stuck with using it anyway (don't like the look, don't like the complexity, don't see any of the changes as improvements) but I would've switched to the new version for increased security. The problem is that I can't trust the new version's security either - and even less so now that I'm hearing rumors that Firefox is leeching information to be passed straight to Google. All I can ask is "what ELSE is it doing?"

Getting started with Firefox

• http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/central/

Firefox 6.0 Security features

• http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/security/

Common Questions after Updating Firefox

• https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/common-questions-after-updating-firefox

In Firefox 4 and later you no longer have the Status bar that showed the padlock in previous Firefox versions.
The padlock only shows that there is a secure connection and doesn't guarantee that you are connected to the right server.
So you might still be connected to the wrong server if you make a typo in the URL and someone has claimed that mistyped URL.
The functionality of the padlock has been replaced by the How do I tell if my connection to a website is secure? on the left end of the location bar.

See also:

• http://www.dria.org/wordpress/archives/2008/05/06/635/
• https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Site+Identity+Button
• http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/security/identity/

You can use this extension to get a padlock on the location bar.

• Padlock: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/padlock-icon/

Why does Mozilla wish to force everyone to switch to Chrome, Like the previous Netscape did with Internet Explorer. Speeding up the browser by removing essential items, only to have them needing to be replaced by a plug in is just plain bad.

The primary function is still there, you still see the URL when mousing over a link, but it's just a popup text field that could appear on the left or right depending on what other bars are open.

It should make phishing easier anyway if people stop looking at link addresses and just click on text names.

Yep. Here's a handy example of the increased security that the new version supposedly offers. Clicking on the bright blue button in front of the address for this very web page says "You are connected to mozilla.com, which is run by Unknown..." Connecting to Ebay's secure payment page shows"This site does not supply identity information." which isn't surprising since Ebay usually runs their security at about the kindergarten level, but surprisingly, Amazon produces the same results, and logging in to both my online bank and my online mortgage accounts ALSO gives the same disclaimer. I mean, I feel so safe...

Here's a technical question because I've heard it inferred but don't have the technical knowledge to know the answer. How difficult would it be for a web site or malware to capture Firefox's new "pop-up status bar" and either cover or replace it with whatever they feel like? I use a couple of blocking add-ons that could do this easily on command but does the new crippled Firefox do anything to prevent it? If it's possible, and considering the profits to be made from using such an ability, I doubt it'd be long in coming.

Sometimes the URL preview appears on the bottom right sometimes on the bottom left. It makes me mad that I constantly have to look around to find some information. This is especially awkward on large or dual head screens I wish that programmers would suffer from disabilities so that they are focused to keep all information together in one place.

Try this extension, it allows you to restore many of the features which were lost when the Statusbar was removed from Firefox 4.0.

Status-4-Evar 2011.07.20.21

• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/

Check and tell if its working.

If you read the rest of the thread, you'd see that trying to get some of the features of a status bar back via add-ons won't help anything. The problem is that the new Firefox was designed by people who don't seem to have even a basic understanding of WHY it's needed. Even if the status bar could be taken over by an add-on and it was secure that way, (would it?) who knows what else has been screwed up.

What they -should- be doing is stop trying to impress people with useless bells & whistles and instead, spend time on keeping the product stable and secure.

You only see security information about the connection (Verified by xxx and the padlock) if you click the icon on the location bar if there is a secure https connection and not with a regular http connection.
You would also not see the padlock in previous versions if a website is accessed via http.

See Site Identity Button

• https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Site+Identity+Button

The only thing that is really gone is messages that website place on the status bar and that already could be suppressed via the Advanced JavaScript settings in Tools > Options > Content : JavaScript in Firefox 3 versions.

As I said in my last post, I WAS using an https:/ connection. The site identity information provided by using that icon gave useless or -no- information about the sites in question.

I've used Firefox almost from the very first versions - watched it grow from infancy to adulthood - seen it pass from baby steps to mighty accomplishments... but now it's obviously beginning a long and painful fade into senility. The developers no longer work to make a secure and stable web browser independent of commercial data leeching - instead, cranking out an endless stream of pretty new bells and whistles without regard to the constant glitches or to the security of the users.

The project has completely lost its original goals. It's sad...