With the Browser Sync, users will be able to maintain the same bookmarks, Web site visits log, saved passwords and persistent cookies in all their copies of the Mozilla open-source browser. For this continuous synchronization to occur, users have to install copies of the Google Browser Sync on every computer where they have Firefox, Google announced late Wednesday. The tool is available for free.

The Browser also "remembers" the tabs and windows users had opened the last time they used Firefox and provides them the option to open them again. Google however warns that the tool updates settings every time Firefox is launched, increasing the time it takes for a browser to open.

Google Browser Sync works with Firefox 1.5 and newer versions. It doesn't support Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), Opera Software ASA's Opera or the Mozilla Suite, which includes the Mozilla Navigator browser.

Firefox so far is the most credible competitor to IE in years, currently holding an estimated 10 per cent market share. Earlier, in April, in a rare move Google promoted Firefox on its home page, clearly trying to help Firefox grow its market share.

Google also includes Firefox in its Google Pack, a free, downloadable software suite that it distributes and that includes products from Google and other vendors, including Adobe Systems and Symantec, but not Microsoft.