Hello,

This agent can be disabled.

Type about:preferences#advanced<enter> in the address bar. Under Advanced, Select Update.

[v56+] Type about:preferences#general<enter> in the address bar. Select Update.

Select Never Check For Updates.

Also turn off Use a background service to install updates <Windows Only>

Please note that this disables automatic security updates.

Thank you FredMcD for this explanation

Thank you very much for the quick reply!

You say 'Select Never Check For Updates' and 'Please note that this disables automatic security updates'. I would like to disable the background agent (as you describe) but still have Firefox check for updates and alert me when one is available, as it does in version 93. Will that be possible in version 94?

I believe you can set it that way.

I have not used Firefox on Windows in a while because I switched to GNU/Linux because I wanted that control.

Can anyone confirm that Firefox 94 under Windows 10 allows disabling of the new background update agent without disabling alerts when a new version is available?

The release notes for 94 seem unclear about this. I could upgrade to 94 and test it myself but, if it's not possible, I'm afraid of having to then figure out how to revert to 93 while looking for a new browser to use.

Thank you.

See:

• https://www.ghacks.net/2021/04/28/mozilla-is-working-on-firefox-background-updates-on-windows/

Related pref on about:config:

• app.update.background.enabled
• app.update.background.scheduling.enabled

Thank you, cor-el.

I read the old post that you linked to, and many of the excited comments. Supposedly background updates on Windows were scheduled for Firefox 89 but I guess that didn't happen. I decided to try out Firefox 94.

In about:preferences, 'Automatically install updates (recommended)' is unselected, 'Check for updates but let you choose to install them' is selected, presumably inherited from my previous installation, and 'Use a background service to install updates' (presumably new) is unchecked. All is as I would wish.

In about:config, app.update.background.previous.reasons is set to '["app.update.auto=false","app.update.langpack.enabled=true and at least one langpack is installed"]', which is interesting. app.update.background.scheduling.enabled is set to 'true', which is a bit unexpected but presumably not a problem in itself. There is no app.update.background.enabled, maybe because the setting has been moved to about:preferences.

I guess I'll have to wait for a new version to appear to be sure of what's going to happen. At best, the release notes are worded so as to upset people who don't like automatic and unannounced updates.

hii robert.funnell, i understand your problem please follow small steps your problem will be fixed

lets start,

Type in the address bar about: config (press Enter) (promise to be careful, if asked)

Type in the search bar and look for the preference :

app.update.silent

and set its value to true

Then close and restart Firefox in order for the change to take effect.

Also visit here [https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox.../releasenotes/] [https://www.ghacks.net/2021/04/28/mozilla-is-working-on-firefox-backgr...]

if your problem will fixed please response me. Thanks Regards -Arman

I guess you meant 'about:config', not 'about: config'.

In my Firefox 94 there is no preference called app.update.silent. If there were, I would think that I'd want to set it to false, not true.

I had already looked at the release notes, and at the other link which was already suggested by cor-el.