FF SNEAKILY updating despite disabling this!
I am sure I DISABLED any updating in the FF options. However today it maliciously shoved an update upon me and I AM EXTREMELY UNHAPPY about this. I want my computer to be STABLE and SECURE as in that what I can do today I can do tomorrow. Not moving the furniture around behind my back.
I don't care about that whining about vulnerabilities or improvements and such I can take care of that MYSELF thank you. I will update WHEN and WHAT I want and probably NEVER when I like something and its working fine and nowadays theres a good chance updates will break things because nowadays developers like the cloud and advertisements so much and don't care about efficiency and usability and the user in general anymore they will just push updates for the sake of their entertainment preferably automatically regardless if that is what that miserable USER wants.
That is the trouble with programs needing internet access such as browsers. You need to hunt down what BACKDOOR there using to cause you trouble because you can't just disable the internet for them or they wouldnt work. And make a note to remember to block that on every new Windows installation to prevent you from being INFECTED with an update. Just like you have to have a note on how to make FF have a NORMAL window and menus and let it play flash without obtrusive popups about it not liking this version for example.
You need to stop pronouncing 'update' like it's a good and advisable thing its a dirty curseword spoken with a disdainful tone of voice and a wry face.
Now my QUESTIONS: 1) what IP do I block to prevent this malware-like behavior? 2) what is the last version of FF that is respectful of users' choice?
Chosen solution
datekazuyoshi said
I don't care which version I run (I use an portableapps version and removed the portableapps overhead),
You may not care, but we would like to provide correct information to you! Mozilla Maintenance Service isn't included with "Portable".
Portable Firefox is not from Mozilla, it is a 3rd party application that has permission to call itself "Firefox" and use all the "official branding".
This should work for you: Open about:config and clear the "value" for app.update.url .
That's what I do to be triple sure that Firefox won't update accidentally. And I did that with Portable, too.
But both will still update manually when I want them to update "upon my command".
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (4)
All versions of Firefox are respectful of users choice.
You have every right to use an insecure, unsupported, unsafe version of Firefox - I often do. Please remember once security holes are fixed and Firefox is updated the bad actors are likely to use the unfixed now publicised holes to attack those using old versions. Mitigation strategies if you connect to the internet include running in a VM &/or having a well rehearsed bare metal restore procedure. As you are taking care of the vulnerabilities and threats yourself you may be interested in the listing
The usual reason for these sneaky updates is that when you use the about Firefox option to check the version. Unfortunately Firefox takes that as a cue to update. As long as you avoid doing that you should be able to stick with your old version. Use the Troubleshooting Information page if you wish to confirm your version. That will not trigger an update
If you get an update downloaded and want to abort it this will help
- Updates reported when running newest version_delete-update-configuration-files
You may also find this of interest
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox/Enterprise_deployment
“app.update.auto”, False; “app.update.enabled”, false; “app.update.service.enabled”, false.
In addition to what John99 mentioned, please see this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/what-mozilla-maintenance-service
Even if you are using the Firefox 45 ESR version (we can't tell if you posted here with Rapid Release Firefoxn 45 or the 45 ESR version, by seeing your UserAgent string).
My advice is to uninstall that Mozilla Maintenance as explained at the bottom of that support article. I have been caught by that feature with few versions that I just never update and thought the "update" feature was off; versions that I keep as sample of the older versions but never use for surfing - only as reference for that way things used to work. And I install each new version shortly after it is released, to add to my archived versions.
Well thank you both, the problem isn't so much reverting or cancelling an update, but the constant nagging once FF 'knows' an update is available. So I wanted to know how to prevent FF from 'getting to know,' and not just actively preventing updates which is running in a circle.
I don't care which version I run (I use an portableapps version and removed the portableapps overhead), I just want to see if the version I'm currently running works and KEEP it working indefinitely. A 'known-good-in-my-opinion' version. In this particular case the add-on Rikaisama was disabled (got it working again though,) but what I'm worried about is the changes behing my back in general.
Oh and the so-called 'vulnerabilities' are mostly crashes and in case there is a vulnerability that will allow something to create and run executable code on the fly, my 10-year-old version of Comodo will let me know. Fixing those kind of vulnerabilities will be an endless battle, I prefer a solution preventing harm at the root of things. I want to remain status quo indefinitely until I feel like changing it, once a year maybe. In this sense automatic updates are a vulnerability. (Well this year I made a mistake, the updating despite disabling updates is something new.)
I found the config switches on google already, but I didn't find app.update.mode and app.update.service.enabled. Thank you for pointing me to the enterprise deployment article. Removed the app.update.url as well, hopefully it will from now on stop to find out there is a new version and nag me about it, and make this version a 'known-good-in-my-opinion' version.
Chosen Solution
datekazuyoshi said
I don't care which version I run (I use an portableapps version and removed the portableapps overhead),
You may not care, but we would like to provide correct information to you! Mozilla Maintenance Service isn't included with "Portable".
Portable Firefox is not from Mozilla, it is a 3rd party application that has permission to call itself "Firefox" and use all the "official branding".
This should work for you: Open about:config and clear the "value" for app.update.url .
That's what I do to be triple sure that Firefox won't update accidentally. And I did that with Portable, too.
But both will still update manually when I want them to update "upon my command".