How do I update Firefox on my Windows XP system?

Let me get this straight. You used to run Microsoft Internet Explorer rather than Firefox on your Windows XP system? I think quite possibly you're the first person I've ever heard that from. If you can, I'd be most interested in hearing more about why you did that and what about MSIE you preferred over Firefox!

Having said that, yeah, Google Chrome is pretty cool and I am looking forward to when they release a Mac version of it so I can try using on a day-to-day basis rather than just experimenting with it. I'm guessing within a month, but I could be wrong.

Firefox is often configured so that when you start it up it checks to see if it's the latest version that you have running. If not, it prompts you to upgrade. If you don't want to wait for that to happen, however, you can instead force an upgrade.

That can be done by choosing "Check for Updates..." from the "Help" menu:

If there's an update available you'll see something like this:

Click on "Download & Install Now" and you'll start the download:

Hopefully it won't take too long before you're here:

At this point make sure you've saved any work you might have in any browser window or tab and click on "Restart Firefox Now".

Yep, you'll need to wait while it installs the new update. Along the way, it's likely that you'll see this:

Click on "Check Now" to see if there are updates to the plugins. Here's what I saw when I clicked on that:

Ah well, sometimes you're just stuck. I recommend you proceed anyway, just click "Finish".

Sweet! And that's how you check for updates - and update - Firefox anytime you feel the urge. And in terms of Google Chrome, well, I hope it keeps working for you better than anything else!