Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Once again... Updating to new FF r76.01) crapped all over my settings and tossed my add-ons.

more options

How do I go about restoring ALL of the settings I had in FF r76 or whatever was current ten days ago? Settings includes add-ons that were installed as well as whether or not they were enabled as well as the individual settings for each add-on.

In other words, I would truly like to avoid updating Firefox unless I have at least a couple of days to waste. When I used to have things set so I would merely be informed when a new FF update is available whenever I start or restart FF, it seemed that FF was so unhappy with me not paying attention to it that it would cause problems with other applications or system utilities.

I have no reason why something caused FF to break other things just because I might have decided not to update it more than once a week. I cannot see how any new release short of Ff r68 (or whatever the point of no return with Quantum was) or a bug fix of epic proportions that I should be eagerly awaiting should mess things up if I decide not to bother with it immediately.

The deleted add-ons and strange new settings/configuration situations caused by FF upgrades could be easily remedied without causing users much if any stress if they had an option to make a full backup of the current FF installation with all installed add-ons (active or not), settings, etc. to a user-specified directory and filename.

That way, users could always revert back a release or three if they found something horribly wrong with the latest update that they did not notice in the previous recent update(s).

What would make things much easier for me and many others I am sure would be upgrades that changed no user custom configurations back to some defaults that render the UI almost unrecognizable and initially useless without a lot of restoration work. For example, why do the text menus I often use keep going away after updates occur? Why do I have to avoid following links to what might be interesting Web sites because all the the security and privacy enhancement add-ons I trust and know how to use from long experience have gone missing?

For me, a Web browser is the home of my UI to the Web and most of the tools, accessories, and links I find most useful on the Web. Essentially, the way I have FF set up by choice makes it my own personalized Web portal because even the Google Search page became too cluttered with announcements, disclaimers, and other distractions, when a simple Web query tool with an option for more advance queries was all I wanted.

Is there a way that I can quickly make this release of FF (r76.01) look, act, and function the same as the previous release did tend days ago? I mean I should not notice anything different now that I cannot adjust or bypass so that I only have to worry about important changes, such as enforcement of HTTPS:-only which I was doing with an EFF add-on long before it was built into FF.

Using the above analogy, would most FF users who deal with landlords, property management, or HOAs be thrilled if every time they came home from work they found the landscaping had changed, new interior decorations applied in every room, and their favorite comfortable furniture not where they left it, but it moved to different locations that do not fit well with their usual household routines (or maybe just thrown out entirely)?

I have nothing against meaningful changes to improve functionality, performance, or appearance; but having those changes made in one's carefully configured environment for use in conjunction with the Web for no important reason and without the ability to undo the majority of what has changed in ten minutes (maybe an hour for alterations necessitated by the Web itself changes suddenly at times of, oh say, the worst pandemic since before the first nodes on what is now known as the Internet were linked and communications established between them?

I would be thrilled if my list of installed add-ons (enabled or not) never changed unless there were some that truly would not work because of some necessary part of an browser upgrade. Ditto for the way I like text menus and dislike icons or entirely missing menus for about the same reason I dislike trying to make sense of Chinese road and building signage circa 1860.

I doubt I will bother to gripe about difficult to (mostly) repair Firefox upgrades a third time a few months from now, because the hassles they cause will probably be more irritating to me than caving in like most sheople and using some Chrome variant browser.

Really, I would like to know how to get as close to what I had in Firefox about ten days ago, excepting only absolutely necessary differences. It would be miraculous if I could repair the look, feel, and functionality that was lost in the upgrade to FF r76.01, especially if I could do the work in less time than it takes most people reading this rant to figure out that I do not enjoy proofreading, especially when there are riots in the streets in many U.S. cities, live on TV ... just what we need during an economic crisis caused by an ongoing pandemic.

Regards, Mark (thinking of browsers, cars, home machinery, entertainment gear with standardized UIs, appliance-style)

How do I go about restoring ALL of the settings I had in FF r76 or whatever was current ten days ago? Settings includes add-ons that were installed as well as whether or not they were enabled as well as the individual settings for each add-on. In other words, I would truly like to avoid updating Firefox unless I have at least a couple of days to waste. When I used to have things set so I would merely be informed when a new FF update is available whenever I start or restart FF, it seemed that FF was so unhappy with me not paying attention to it that it would cause problems with other applications or system utilities. I have no reason why something caused FF to break other things just because I might have decided not to update it more than once a week. I cannot see how any new release short of Ff r68 (or whatever the point of no return with Quantum was) or a bug fix of epic proportions that I should be eagerly awaiting should mess things up if I decide not to bother with it immediately. The deleted add-ons and strange new settings/configuration situations caused by FF upgrades could be easily remedied without causing users much if any stress if they had an option to make a full backup of the current FF installation with all installed add-ons (active or not), settings, etc. to a user-specified directory and filename. That way, users could always revert back a release or three if they found something horribly wrong with the latest update that they did not notice in the previous recent update(s). What would make things much easier for me and many others I am sure would be upgrades that changed no user custom configurations back to some defaults that render the UI almost unrecognizable and initially useless without a lot of restoration work. For example, why do the text menus I often use keep going away after updates occur? Why do I have to avoid following links to what might be interesting Web sites because all the the security and privacy enhancement add-ons I trust and know how to use from long experience have gone missing? For me, a Web browser is the home of my UI to the Web and most of the tools, accessories, and links I find most useful on the Web. Essentially, the way I have FF set up by choice makes it my own personalized Web portal because even the Google Search page became too cluttered with announcements, disclaimers, and other distractions, when a simple Web query tool with an option for more advance queries was all I wanted. Is there a way that I can quickly make this release of FF (r76.01) look, act, and function the same as the previous release did tend days ago? I mean I should not notice anything different now that I cannot adjust or bypass so that I only have to worry about important changes, such as enforcement of HTTPS:-only which I was doing with an EFF add-on long before it was built into FF. Using the above analogy, would most FF users who deal with landlords, property management, or HOAs be thrilled if every time they came home from work they found the landscaping had changed, new interior decorations applied in every room, and their favorite comfortable furniture not where they left it, but it moved to different locations that do not fit well with their usual household routines (or maybe just thrown out entirely)? I have nothing against meaningful changes to improve functionality, performance, or appearance; but having those changes made in one's carefully configured environment for use in conjunction with the Web for no important reason and without the ability to undo the majority of what has changed in ten minutes (maybe an hour for alterations necessitated by the Web itself changes suddenly at times of, oh say, the worst pandemic since before the first nodes on what is now known as the Internet were linked and communications established between them? I would be thrilled if my list of installed add-ons (enabled or not) never changed unless there were some that truly would not work because of some necessary part of an browser upgrade. Ditto for the way I like text menus and dislike icons or entirely missing menus for about the same reason I dislike trying to make sense of Chinese road and building signage circa 1860. I doubt I will bother to gripe about difficult to (mostly) repair Firefox upgrades a third time a few months from now, because the hassles they cause will probably be more irritating to me than caving in like most sheople and using some Chrome variant browser. Really, I would like to know how to get as close to what I had in Firefox about ten days ago, excepting only absolutely necessary differences. It would be miraculous if I could repair the look, feel, and functionality that was lost in the upgrade to FF r76.01, especially if I could do the work in less time than it takes most people reading this rant to figure out that I do not enjoy proofreading, especially when there are riots in the streets in many U.S. cities, live on TV ... just what we need during an economic crisis caused by an ongoing pandemic. Regards, Mark (thinking of browsers, cars, home machinery, entertainment gear with standardized UIs, appliance-style)

All Replies (1)

more options

Sorry that you are having problems that are related to a Firefox update, especially problems with add-ons for Firefox. The 'game was changed' with Fx76 for some extensions, specifically those that were / are supplied by 3rd party installers such as security applications like anti-virus and some "password" related applications; it it has to do with "side-loading" of extensions that are to be used with Firefox.

The "game" rules were changed and too many developers of those 3rd party applications evidently didn't 'modify their ways' to comply with the new rules, thus their add-ons for Firefox might be affecting the user's use of Firefox. IMO, they didn't test their applications during the Alpha or Beta changes that were made in Firefox 'next version' by the Mozilla developers. And that has been causing problems for their paying users, to use with a 'free for all' open source web browser.


As far as discontinuing / turning off Firefox updates, the "ship has sailed" for the user to do that was easily as was possible last year and before (I forget exactly when that change was made). Now that requires adding a special file to disable that fairly new feature, to turn off Firefox automatic updates. I personally chose to allow automatic updates, rather than to learn how to stop them.


Bottom line is, that unless you happen to have a backup of the Profile folder that was made before the Firefox 76 or Firefox 76.0.1 update was installed their is no way to revert an older version of Firefox that wouldn't be affected by that 76 update. An older version getting installed now would be affected, too; but maybe in different ways.