Last minute fixes have forced Mozilla to delay the release of the open source Firefox 2.0 browser until 24 October. 

The browser was supposed to be ready on 15 August. A second beta is now scheduled for 23 August.

Some of the browser bugs which programmers are still working on involve visual refresh, tab overflow, spell check and security features. Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 for developers is currently available for free download.

The new browser includes phishing protection to prevent users being fooled by fake websites, the ability to re-open tabs that have been closed by accident and better support for RSS feeds. 

Bookmarks will now feature micro-summaries to provide a quick précis of frequently changing web pages, enabling users to see which pages have been updated.