Automated update to streamline product upgrades. Notification of an update is more prominent, and updates to Thunderbird may now be half a megabyte or smaller. Updating extensions has also improved.
Spell check as you type.
Built in phishing detector to help protect users against email scams.
Podcasting and other RSS Improvements.
Deleting attachments from messages.
Integration with server side spam filtering.
Reply and forward actions for message filters.
Kerberos Authentication.
Auto save as draft for mail composition.
Improvements to product usability including redesigned options UI, and SMTP server management.
Many security enhancements