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Using ESR for personal use?

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 28 views
  • Last reply by John99

darkreader
darkreader
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Hi,

Firefox is my preferred browser as it has best support for plug-ins/add-ons that I use. Unfortunately the devs have a tendency to change features or major components very often (once a month), frequently breaking said plugins, and sometimes even basic functionality or interfaces. It has gotten to the point where I just stick with whatever last major version didn't change. I did update to test them out a lot, but then I just usually end up rolling back.

I do want to maintain the latest security updates, but I am sick of "new" or "changed" features that I do not need, not to mention addons breaking.

So I searched around and found ESR builds, which seem perfect for my needs. The issue is, the mozilla website makes a lot of fuss about it being for organisations, so I'm not entirely sure it can be used for personal use? There's registration and stuff. Are there any extra settings or stuff I need to change/disable if it's for personal use?

Also, is version 33 the last version before the GUI changes listed here? I want to use the last version before these, but I'm open to suggestions. Currently considering v38.0 ESR. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/learn-more-about-the-design-of-new-firefox


Thanks for your time.

Hi, Firefox is my preferred browser as it has best support for plug-ins/add-ons that I use. Unfortunately the devs have a tendency to change features or major components very often (once a month), frequently breaking said plugins, and sometimes even basic functionality or interfaces. It has gotten to the point where I just stick with whatever last major version didn't change. I did update to test them out a lot, but then I just usually end up rolling back. I do want to maintain the latest security updates, but I am sick of "new" or "changed" features that I do not need, not to mention addons breaking. So I searched around and found ESR builds, which seem perfect for my needs. The issue is, the mozilla website makes a lot of fuss about it being for organisations, so I'm not entirely sure it can be used for personal use? There's registration and stuff. Are there any extra settings or stuff I need to change/disable if it's for personal use? Also, is version 33 the last version before the GUI changes listed here? I want to use the last version before these, but I'm open to suggestions. Currently considering v38.0 ESR. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/learn-more-about-the-design-of-new-firefox Thanks for your time.

All Replies (1)

John99
John99
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ESR is not intended for personal use, and AFAIK mozilla policy discourages its use unless you have an IT Department to support you. It has no special requirements. If multiple versions of Firefox are installed they require custom installs, and it is good practice to use multiple Firefox profiles.

If you need an older version just for one site, or temporarily because of a bug in the latest release, the easiest solution on Windows may be to install the unofficial third party build Firefox Portable ESR as an additional browser

Using outdated versions of Firefox is not safe. We would recommend using some other up to date browser if you consider Firefox Release unsuitable.

Have you also seen