Stopping firefox nag popup for an updte
Firefox v90 on a Mac. Continual nag screen popping up telling of an update. None of the solutions presented by top contributors or moderators work. Nothing obvious or suggested in about:config. Nothing about putting policies in .json files in the correct directory.
It is as if Mozilla refuses to let you turn off that nag screen.
All Replies (19)
Hello,
Is there a reason you are holding out on updates? Holding out on updates poses a significant security risk, as updates are used to help secure the browser.
I typed a relevant reply. Mozilla munged it, erased it. Mozilla is getting more and more evil.
Who owns the machine? Does the machine touch the Internet? Are the ONLY updates from FF90 to 95 security updates? Why change the convo from "How do I..." to "You're not security conscious"? Do you work for Mozilla?
Okulungisiwe
jkeating2 said
It is as if Mozilla refuses to let you turn off that nag screen.
It's true there is no built-in feature to completely turn off auto-updating. Auto-updating is an industry best practice because vulnerable software contributes to the spread of botnets that harm all internet users.
You mentioned the Policy option. That is an option designed for administrators on network that use other tools for software updating. It is not intended to be used by home users to ignore updates. No one can stop you from doing so, of course.
jkeating2 said
Are the ONLY updates from FF90 to 95 security updates?
No, there are MANY other changes. You can find release notes for every major update and point release here:
https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/releases/
You can read about the security flaws fixed here:
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/
If you want to transition to a version that skips monthly changes and only gets major changes once a year, see this article:
Switch to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) for personal use
@jscher2000 sounds like you were brought in to cloud the issue.
1 - no one claimed this is for personal home machines 2 - @andmagdo implied the reason to update is for security, failing to mention the other changes that people may not want 3 - I have seen quite a few posts here with people asking how to turn off nag screens; no one has provided a working solution
You also did not answer the questions; who owns the machine? companies? educational institutions? individuals? certainly not Mozilla. MS, Google, Mozilla, Apple others, all seem to think the browsers they created, which should conform to standards and don't, somehow give them ownership of the machine.
I did imply that the reason to update is security, which is true. If you want to keep an older version, there are ESR versions of Firefox, those that get security and stability updates only.
For more information about using ESR, look at this article: Switch to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) for personal use
jkeating2 said
@jscher2000 sounds like you were brought in to cloud the issue.
I dropped in to give you my perspective. No one sent me. No one pays me for this.
1 - no one claimed this is for personal home machines
Okay. But no competent network administrator is running Firefox 90 on a company device.
2 - @andmagdo implied the reason to update is for security, failing to mention the other changes that people may not want
Read it as you wish.
3 - I have seen quite a few posts here with people asking how to turn off nag screens; no one has provided a working solution
Perhaps because this is the official support forum. If you want unsupported and non-recommended hacks, you could try r/Firefox on Reddit or a web search.
You also did not answer the questions; who owns the machine? companies? educational institutions? individuals? certainly not Mozilla. MS, Google, Mozilla, Apple others, all seem to think the browsers they created, which should conform to standards and don't, somehow give them ownership of the machine.
Of course you control what software you run on your machine. You are not obligated to run software on your machine that doesn't behave the way you want. It's easy to remove if you are dissatisfied.
There you have it; jscher2000 saying if you want to get rid of Firefox nag screens, stop using Firefox.
>> Okay. But no competent network administrator is running Firefox 90 on a company device.
I will pass that news along to our list-serve; the people there might be surprised to learn they are incompetent
Okulungisiwe
Please do not be condescending about the information we give you.
You do realize that Firefox is pretty much the most secure, well used browser (ignoring Tor browser because that is not something a normal user would use). Disabling updates leads to security holes and stability issues, something that tarnishes the already damaged Firefox name. Understanding that nagging users to update loses quite a few less users than silently getting out of date and becoming a security risk.
Remember that the biggest reason that it nags you at all, as compared to Chrome and other big browsers, is because it does not automatically update (on some machines, Windows now by default may, with an obvious way to disable the automatic part), putting you in control of when you update.
If there's anyone being condescending here, it is you and jscher2000.
We have good reason to maintain 90. We did not say these machines are PCs, on a network, used to browse Internets.
You two, instead of coming right out and saying "update", "live with the nags", or "stop using FF" decide to lecture and call people incompetent.
Assuming you need to stay on a specific version, my previous answer may be of more help. The most recent ESR build is on major version 91.
andmagdo said
I did imply that the reason to update is security, which is true. If you want to keep an older version, there are ESR versions of Firefox, those that get security and stability updates only. For more information about using ESR, look at this article: Switch to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) for personal use
If you must have a version before 90, the next ESR back is on major version 78, and can be found here; however, I am not sure if it is supported any longer. https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/78.9.0esr/
jkeating2 said
We have good reason to maintain 90.
What reason?
We did not say these machines are PCs, on a network, used to browse Internets.
It looks like you used it to start this thread. On the internet. You did say it was a Mac.
jkeating2 said
I typed a relevant reply. Mozilla munged it, erased it. Mozilla is getting more and more evil.
Or perhaps that reply was made in another thread instead of this one.
/questions/1344796#answer-1467160 /questions/1345174#answer-1467159
No, those replies were separate, before I started my own thread. I clicked on a link in an email for this case, wrote a reply to anmagdo and when I clicked submit, mozilla said "something went wrong". Hitting the back button, everything typed was gone.
You "people" are just relentles in your circling of the wagons.
I am sorry that that error occurred, this is not Mozilla stopping you from commenting, this is a genuine error.
I believe that this site uses POST Forms, as when that error occurs, you can just reload the error page to resubmit the form.
I receive this error often, so nothing serious, like Mozilla trying to censor you.
@andmagdo how do I block the argumentative attorney making unfounded accusations of incompetence?
jkeating2 said
@andmagdo how do I block the argumentative attorney making unfounded accusations of incompetence?
Are you referring to me? I'm sorry if my opinion hurt your feelings.
It would still be useful to understand why you need to use Firefox 90.
jkeating2 said
No, those replies were separate, before I started my own thread. I clicked on a link in an email for this case, wrote a reply to anmagdo and when I clicked submit, mozilla said "something went wrong". Hitting the back button, everything typed was gone.
The forms on this site clear when you go Back to them. It's annoying. In the future, if you get an error page submitting the form, try using Reload (the reload button on the toolbar or Command+R). That should resubmit the form and hopefully it will work the second time.
So the thing you replied to was already explained by andmagdo already. That response above was to the Canadian James, who like you, makes accusations about people being incompetent and inept - tried implying I was replying to the wrong link, so that's why I lost my post - yet andmagdo, and now you, have both responded that's par for the course on this "forum."
I do IT support (network, database, help desk, devices, software dev, among other jobs - 25 years. I don't get butthurt by people that don't always know what they're talking about. Save it.
Ditto.