Mozilla has implemented the silent update plans for its popular web browser a little earlier than expected, as the latest version (12) of Firefox supports this functionality. The company has made Firefox 12 available (15.6 MB - Windows PC) for computers running Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

The silent update functionality means that future releases of this browser will bypass Windows’ User Account Control panel (UAC), which alerts PC users when a new application is attempting to make changes. Firefox 12 will install a service that runs in the background and users only need to give it permission once, for it to dish up browser updates automatically as and when these become available.

Besides the silent updates feature, Firefox 12 also boasts numerous security fixes, whilst developers and tech aficionados will now also be able to see line numbers when they view the websites’ page source.

In other browser related news, Google recently made the latest stable edition of its Chrome web browser available for download. Chrome 18 includes new functionality such as GPU-accelerated Canvas 2D for capable Windows-running PCs as well as Mac computers.