If you disable the Personas Plus extension, can you manually change themes on the Appearance tab?

To disable an extension:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Extensions category

To change themes:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Appearance category

Similar thread from yesterday: When I select a new Persona I doesn't Change..why?

No, it wont let me manually change the themes. I only tried the Personas extension after the themes wouldn't work as is. I know how to disable extensions and change themes manually and none of them work.

I'm not sure what is blocking this feature on your Firefox. Could you start testing by disabling ALL extensions? Or you might try Firefox's Safe Mode.

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode."

More info on Safe Mode: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

Any difference in your ability to change among themes?

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in (permanent) Private Browsing mode.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Private+Browsing

• Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history"
• Deselect: [ ] "Always use private browsing mode"

What if we want to remain in Permanent Private Browsing Mode? We can't have themes anymore? Seems unfair.

Hi NovaTheDryer, this should be fixed in Firefox 21. I don't whether it can/will be fixed any sooner.

Definitely agree with NovatheDryer. This is unfair to those of us who wish to browse in private. I encourage all others who are reading this to make an account and voice your opinion as well.

A few days ago my themes worked perfectly fine. Apparently the only solution is to stop using private browsing. Hopefully what jscher said is true, and this is resolved in the next firefox. How long will that be though? Possibly a year? That is unacceptable really.

This is what I do not understand, why must companies constantly tweak their products when no changes are needed? I will tell you. They hire on staff and feel like they have to give them something to do. Not a day goes by when at least one site breaks something due to their own internal development teams messing around with features and codes, most of which are not actually needed, nor are they improvements. In fact, most of the times the only changes we notice are the BUGS. Every day we log in and either flash, mozilla, facebook, twitter, youtube, etc. breaks something due to the constant need for the developers to feel like they are doing something.

In closing, I am almost certain that the world of developers has never once stopped to take heed regarding the old adage: "If it isn't broke, DON'T FIX IT". Somehow those words are like poison to a developers ears. Mostly because it would mean they would be out of a job. So we, the users, are faced with day to day conflictings issues from an assault of ruthless developers trying to implement every single new feature that crawls its filthy way out of some twisted internet tube. My final words, hey developers on Earth, take a chill pill! Go have a vacation and stop messing around, please?

Hi Secretcloud, a new version of Firefox is released every 6 weeks. Firefox 21 is in beta testing now and I'm not aware of anything that would change the schedule.

Regarding the change to how private browsing works, many people wanted the ability to continue in their normal browsing session and just open a new window for private browsing rather than having them be completely separate sessions. That's what was broken and needed fixing.

There is hope:

• bug 852295 - LW Themes do not display in Permanent Private Browsing mode post Per-Window PB

(please do not comment in bug reports: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html)

Can you confirm this also applies if you are set to "Never remember history"?

I'm disabling auto-update, that's for sure. This is a very disappointing bug and unfair to those of us who wish to browse privately.

Hi StarGazer368, the above bug is specifically related to "Never remember history" which causes Firefox 20 to start in automatic private browsing mode.

If I'm not browsing in private that means my pc is open to all kinds of spam ware..... Had the same problem with Google Earth recently and that left my pc open to Anti Virus Company Viruses... PC wipe later I no longer use Google Earth until they fix the gaping holw they left in their system for companies to exploit. I will continue to not use the themes untilMozilla have solved the issue. If by not being Private they could ensure the integrity of my system WHICH I KNOW THEY CANNOT why on earth did you even make this so? Very strange...... Something tells me Mozilla is in the process of selling its soul to the Coorperations.

Private Browsing only means that Firefox doesn't keep history or otherwise stores data like cookies and is using the disk cache. It shouldn't have any effect on getting spam.

You can let all cookies expire when you close Firefox.

• Tools > Options > Privacy > Cookies: "Keep until": "I close Firefox"

Make an Allow exception for cookies that you want to keep.

• Tools > Options > Privacy > Cookies: "Exceptions"

You can inspect and modify the permissions for the domain in the current tab in "Tools > Page Info > Permissions"

Make sure that you do not use "Clear Recent History" to clear the "Cookies" and the "Site Preferences" (Site Preferences includes the cookie exceptions)

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Clear+Recent+History

• Clearing cookies will remove all specified (selected) cookies including cookies that have an allow exception.
• Clearing "Site Preferences" clears all exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, software installation, and passwords.

Hi Docwalker1st, as cor-el notes, private browsing mode does not provide any more security for your browser or computer than regular browsing. Please be just as cautious and skeptical about unknown websites and downloads as you would be in regular browsing mode.

Also, I don't understand spinning a conspiracy theory out of a simple oversight that is already scheduled to be fixed in a few weeks and has no effect on the usefulness of the private browsing feature. Overall, that feature is stronger than ever: easier to use and better integrated into Firefox.

Man that's some old xxxxxxxx. I've been loyal to Firefox for years now. Always use it when I got the choice. I even got it on my Android. The fact of the matter is...I use the internet to look at some pretty xxxxxx up xxxx that I don't want anyone else to ever know about...but I also want to do it without looking at a xxxxxx, bland browser. I'd use Google Chrome if I wanted to see that xxxx. This is a simple fix and Mozilla could easily do it in a xxxxxx day!

Edited due to bad language. This is a family forum.

Hi Ociee117, are you talking about the display of "lightweight themes" (AKA personas)? It is expected to be fixed in a future release of Firefox, perhaps as early as this week. If you are talking about something else, what is your issue?

And I'm talking about the fact I shouldn't have to leave private browsing to make themes work. I'm always in Private and it's gonna stay that way. I shouldn't have to look at the ugly, plain, white/gray default browser just because I want privacy.

PS I'm one of the few American's who still believes in the 1st Amendment and nothing peaves me more than being censored...

Statements like that make Americans look stupid. As a former member of the US Navy, I take exception to using my "sacrifice" and commitment to protecting your freedoms in such a trivial manner!

Firstly, thank you for your service. I come from kind of a military family so I get you. And secondly statements like that don't make American's look stupid, they make us look like we know that we have rights. If anything they make us look entitled and according to The Constitution I'm entitled to free speech and the right to not be censored. The Constitution grants the right to Freedom of Speech. Not the right to "not be offended." Censorship shouldn't f**king exist in this country. Besides we're getting off track here. When is Firefox gonna fix this stupid little issue. That's my real problem here. Is there something I can specifically do disable the ugliness the currently endows my web browser of choice?

Edited by a moderator due to language. See the Rules & Guidelines . You don't have the right to use foul language in this forum!

Hi Ociee117, Firefox 21 is available NOW here: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/.../#desktop.

[Impolite retort removed by its author.]