You can reconfigure the layout to make FF4 look like the previous version quite easily actually.

• Right click a blank part of the tab bar and click "Tabs on top" to remove the checkmark. Tabs will subsequently reappear below the search bar.
• Repeat the same steps, but click the top one called "Menu bar". This will reinstate the text links at the top.
• To rearrange the layout, repeat the same steps again and choose "Customize". A panel will open and while that remains onscreen, you can move elements like toolbars, buttons etc around and place them anywhere you wish. You can also drag anything you don't like into that panel and add anything you want by dragging it out of there.
• To replace the status bar at the foot of the page, install this add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/

I had the exact same reaction as you. I don't believe in changing things that already work well.

Give it another shot, though. You'll actually prefer this version once you use it for a few days ... it's much faster, which counts for A LOT.

Try the suggestions above from Xircal and also this:

• install this theme, "Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4+": https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/firefox-3-theme-for-firefox/

These together will give you the tabs in a "more sensible position", give back some of the coloration and function that's missing; and let you add back an addon bar that functions as a status bar.

Barb (I'm using Firefox 4.0.1 on top of Windows XP Professional)

@Xircal -- sorry about that ... we posted at the same time. I missed your response.

@ moose53, you're merely duplicating what I've already mentioned.

Thankx for the replies and the tips, But I don't like Firefox 4. Its fine that you can tune it to your taste, but I prefer it like it was. I don't think they change it back for me, so I consider to move to chrome or opera.

Kind regards, Henk

You can revert to the previous secure version of Firefox by doing the the following.

Go to Download Firefox v3.6.17 and download it to the desktop.

Then go to Add/Remove Programs, scroll down to "Mozilla Firefox" and remove it, choosing to keep your bookmarks, customizations etc., (don't checkmark the box).

Then reboot and delete the folder called "Mozilla Firefox" at this location: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox

Finally run the installation file you downloaded to the desktop earlier.

Your bookmarks, customizations etc., are maintained in a different location and will become available to you again once you complete the installation.

After you complete the installation, go to the Plugins Check page and update those where necessary.

Version 4. DON'T DON'T DON'T LIKE IT TOO BUSY TO PLAY SILLY GAMES.... I have done what some other user have done, by making it look the same as the old version as much as I can do... by why should I have that time on this rubbish the black bar still looks like a 5 year old did the web site so I put on opera which is better that this version as they should give a way to step back from there updates.... well they call it a update... its like going back to dos at the top of the screen... a backdate! Colin

Me Again.... I forgot to say that this version 4 is running as slow as the MS Internet Explorer, but the opera is running as fast (If not Faster) that both of them... Please try it.... Colin

Unbelievable -- y'all have made the link identifying text on the bottom of the screen now conflict completely with the text on the page! If I hover over a link in the page and want to SEE where that link goes to -- I can't READ the #+)@&@#$& thing because you have made the link text tiny black text with no background -- so the link either disappears into a page's dark background -- or writes the link text OVER the text on the page. In neither case is it legible!

AND you've given me no way to modify that -- the 'make it look like Firefox 3#' addon does not include putting the status bar back in usable order. HOW am I supposed to see where a link I hover over is going to? Do y'all just click on any-old-link without knowing where it's going!?

Ah, okay, well the advice above:

To replace the status bar at the foot of the page, install this add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/

gives me back the status bar tools I needed. Thank you Xircal!

But jiminy christmas folks... did you not consider how many folks rely on that bar?!

Why should we have to go through all this effort to get back to an earlier version? That is imbecilic at best! I had downloaded and tried the program on my Win computer and hated it. I am going to trash win and use Linux on that machine so it didn't matter. I can't uninstall Linux on this machine as I have too much time and effort in getting it set up as I like it. At least I kept my notebook from joining the ranks of the detested, now I just have to be careful when the update manager wants to eliminate 3.6.17 on that machine. I keep putting a new tool bar on this thing and all my extensions and every time i restart FF I lose the bar & have to do it all over! The planning on this piece of dreck is right up there with the Edsel! (anyone ever hear of that car or see one?) It didn't last long at all, hopefully this thing will follow suit. I hate that the add ons manager now appears in the sidebar! That makes it harder for me to install extensions, etc. I also had the problem with the invisible status bar & added the ext which repairs this but why should we have to d this? Nuff for now Michael

At mikeb 380, see How to fix preferences that won't save and Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars

Changes are part and parcel of life I'm afraid. But like I explained in my first post, you can return the GUI to the way it looked in FF3 if you want to. See screenshot. Both upper and lower images are FF4.

I don't want a surface resemblance of the toolbars, I want the addon manager like it was in 3.6.17. I want to revert to 3.6.17. I have downloaded the stinkin file but it isn't anything I can use in linux, I need a deb file or at least an rcm file which I can convert to a deb file. The Package manager will NOT let me install the garbage they call a download for linux! Can someone please tell me how to revert. I don't WANT to get a surface resemblance, I want the real thing! As I said, I d/l the tar.gz file but there are nothing in there but bits and pieces which are useless to me! Please help me & don't tell me how to make it look like v 3, that isn't what I want! I have lost add ons I use all the time with this abortion. I lost my tv programs & other stuff. If they can't make new versions accept the same add ons, they should tell us before we "upgrade"; what a laugh! Upgrades are SUPPOSED to be an improvement & this is definitely not that! As to not being supported later, I could care less about that. I have never got much in the way of support any way. Michael

@ mike380, to revert to the previous secure version, do the following:

1. Go to Download Firefox v3.6.17 and download it to the desktop.
   
   
2. Then go to Add/Remove Programs, scroll down to "Mozilla Firefox" and remove it, choosing to keep your bookmarks, customizations etc., (don't checkmark the box).
   
   
3. Then reboot and delete the folder called "Mozilla Firefox" at this location: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
   
   
4. Finally run the installation file you downloaded to the desktop earlier.
   
   

Your bookmarks, customizations etc., are maintained in a different location and will become available to you again once you complete the installation.

After you complete the installation, go to the Plugins Check page and update those where necessary.

I totally second the first post. This is RIDICULOUS! I have to sit and nitpik for hours to make 5 look like 3, installing some plug-ins and addons and who knows what else! And I just DON'T SEE WHY! Why disrespect and neglect the millions of users who liked this browser and GOT YOU WHERE YOU ARE NOW!

WE made your success possible, when we downloaded Version 1 of some strange new browser. Now you're "cool" and can do with us whatever you want? NO WAY!

Some websites I use have moved to version 5 compatibility and I lost a lot of things I liked. If I don't see a PROPER Firefox 6 with NORMAL OLD interface (and SOON!), I'll simply drop this whole Mozilla CRAP (yes, that's what you became after WE made you popular!) altogether and find another small company who CARES about its users.

"Changes are part and parcel of life I'm afraid."

Total BS! Changes should happen where they are NECESSARY. Tell me WHY this change was conceived and implemented? What exactly was so horribly wrong with the previous look? And what exactly did we get as a result of this "change"? Five more millimeters of screen space? No, thanks. Simply not worth the hassle.

Hello FireFox users! I am glad that so many people agreed with me that FF 3.6 was GOOD as it was. I hope very much that the mozilla team is listening and do what WE want: Change FF back to 3.6. If they don't: ditch this program! There are more browsers out there.

Power to the users!