Ghostery Extension doesn't work anymore. Is there a fix?
A couple of days ago, my Ghostery ad blocker stopped working on Firefox. Today, I found a closed Mozilla Support forum thread relating to add-ons failing on May 3, 2019 and that a fix was in the works. I verified that the Firefox Studies was turned on, but Ghostery is still down. Today is May 5 and Ghostery is nowhere to be found. I tried reinstalling it but all I get is an error message to check my connection. My connection is fine. I rely on Ghostery and without it, I feel exposed and tracked. Is there a fix or is this the end of my Firefox experience.
Chosen solution
Firefox just updated to 66.0.4 and Ghostery has returned. Thank you for your help.
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Late on Friday May 3rd, we became aware of an issue with Firefox that prevented existing and new add-ons from running or being installed. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to people who use Firefox. See Add-ons disabled or fail to install on Firefox for more information.
We rolled-out a fix for release, beta and nightly users on Desktop. The fix will be automatically applied in the background within the next few hours, you don’t need to take active steps.
In order to be able to provide this fix on short notice, we are using the Studies system. You can check if you have studies enabled as follows:
Click the Menu button at the top right of the Firefox window. Click on Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac and Linux). Select the Privacy & Security panel and scroll down to the Firefox Data Collection and Use section. The box next to Allow Firefox to install and run studies should be checked. If the box is not checked, click it to check mark the setting. DataCollection-Studies You can disable studies again, if you wish, after your add-ons have been re-enabled. See About Studies for more information.
Please do not delete your add-ons as an attempt to fix. You will lose any data related to the add-on. Disabled add-ons will not lose any data.
There are a number of work-arounds being discussed in the community. These are not recommended as they may conflict with fixes we are deploying. We’ll let you know when further updates are available that we recommend, and appreciate your patience.
We are still working on a fix for Firefox for Android. We’ll continue to provide updates on our blog post.
Thank you for your reply. Word-for-word, I had read this solution on the now closed forum thread that began on 5/3/19 regarding this issue. I read that thread this morning. I did check to see if the studies thing was checked in Options and it was.
The Study regarding this issue is concluded. The forum thread is closed. The 'solution' says the fix should be "applied in the next few hours." Those words were posted on 5/3 and it is now two days later and still no fix. All of this leads me to conclude there is no fix yet, at least for my laptop, which is why I asked my question.
Hi Blarnyes, could you start by checking whether your Firefox received the studies? Type or paste about:studies in the address bar and press Enter to load that internal page. You may see studies with xpi in the name either under Active or Completed. Do you see them yet?
"hotfix-reset-xpi-verification-timestamp-1548973•Complete"
The above quoted is the result of typing about:studies.
Blarnyes said
"hotfix-reset-xpi-verification-timestamp-1548973•Complete" The above quoted is the result of typing about:studies.
There should be a second one:
hotfix-update-xpi-signing-intermediate-bug-1548973
If that doesn't appear anywhere, something may have blocked it.
A "Firefox 66.0.4" update is expected later today/tonight.
However, if your patience has run out, or for those who run a different version of Firefox, you could consider two other measures:
The study downloads a hotfix extension, and the hotfix extension installs a new certificate. So your options are:
(1) Download the hotfix extension directly and see whether it works (not officially supported; does not work in Firefox 52 ESR)
I know this URL looks totally strange, but this is the one I have:
("Normandy" is the system for managing studies.)
When installing from random sites, Firefox will tell you the site does not have permission to install and present the "Allow" "Dont' Allow" drop-down panel. You would need to click "Allow" to proceed to the next step.
(2) Install the certificate directly and then manually trigger re-verification (not officially supported)
I've posted detailed steps for Firefox 52 ESR users. The screens are a bit different in Firefox 56+, but you would use the same technique. See: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1258165#answer-1218833
Thank you for your response. I am relatively patient in the short term, so I am willing to wait for the 66.0.4 update to see what happens. I just checked and I still have 66.0.3. So based on your reply, I'll just wait. Thank you again.
I want to add that "hotfix-update-xpi-signing-intermediate-bug-1548973" does not appear.
Chosen Solution
Firefox just updated to 66.0.4 and Ghostery has returned. Thank you for your help.