Firefox Update Screwed up FF settings

elbmek · May 14, 2022

Well that was short lived. I got FF running as I wanted, a whole page of instant link icons for speed dialling. Installed latest FF and it demands that I sign in - I don't want to and do not have an account. Then I tried to get into here to ask what was going on, I got this email address is not recognised???? How long have I been here and in 10???

Well bye bye FF, back to opera ........................

Ghot · May 14, 2022

elbmek said:
Well that was short lived. I got FF running as I wanted, a whole page of instant link icons for speed dialling. Installed latest FF and it demands that I sign in - I don't want to and do not have an account. Then I tried to get into here to ask what was going on, I got this email address is not recognised???? How long have I been here and in 10???

Well bye bye FF, back to opera ........................

I understand your frustration, but it's NOT Firefox doing that.
I don't know what is causing those things but it's not FF.

I'm running FF100 with no extensions/addons, and I never have those issues.

elbmek · May 14, 2022

I had FF set up, running great. Saw there was an update in here, went to link, and bam - all my settings disintegrated. As FF was up and running, and the only thing I did was install update, well?

Ghot · May 14, 2022

elbmek said:
I had FF set up, running great. Saw there was an update in here, went to link, and bam - all my settings disintegrated. As FF was up and running, and the only thing I did was install update, well?

I only manually update FF. I know there are certain scams which pop up and tell you that you need to download/install something... but they are not from Firefox.

This may help you. This "distribution" folder, dropped into C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
will stop all valid automatic updates. So then if you see something wanting to be downloaded and installed, you KNOW it's a scam.

Personally, I skip all the beta updates and just do the release updates.
This topic will post all the updates when they are available.

Latest Firefox released for Windows [3] - Windows 10 Help Forums

Latest Firefox Released for Windows Choose which Firefox Browser to download in your language All Firefox releases Firefox Release Calendar - MozillaWiki Moving Firefox to a faster 4-week release cycle Attachment 252049 Tip Windows Defender A

www.tenforums.com

There's ONE file in the "distribution" folder, called: Policies.json
And this is the code IN that file...

Code:

{
    "policies": {
        "AppUpdateURL": "http://127.0.0.1/",
        "DisableAppUpdate": true,
        "DisableFirefoxStudies": true,
        "DisableSystemAddonUpdate": true,
        "DisableTelemetry": true,
        "ExtensionUpdate": false
    }
}

Each time you do a manual FF update, it will erase this "distribution" folder.
So after you do the manual update, just drop the "distribution" folder back into...
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox

With the "distribution" folder in your Firefox folder, you will see this...

Each time a new update comes out I do this...

1. Download the new update and save it to the desktop.
2. Close Firefox and drag/drop the "distribution" folder to the desktop, so it doesn't get erased.
3. Run the new FF installer,
4. Then drag/drop the "distribution" folder back into.... C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox

The non-beta updates only come out about once every 2-4 weeks.

It may seem like a pain in the butt, but once you get used to it... it only takes about 1-2 minutes.
THEN if you see anything popping up, telling you to download and install, you will KNOW...

Porthos · May 14, 2022

I upgraded today manually. No issues.

elbmek · May 15, 2022

ta ghot. I actually didnt know or got any notifications. I saw the link about and followed than.

elbmek · May 15, 2022

elbmek said:
ta ghot. I actually didnt know or got any notifications. I saw the link about and followed that.

I decided to make sure everything related to Mozilla was removed and then went into downloads and clicked on the installer, when it had downloaded I told it to open and my speed dial was back in again, as if I had not been away. At this moment in time I do not know if the recent update is in that. I checked updates, there were none.