Firefox and Firefox ESR Updates!

Topic

Point release for a critical issue fixed. (pending CVE),
that bring Firefox up to 85.0.1 and ESR to 78.7.1
More info on Mozilla official Security site

Is now available via firefox update channel (that was quick, must be important)
Alternatively, also available via mozilla Public FTP

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Slowpoke47, ClearThunder, GoneToPlaid, Bob99, DrBonzo, Bundaburra, Charlie, Alex5723, rexr

Replies

? says:

thank you, microfix.

Commit Log for Sat Feb  6 10:35:02 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.7.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1) to 78.7.1esr+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1

ff 85 security package still not showing, yet…

2 users thanked author for this post.

Microfix, DrBonzo

Hamburger menu>Help>About Firefox

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Slowpoke47, Microfix

? says:

i guess the security problem only pertains to windows:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2021-06/

the rest are a few bug fixes:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/85.0.1/releasenotes/

anonymous wrote:

? says: i guess the security problem only pertains to windows:

It seems that way, I haven’t as yet seen the Firefox 85.0.1 update on Linux Mint.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 78.7.1

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 85.0.1

? says:

my firefox 85.0.1 ship just came in:

Commit Log for Mon Feb  8 17:20:12 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (85.0+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1) to 85.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
firefox-locale-en (85.0+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1) to 85.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1

so, all caught up, for now…

[Microfix]

And…
Hot on the heels of 85.0.1 comes Firefox 85.0.2 now in the FTP
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/85.0.2/

nothing yet the official release page, stay tuned..
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/85.0.2/releasenotes/

Looks like it’s specific to the mainstream fatfox only, nothing for ESR 🙂

If debian is good enough for NASA...

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Microfix.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Alex5723

It seems like this is a fix for Mac’s.  Look at this info. from Ghacks:

“Released for all supported desktop operating systems, Firefox 85.0.2 fixes an issue that is exclusive to certain devices running Apple’s Macintosh operating system.  The issue was reported two months ago. The reporter stated that the issue affected Mac OS Big Sur and Mac OS Caralina devices running Firefox, and that Firefox would hang when trying to launch a new window from the context menu using the icon on the Dock.”

https://www.ghacks.net/2021/02/09/firefox-85-0-2-is-out-with-a-single-deadlock-fix

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Microfix

Well……

Mozilla to release Firefox 85.0.2 later today on Feb 9, 2021
The update fixes Firefox’s freezing issue on startup on Windows, Linux, and Mac platforms.
The issue may have existed for years but brought to Mozilla’s attention two months back

source: Venkat over on Techdows

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

OscarCP

True but it only shows how to reproduce the issue on a Mac.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

[EP]

ESR will get it in the upcoming FF 78.8.x ESR release coming this late February.

MVP Edit: removal of repetition

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by EP.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Microfix.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Microfix.

I still have not even gotten the FF 85.0.1 update yet in my Linux Mint Update Manager.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

I still have not even gotten the FF 85.0.1 update yet in my Linux Mint Update Manager.

FF is already at 85.0.2

But the Ubuntu version is still at 85.0.1. If the fix in 85.0.2 is indeed only a Mac issue, they may not make the update available. I only saw a reference to the freezing on the Mac in the Bugzilla issue, and if someone had reported it on the other platforms, it should have been added to the field of platforms affected.

 

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

[EP]

but FF 85.0.2 is currently available for mac & Windows users (if they’re using the FF auto update feature), Alex5723.

note to Charlie: try downloading Firefox 85.0.2 for Linux manually from the Mozilla site instead of relying on Linux Mint’s update manager

edit – and yes the Ubuntu version of Firefox is currently at 85.0.1 as I recently checked the Ubuntu repositories

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by EP.

I’ve had this happen before with FF updates taking awhile to show up on the Linux Mint Update Manager, but they eventually do.  I assume that since Mint is an offshoot of Ubuntu, that’s why you’re saying I should have gotten them.  The 85.0.1 update was a more important update because it dealt with critical security issues.  It still hasn’t shown up.

I’ve received both updates for FF on Win 7 though.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I much prefer adding the Mozilla PPA to LM.
gets updates quicker as well as thunderbird updates via synaptic YMMV

If debian is good enough for NASA...

I don’t think I’m quite ready to try that yet.  Isn’t that for testing, etc.?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

If you refresh the file list, it should find it immediately since it is in the Ubuntu repo (which is the one that Mint uses also for everything except the core Mint files that differ from the Ubuntu underneath). I know you can do that in Synaptic, which is installed by default on Mint, and the updater should have one too (it’s been a long time since I have used the Mint updater).

My Firefox is still on 85.0, since I use the OpenSUSE version, and it has not been updated beyond that yet. I’m actually on a trial run of Vivaldi as a go-to browser at the moment, so Firefox is on the back burner for the moment.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

An empirical observation:

My Ubuntu 18.04 LTS was just updated to FF 85.0.1 from 85.0. I only check this computer once a week, so the 85.0.1 update came sometime between last Friday and today. Last Friday was the day FF was updated to 85.0 on this computer.

Despite this, nothing later than FF 85.0 has been offered to any of my three Mint 19.2 computers even after a Refresh of the Update Manager.

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Slowpoke47, Charlie, Microfix, Ascaris

[Ascaris]

That is odd. I wonder if Mint is doing something with Firefox itself rather than just offering it from the Ubuntu repo (maybe hosting their own Firefox in case Ubuntu decides to make that a Snap package like they did with Chromium?). In cases where there is a difference in what is offered by Ubuntu and Mint, the Mint servers take precedence.

Edit: I just checked, and yes, Mint is hosting Firefox from their own repo now. Why, I do not know for sure, but you have my guess above.

If you want the more up to date version from Ubuntu, start Synaptic, then find Firefox, highlight it, and use “Force version” from the “Package” menu. You will see Firefox 85.0.1 from Ubuntu in there. Select that, then apply.

The updater will probably try to revert the package back to the old one. To stop that, use the same package menu to lock the version once you’ve updated it. Be aware that you will have to manually unlock it when it’s time to update.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Ascaris.

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Slowpoke47, Charlie, Microfix, DrBonzo

Ascaris wrote:

That is odd. I wonder if Mint is doing something with Firefox itself rather than just offering it from the Ubuntu repo

One of the first things I do with a new distro installation is:
uninstall the supplied default version of Thunderbird and Firefox
for ANY debian derived distro.
Add the Mozilla PPA via terminal
then I’ll install Firefox/Thunderbird, via synaptic.
Has worked for me for many years without issue,
knowing I’ll be up-to-date and more than often,
quicker than the distro supplied versions.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Slowpoke47

I’m not in any hurry to get new versions of Firefox! I’m still on 85.0 here, and that’s fine by me. I’ll get something newer when it comes down the pike.

One of my growing list of criticisms of Mozilla is that they utterly refuse to allow their official build of Firefox to play nice with the KDE Plasma desktop. Every Chromium derivative I have seen runs with KDE perfectly right out of the box with no muss and no fuss, but not Firefox.

In order to get the same level of integration with Firefox, I have to use the OpenSUSE edition, which uses the patch OpenSUSE itself created and maintained to make Firefox work with KDE like Chromium does. They’ve offered this patch to Mozilla, who has refused to accept it or to create their own version (with or without the hacky but effective helper application the OpenSUSE version uses).

Why Mozilla insists on its hostility to KDE, I do not know, but it’s just one of a growing list of outright user hostilities within Firefox that is pushing me away. The KDE one is more than ten years old; they’ve refused to play nice for all of that time. The trend hasn’t reversed since then.

More and more, I get the impression that they really don’t want to be developing Firefox and are trying to destroy it once and for all so that they can go do something else. I don’t know why anyone would do that when they could just quit, but that’s how it seems to me from the outside.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

Ascaris wrote:

I’m not in any hurry to get new versions of Firefox! I’m still on 85.0 here, and that’s fine by me. I’ll get something newer when it comes down the pike.

Fair point, although using the mozilla PPA over the distro PPA equates to a quicker update delivery service as well as the shared option (either PPA) to accept or hold version via synaptic.
Considering that the browser is the portal (both ways) to the World Wild Web, Firefox ESR only issues security updates without fluff stuff that’s continually being introduced and fixed for bugs with point releases soon after.
Win Win situation here with ESR and the Mozilla PPA

If debian is good enough for NASA...

I don’t like having to wait on the Mint update manager, but I don’t want to have to download and reinstall a whole, completely new Firefox program instead of just the update I need.  It’s a lot less work.  FF 85.0.1 still has not shown up yet here even after doing additional Refreshes on Mint’s UM.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

I don’t like having to wait on the Mint update manager, but I don’t want to have to download and reinstall a whole, completely new Firefox program instead of just the update I need. It’s a lot less work. FF 85.0.1 still has not shown up yet here even after doing additional Refreshes on Mint’s UM.

When Mint updates Firefox, it actually does the same thing — it uninstalls the old version, then installs the new version in its place. If you look at the size of the packages, the Ubuntu 85.0.1 update is about the same size as the 85.0 update. They’re not cumulative.

Forcing the version to the Ubuntu version will do the same thing as allowing the Mint version to install when it finally arrives, and it will take the same amount of time (a few seconds, probably). You won’t have to manually install it.  You just need to tell Synaptic you’d rather use the Ubuntu version rather than the Mint one, and not to try to “update” to the older Mint version again next time.

 

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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OscarCP, Charlie

[Bob99]

@Charlie –

From what I can see in the release notes for 85.0.1 and 85.0.2, the only Linux-related bug involves using the Firefox flatpak edition of Firefox for Linux. The other bugs are on Windows and Mac systems, and the one critical security bug is only present on Windows systems:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/85.0.1/releasenotes/

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/85.0.2/releasenotes/

Clicking the individual bug numbers listed in the advisories will bring up the detailed listing of the bug’s history. In the earliest posts of the history is where you’ll usually find the system configuration of the reporting party which will include the OS environment.

Info on the critical security hole patched in FF 85.0.1 can be found here. Take note of the following from that advisory:

Note: This issue only affected Windows operating systems. Other operating systems are unaffected.

So, from the sounds of things in the release notes, I’d say sit tight for now.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Bob99.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Bob99.

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Charlie

Thanks very much, I was hoping that might be the case.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

That may be why Mint and OpenSUSE have declined thus far to offer 85.0.1 or 85.0.2.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

? says:

Commit Log for Wed Feb 17 07:22:53 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.7.1esr+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1) to 78.8.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1

through synaptic pkg mgr.

no sign of 85.0.2, yet?

I still haven’t seen 85.0.1 or 85.0.2 for Mint.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 85.0.1 just came in on my Mint Update Manager and I installed it.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla Firefox 86.0 and Mozilla Firefox ESR 78.8 on their way soon via update channels..now in the Mozilla FTP:

Mozilla Firefox 86.0

Mozilla Firefox 78.8 ESR

Security Advisories:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/

86.0 release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/86.0/releasenotes/

New Feature:
Multiple Picture-in-picture and total Cookie protection

Improved: Print Functionality and integration with cleaner interface.

Fixes/ bugs addressed
CVE-2021-23968
CVE-2021-23969
CVE-2021-23970
CVE-2021-23974
CVE-2021-23971
CVE-2021-23972
CVE-2021-23973
CVE-2021-23975
CVE-2021-23976
CVE-2021-23977
CVE-2021-23978
CVE-2021-23979

LOW, MODERATE and HIGH catagories

78.8 release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/78.8.0/releasenotes/

Fixes/ bugs addressed:
CVE-2021-23968
CVE-2021-23969
CVE-2021-23973
CVE-2021-23978

All in the HIGH catagory

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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ClearThunder, Alex5723

? says:

just landed:

Commit Log for Fri Feb 26 17:27:50 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (85.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1) to 86.0+build3-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
firefox-locale-en (85.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1) to 86.0+build3-0ubuntu0.16.04.1

My current version is 85.0.2, but I do see it wants me to update to 86.0

I’ll have to flip a coin.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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Charlie

Have been on 86 since Wednesday and no issues at all on Win 10 Pro x64 20H2 build 746.

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ClearThunder

Running Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 78.8.0 . No issues.

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Microfix

I think I’ll wait another day or three.  I don’t see any real pressing reasons to update immediately.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Alex5723 wrote:

Running Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 78.8.0 . No issues.

TOR 10.0.12 (based on Firefox 78.8.0 ESR) runs fine too.

1 Desktop Win 11
1 Laptop Win 10
Both tweaked to look, behave and feel like Windows 95
(except for the marine blue desktop, rgb(0, 3, 98)

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Alex5723

? says:

hi charlie,

there are a few “security fixes,” in the ff86 package:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2021-07/

and the release notes:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/86.0/releasenotes/

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Charlie

I have been running FF 86.0 since the day it was released. No issues so far.

 

3 users thanked author for this post.

Microfix, DrBonzo, Charlie

FF86 has been running on 1 Win 7 Starter x32, 2 Win 7 Pro x64, 2 Win 8.1 Pro x64, 1 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, 3 Mint 19.2 Cinnamon, and 1 macOS Catalina for at least a couple days. No issues.

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Charlie

I updated to FF 86 on my Win 7 machine today.  All seems okay.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Microfix, DrBonzo

? says:

glad you are keeping updated! you probably know you can easily install firefox esr either as a standalone or in tandem with firefox regular. the main advantage being the tempo of updates isw usuallt lower with the esr version. i have both installed a switch between them according to my mood. this is how i got the esr package and installed it (via terminal.) i also named one default browser and left one blank in edit> prefs to avoid clashing. also imported my prefs.js file.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox-esr

and another link to ecplain the “State Partitioning,”:

https://hacks.mozilla.org/2021/02/introducing-state-partitioning/

bit more scientific than the cookie jar analogy from this next link:

https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2021/02/23/total-cookie-protection/

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Charlie

As long as the esr version allows running uBlock Origin I’ll consider it.  I really depend on uBlock O to make things quicker and less full of ads.  Also need to be able to watch Youtube videos.  I definitely don’t need to watch four videos on the screen at one time!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

ESR supports UBlock and many other ‘Quality’ extensions (same as the mainstream firefox) With security only patching, ESR requires less frequent updates and has less fluffware in comparison to the mainstream version.
If you get an update for ESR, it’s for a security reason ONLY.
Take it and get on with a stressfree browser life.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

[Geo]

I was missing “print preview” in file.  I had to go in to   about:config,  and set,  tab_mod back to false  to restore it.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Geo.

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mledman, Charlie, ClearThunder

I updated to 86 and it 86’d my print preview too. 🙁

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

Mozilla Firefox 86.0.1 Released today via update channels for Windows.
Release Note Link:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/86.0.1/releasenotes/

Fixed an issue on Apple Silicon machines that caused Firefox to be unresponsive after system sleep (bug 1682713)
Fixed an issue causing windows to gain or lose focus unexpectedly (bug 1694927)
Fixed truncation of date and time widgets due to incorrect width calculation (bug 1695578)
Fixed an issue causing unexpected behavior with extensions managing tab groups (bug 1694699)
Fixed a frequent Linux crash on browser launch (bug 1694670)

Nothing for ESR still on 78.8.0

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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ClearThunder, Alex5723, DrBonzo

A pretty good-sized update. 6.8MB. Looking at the bug fixes, I don’t recall having any of the issues they mitigated.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

Mozilla Firefox 87.0 and ESR 78.9
are scheduled to be released on Tuesday 23rd March via update channels for Windows.

Firefox 87.0 release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/87.0/releasenotes/

Firefox 78.9 ESR release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/78.9.0/releasenotes/

For those who wish to install (update) via FTP using .msi or .exe:
FF 87.0: Firefox 87.0
FF 78.9 ESR: Firefox ESR 78.9.0

UPDATE ** 2021-03-23

FF87.0 Security fixes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2021-10/

FF78.9 ESR Security fixes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2021-11/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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bassmanzam, DrBonzo

No issues to report using FF 78.9.0 ESR after various online security and functionality checks.
Given CVE-2021-23987 the Memory safety bug and CVE-2021-23981: the out-of-bound read, I thought it prudent to install ASAP… YMMV
Also have been using the HTTP referrer edited in about:config for months now in ESR without any adverse effects.

network.http.sendRefererHeader

set to 0 (default 2)

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Using Firefox Portable ESR 78.9.0.
Everything is OK.

Firefox 87 introduces SmartBlock for Private Browsing

..Firefox has included the built-in Content Blocking feature that operates in Private Browsing windows and Strict Tracking Protection Mode…

…In building these extra-strong privacy protections in Private Browsing windows and Strict Mode, we have been confronted with a fundamental problem: introducing a policy that outright blocks trackers on the web inevitably risks blocking components that are essential for some websites to function properly. This can result in images not appearing, features not working, poor performance, or even the entire page not loading at all.

New Feature: SmartBlock

To reduce this breakage, Firefox 87 is now introducing a new privacy feature we are calling SmartBlock. SmartBlock intelligently fixes up web pages that are broken by our tracking protections, without compromising user privacy.

SmartBlock does this by providing local stand-ins for blocked third-party tracking scripts. These stand-in scripts behave just enough like the original ones to make sure that the website works properly. They allow broken sites relying on the original scripts to load with their functionality intact…

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Charlie

Both Mozilla Firefox 88.0 and Firefox ESR 78.10.0 due to be released shortly thru update channels or if you prefer, can be downloaded via FTP

Firefox 88.0

FF 88.0 Features and Security Fixes

Firefox ESR 78.10

ESR 78.10.0 Security Fixes

more info over on Ghacks from Martin Brinkmann..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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DrBonzo

and for those who prefer portable apps, there’s now Firefox Portable 88.0 Available for download

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Microfix wrote:

and for those who prefer portable apps, there’s now Firefox Portable 88.0 Available for download

There is also Portable Firefox ESR 78.10.0

They haven’t started the pop ups yet, but when I just went to check my FF version, it showed an update to 88.0 was available.  Didn’t download it. I’ll wait a bit. Those with FF set for auto updates might want to let the dust settle first.  Current version should be 87.0

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

[Bob99]

I took the leap and no issues whatsoever with now being on FF 88. They also patched quite a few security holes, as is Mozilla’s custom. Several of the vulnerabilities are rated as “High” with only “Critical” being any higher.

Details on what’s in the latest version of Firefox can be found here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/88.0/releasenotes/

Makes for a good reason to take the plunge, especially given that a major security conference for finding vulnerabilities just concluded. In that conference, several zero day vulnerabilities were found, including some in Chrome and its derivatives.

From Susan’s guidance in today’s newsletter (both the free and paid versions):

Just this week, two Chrome zero days were published online, evidence that my conservative guidance to “wait and see” is not prudent when it comes to browsers. Updates for Chrome, Edge, Vivaldi, and other browsers should always be automatic and applied quickly unless community guidance reveals a show-stopping issue.

I added the bolding above in the quote.

For those who run a Mozilla “Suite” (FF and T’Bird), Thunderbird has also been updated today to version 78.10, patching some of the same vulnerabilities that have been patched in FF88.

My setup: FF88, Win10 Pro x64 version 20H2 build 19042.867

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Bob99. Reason: Added quote from Susan about patching browsers quickly
• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Paul T.

this was posted yesterday https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/firefox-and-firefox-esr-updates/#post-2358732

[Moderator edit] merged with existing thread

I was surprised how soon FF 88 came up in my Linux Mint Update Manager.  I installed it two days ago and all seems well.  I also updated my Win 7 to FF 88 and all seems good there too.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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DrBonzo

FF 88 (ESR 78.10) are the last FF versions before the big change for Proton interface design.

You can test portable versions of 89b1 and 90 nightly.

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DrBonzo

Oh My, Proton Interface design?  What is that and how will it affect us Firefox users?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

https://www.ghacks.net/2021/04/03/firefox-proton-design-refresh-is-almost-ready-here-is-what-is-new/

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Charlie

The people commenting at Ghacks don’t sound happy.  Sounds like the redesign will not be excepted well.  More unnecessary frou frou that will hopefully be able to be disabled.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Alex5723 wrote:

FF 88 (ESR 78.10) are the last FF versions before the big change for Proton interface design.

What I find odd about that post is, ESR gets Security Only updates, since when is an interface re-design a Security update? I doubt very much that ESR will receive an interface design until July 2021 when Firefox ESR 91 is due for release.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Charlie wrote:

The people commenting at Ghacks don’t sound happy.  Sounds like the redesign will not be excepted well.  More unnecessary frou frou that will hopefully be able to be disabled.

As I posted, you can test and download portable versions of new builds in order to get your own impressions.
You can run both your current installed and portable FF versions and the same time and compare.

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Charlie

I suppose we will have to wait until FF 89 comes out and then see how much manure hits the ventilator.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox ESR has been updated to 78.10.1 to address a security issue with the Maintenance Service which only affects Windows OSes older than Win 10 build 1709.
More info on CVE-2021-29951
There is also a fix for Widevine:

Resolved an issue caused by a recent Widevine plugin update which prevented some purchased video content from playing correctly.

from Mozilla

Also available via FTP

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Waiting for the portable version.

Edit : its here : https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Ed./Mozilla%20Firefox%20ESR%2C%20Portable%20Edition%2078.10.1/

Resolved an issue caused by a recent Widevine plugin update which prevented some purchased video content from playing correctly (bug 1705138)

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Microfix

Hot on the heels of yesterdays Firefox ESR Update comes:
88.01 for Mainstream Firefox.
Check your update channels or alternatively via FTP

no release info as yet, although I’d imagine it’s the same as ESR
with perhaps added fixes for the bloat 🙂
Further info when prepared, will be available via Mozilla Security Advisories

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 88.0.1

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/89.0/

We’re still preparing the notes for this release, and will post them here when they are ready. Please check back later.

[Moderator edit] merged with Firefox and Firefox ESR Updates! thread

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

My FF was just updated to 89.0
Release notes are available at https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/89.0/releasenotes/

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Any comments good or bad?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Well, to be fair I haven’t spent much time with it yet.  But my initial impression is that its mostly a big redesign of the user interface without any substantial features being added.

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DrBonzo, Charlie

Both Mozilla Firefox 89.0 and Firefox ESR 78.11 are being released thru update channels or if you prefer via FTP.

Firefox 89.0 with release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/89.0/releasenotes/
download via FTP:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/89.0/

Firefox ESR 78.11 with release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/78.11.0/releasenotes/
download via FTP:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/78.11.0esr/

Martin Brinkmann over on ghacks has a rundown of what’s new/changed in FF89.0

and for portable versions..see alex5723 toast posts 🙂

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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DrBonzo, Alex5723, CAS, Lars220

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 89.0

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 78.11.0

Firefox ESR Release Notes

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2021-24/

For those uninterested in the ongoing Chrome-ification of Firefox, thanks to the commenter “assurbani” at https://www.ghacks.net/2021/06/01/firefox-89-ships-with-interface-changes/  the following tweaks made after selecting “about:config” in the search bar, seem to put things back as they were before (as far as I can tell so far):

“Open about:config and disable Proton settings:

browser.proton.enabled > false (disables Proton UI of toolbars, tabs, application menu)
browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled > false (disables Proton UI of context menus)
browser.proton.doorhangers.enabled > false (disables Proton UI of doorhangers)

Other Proton settings:
browser.proton.infobars.enabled > false
browser.proton.modals.enabled > false

[Grumpy Old Bloke: Following left unchanged, …. toolbar.version was set at 3]
browser.proton.places-tooltip.enabled > false
browser.proton.toolbar.version > 0-3 (no effect atm)

https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx/issues/339”

Don’t know how long this stuff will be respected though.

Grumpy Old Bloke.

 

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Ascaris, DrBonzo, Alex5723, Charlie

Making the Proton changes more or less returned the desktop version to “normal” but was annoyed with the loss of graphic site shortcuts on the homepage. Found this which eliminates the “lite”, browser for 12year-olds, shortcuts. Things look and function  as before. Only hope Mozilla continues to respect these settings including compact mode. https://www.askvg.com/tip-restore-old-classic-new-tab-page-customize-ui-in-mozilla-firefox/

I just updated to 89.0 on my Mint Cinnamon daily driver. I don’t use FF much so don’t have any extensions, etc., just a “stock” installation (I do have some menu bars instead of just the hamburger menu).

Near as I can tell, though, it’s a bunch of hype about nothing much. Some icons and tabs look a bit different, the hamburger menu has been streamlined, but all my bookmarks and history as well as menu bars were carried over.

Frankly, my reaction is “what’s the point?”

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Microfix, Charlie

I have a lot of entries in my Bookmarks menus, but in v88.0.1 (and before) they all fitted neatly in my browser window (vertically).

Now, with v89 the vertical space between entries has increased (for no obviously useful reason) and the entries no longer fit in the browser window, and have to be scrolled up or down.

I’ve found that changing browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled to false and restarting Firefox gets them back to how they showed before.

Most of the Proton changes seem to be a good example of Hutber’s Law: Improvement means Deterioration.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

5 users thanked author for this post.

ClearThunder, Microfix, Charlie, CraigS26, DrBonzo

Try this for even more compact bookmarks in a vertical list.  Been using it for years, simpler is betterer, kind of the antithesis of browsers these days.  Works on most any version.

Bookmarks Toolbar Menu Button

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bookmark-toolbar-menu-button/?utm_source=addons.mozilla.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=search

For those who do a lot of about:config changes (the only way to go!), there’s a setting that applies changes instantly, no need to close and reopen:

browser.preferences.instantApply      true

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wavy, CraigS26

Will all of these About:config correcting changes stay changed after future updates?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

@Charlie – I copy Prefs.js (in the firefox user profile) to a location elsewhere for re-introduction once an update is done. It’s the quickest/easiest method without re-checking all the about config settings.

@BATcher – Regarding bookmark menus, I altered the text size to suit the screen layout size within about:config

layout.css.devPixelsPerPx

the default is -1 Set it to between 0.94 and 0.98 which reduces the browser GUI font size only. Once done, it stays like that, as mozilla hasn’t ever deviated from the default 😉

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Your guess is as good as mine!

(If Firefox belonged to Microsoft, I would say No!)

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

? says:

thanks for the anti-proton settings for my new fire-chrome\chrome-fox 89! just upgraded:

Commit Log for Thu Jun  3 10:18:01 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (88.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.2) to 89.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.2

had to create “browser.proton.infobars.enabled,” and set it to false

Since settings to disable the new Proton interface in Firefox might not work on future releases. As the old interface might no longer be supported.

Here is a link to a super compact style userChrome.css

How To in the file description you can change parts of it to suit your personal taste. To revert back to the original simple remove the userChrome.css file from the chrome folder in your profile folder. The chrome folder and userChrome.css file do not exists per default in Firefox and have to be created by the user.

W10&11 x64 Pro&Home

3 users thanked author for this post.

dg1261, Charlie, Ascaris

BATcher wrote:

Now, with v89 the vertical space between entries has increased (for no obviously useful reason) and the entries no longer fit in the browser window, and have to be scrolled up or down. I’ve found that changing browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled to false and restarting Firefox gets them back to how they showed before.

My Firefox updated this morning and wide spacing on Bookmark lists is very evident. I changed the contextmenus config entry from true to false and restarted, but the spacing does not change.

Wonder why?  Was anything else changed at the same time?

Also my Title Bar color etc. no longer follows the System Theme. System Theme now functions  the same as the Light Theme.

If I change browser.proton.enabled from true to false, the Title bar color comes back and the Bookmark spacing and the hamburger menu return to the previous version 88.

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

Please forgive my ignorance but I am not sure of the nominclature.  I have changed the proton values but one problem persists.  I cannot use the search bar that is underneath the FIREFOX emblem.  When I try to type there it goes to the search box on top of the page (is this the title bar?).  I hope this is clear.

It’s me #2369549 – a little research tells me I am talking about the Google search bar that I am unable now to use.  HTH.

I Searched — Firefox 89 and Google Search bar —This reads like it might be your issue. Give it a try in …. about:config …….

browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar …… to false

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/nsr9vb/firefox_89_issue_google_search_box_on_blank_new/

W10 Pro 22H2 / Hm-Stdnt Ofce '16 C2R / Macrium Pd vX / GP=2 + FtrU=Semi-Annual + Feature Defer = 1 + QU = 0

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lars220

Yes, Yes, Yes!  Thank you so very much CraigS26.  This worked like a charm.  While this issue was not earth shattering, it’s human nature to want to do things as we are used to.  You have significantly added to my quality of life. 🙂

Thanks for taking the time and effort to research this for me.

1 user thanked author for this post.

CraigS26

Firefox 89.0.1 released.

** Tried to post the FTP download link and release notes link a couple of times and got blocked every time as SPAM post.

? says:

indeed:

Commit Log for Thu Jun 17 10:29:56 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (89.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.2) to 89.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (89.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.2) to 89.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
plus security fixes-https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2021-27

 

 

Mozilla is currently preparing release notes for Firefox 89.0.2
due to land shortly via update channels.

89.0.2 releasenotes

No update for ESR

If debian is good enough for NASA...

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, DrBonzo

Download link for all platforms

Release Noted : Fix occasional hangs with Software WebRender on Linux (bug 1708224)

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, DrBonzo

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 89.0.2

Microfix wrote:

Mozilla is currently preparing release notes for Firefox 89.0.2 due to land shortly via update channels. 89.0.2 releasenotes

Updated OK this morning!

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, DrBonzo

? says:

scrawny one hit wonder fix:

Commit Log for Mon Jun 28 13:38:30 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (89.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 89.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (89.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 89.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

? says:

version is now 78.12.0. can’t see changelog link.

Commit Log for Wed Jul  7 10:59:31 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.11.0esr+build2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) to 78.12.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1.

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

Commit Log for Wed Jul  7 21:55:51 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.11.0esr+build2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) to 78.12.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

with updated security, lucky us eh! 😉

Windoze gets nothing ’till Tuesday 13th via the update channel Firefox 90 and 78.12 ESR final will likely appear in the FTP Monday 12th at some point.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

anonymous wrote:

? says:

version is now 78.12.0. can’t see changelog link.

Commit Log for Wed Jul  7 10:59:31 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.11.0esr+build2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) to 78.12.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1.

 

On Firefox site the download is still 78.11.0

Release Notes : Firefox 90.0

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/90.0/

Firefox 90 introduces background updates to Windows, tightens security elsewhere

Firefox 90.0 and ESR 78.12 are imminent via update channels.

Firefox 90.0 security release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/90.0/releasenotes/

FTP link for Firefox 90.0

Firefox 78.12 ESR security notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2021-29/

FTP link for Firefox ESR 78.12

Five high security updates for Firefox and three for Firefox ESR.

Been using ESR 78.12 for nigh on a week, no problems here,
can’t speak for bloatfox 🙂

Further info available on both Ghacks and Bleeping Computer on Firefox 90.0

If debian is good enough for NASA...

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, DrBonzo

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 90.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 78.12.0

Firefox 90.0.1

Firefox 90.0.1 fixes:

Fixed a crash when using some accessibility clients on Windows (bug 1720696)
Fixed busy looping processing some HTTP3 responses (bug 1720079)
Fixed transient errors authenticating with some smart cards (bug 1715325)
Fixed a rare crash on shutdown (bug 1707057)
Fixed a race on startup that caused about:support to end up empty after upgrade (bug 1717894)

Release Notes

Download (all platforms) https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/90.0.1/

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 90.0.1

? says:

i picked this up 5 days ago, works fine:

Commit Log for Thu Jul 15 18:47:07 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (89.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 90.0+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (89.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 90.0+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

And a couple of days later from FF90.01 release…

Mozilla Firefox 90.0.2 due to land thru the mainstream update channel.
See the following link for update info:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/90.0.2/releasenotes/

Fixed: truncated output when printing
Fixed: menu styling on some Gtk themes (Linux)
Changes: Updates to support DoH Canada rollout

All quiet on the current Firefox ESR, still at 78.12 🙂

If debian is good enough for NASA...

3 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, DrBonzo, WCHS

Firefox 90.0.2

Fixed truncated output when printing (bug 1720621)

Fixed menu styling on some Gtk themes (bug 1720441, bug 1720874)

All Platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/90.0.2/

Portable Multiple languages :

https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Ed./Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Edition%2090.0.2/

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Charlie, DrBonzo

So I’m assuming this update is okay to install on Windows and Linux Mint with no problems.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I’ve installed it on 2 Win 7 and one Win 8.1 computers and it seems OK. Hasn’t been offered to me in Linux Mint yet.

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Charlie

…Hasn’t been offered to me in Linux Mint yet.

Here’s a link from Mozilla to download the 64 bit version of 90.0.2 without having to wait to be offered it by the built-in updater of your OS:

https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-latest-ssl&os=linux64&lang=en-US

For those wanting the 32 bit version instead, just replace the “linux64” wording in the above link with “linux” and you’re all set. The link will download a file named “firefox-90.0.2.tar.bz” to your computer. I saw no differentiation in the file name between the 32 bit and the 64 bit download.

Although I don’t run Linux, it seems to me to be a really good idea to wait to be offered the correct update by the built-in updater for your distro of Linux.

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Charlie, DrBonzo

I agree. I don’t install FF until I’m offered it through the Mint Update manager.

Bob99 wrote:

Here’s a link from Mozilla to download the 64 bit version of 90.0.2 without having to wait to be offered it by the built-in updater of your OS:

The ftp link above has downloads for all platforms.

? says:

whoot there it is:

Commit Log for Mon Aug  2 16:46:12 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.12.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) to 78.13.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

All Platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/90.0.2/

? says:

(an even bigger hit) Whoomp there it is:

Commit Log for Mon Aug  2 15:27:58 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox to 90.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en to 90.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

 

? says:

now build 2:

Commit Log for Thu Aug  5 13:57:26 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.13.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) to 78.13.0esr+build2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

Firefox 91.0

Release Notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.0/releasenotes/

Downloads all platforms :
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/91.0/

Firefox 91 release overview: new ESR base, Simplified Printing, new HTTPS-First Policy

Firefox ESR 91 will be released tomorrow.

Seems options to disable Proton are removed in 91. 🙁

Any simple workaround for this for Dummies?!

If you want to use the old user interface for as long as possible, you can still use the two upcoming versions Firefox 78.14 ESR and 78.15 ESR, which allow a delay until October.

Switch to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) for personal use | Firefox Help (mozilla.org)

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

Thanks. Not worth the risk for a couple of months. It appears Mozilla no longer cares for desktop function and has biased the UI for touch and tablets. Can’t use another browser and will be stuck with this idiocy unless they relent (unlikely) or some one finds new switches in about:config. Will give it a week. Code already exists for fixing a few things but that’s beyond my pay grade. 🙁 No telling how long those fixes might work/be honored  either…

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Charlie

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 91.0

I changed from Firefox 78ESR to Firefox 91.0ESR this morning.

I’m still getting used to the new interface, but the single thing that I missed most in the new version was Backspace to go backwards one page, missing from the Proton interface.  Martin Brinkmann of GHacks.net has the answer – https://www.ghacks.net/2021/01/08/firefox-86-will-block-the-backspace-key-to-go-back-by-default/ – which restored it in a trice.

Brinkmann writes that 40 million Firefox users used the Backspace key to go back; funny that Mozilla should ignore their evident preference.

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

ScotchJohn wrote:

I’m still getting used to the new interface

New Interface?  Again?  This is incredibly ridiculous.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I think he’s referring to the new interface that came with FF89 (or whatever version introduced the “floating tabs”).

I just installed FF 91.0 on an old Win 7 machine; doesn’t look any different than FF 89 (again, or whatever version introduced the “floating tabs”)

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

? says:

ah, yes:

Commit Log for Wed Aug 11 15:49:40 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (90.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 91.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (90.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 91.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

thanks ScotchJohn for the backspace fix

patiently awaiting my esr back to the future jump too…

Some may find using the tips on restoring classic ui at askvg.com of value. System here won’t let me post the link as it thinks it’s spam. 🙁

Already had Proton disabled before installing 91. Installation kept my compact density toolbar setting and possibly Windows colors. Did the above anyway. Usable but doesn’t fix/restore thinner menus/bookmarks or older settings interface. Mozilla appear to think everyone uses touchscreens. 🙁 Homepage icons were at least preserved. YMMV.

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Charlie

See my topic at compact mode in FF v91.

Have a look at https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx/releases/tag/4.0.0 if you’d be happy with adding several folders and files into your Firefox profile, to revert some of the ‘improvements’ which Mozilla has made to the Firefox GUI since v89…

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

1, 2, 3, can we all just say “Brave”!  I have switched full time to Brave.  No kibuki dance of fiddling endlessly with about:config and the tests Cover Your Tracks and Ad Blocker show no leaks, etc.  And no holding my nose during the endless releases wondering what will break/change.  They also now have a beta of their own search engine which I am using also.

 

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 78.13.0

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/91.0.1/

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/91.0.1esr/

Firefox 91.0.1 fixes stability and security issues

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sueska

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 91.0.1

Re: the updated Firefox GUI (aka Proton)

I  don’t get it. FF has updated to 91.0.1 on two PCs I have and I still have the old menus-and-tabs GUI. I’m not complaining. That’s the one I want. The Proton GUI was news to me until SB’s newsletter comment, which I read to suggest that all old FF users would be migrated in FF 91 to the Proton interface.  I’m not looking for anything streamlined in FF on my desktop PCs, as I want ready access to menus, bookmarks, and a favorite bar. Does this “upgraded” GUI just appear to people who download and install FF from scratch as well as old users who activate it in about:config?

And isn’t somebody likely to create an add-on to restore the classic interface if it gets written out?

I just installed FF 91 yesterday on my Win 7 machine with no problems other than some skinny menu buttons (not a big deal).  Now today I got a notice that 91.0.1 is available.  I don’t do FF updates automatically so as always I’ll wait a bit before installing it to see if any problems crop up.  With any luck maybe they’ll fix the skinny menu buttons.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I forgot to mention that FF 91.0.1 has not yet come up on my Linux Mint Update Manager.  It’s okay, I can wait for it.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

? says:

just came down:

Commit Log for Thu Aug 19 14:28:53 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (91.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 91.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (91.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 91.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

? says:

i guess ff 78.14 esr comes 9/7 and ff 78.15 esr end-of-life on 10/5 so that is nice. i’m hooked into the ppa patch channel(s). don’t really have much interest in the esr 90 series.

Firefox 91.0.2 release Notes

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/91.0.2/

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 91.0.2

? says:

Commit Log for Wed Sep  1 16:54:01 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.13.0esr+build2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) to 78.14.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
sadly, next to last of the 78 series…

Firefox 92.

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/92.0/

Release Notes (not yet) : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/92.0/releasenotes/

Firefox 78.14.0 ESR

Firefox 91.1.0 ESR

Multi Languages
Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 92.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.1.0

I’m in my usual holding pattern concerning FF 92, waiting to hear if there’s anything to be wary of.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

FWIW (since I don’t think you have a MAC), I installed FF92 a couple hours ago on an iMAC running Catalina. Everything seems fine.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

I use Linux Mint mostly for online use, and am keeping my wonderful Win 7 desktop up to date as a backup and to do other things.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I plan on doing some Mint 19.2 and Win 7 updating this weekend. I’ll let you know how things turn out.

I’ve installed FF 92 on an iMAC, a Win 8.1 Pro, a Win 7 starter 32 bit, a Win 7 Pro 64 bit, and three Mint 19.2 computers. Everything seems fine.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Been on ESR 78.14 for circa a week now on LM using the mozilla PPA, no issues encountered here. Windows 8.1 with ESR 78.14 is just rock solid, as usual with a customised security/ performance related prefs.js file.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

? says:

Commit Log for Thu Sep  9 15:54:10 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (91.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 92.0+build3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (91.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 92.0+build3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

life’s good out here on the new frontier. i have check-boxes, again!

Microfix wrote:

Been on ESR 78.14 for circa a week now on LM using the mozilla PPA, no issues encountered here. Windows 8.1 with ESR 78.14 is just rock solid, as usual with a customised security/ performance related prefs.js file.

Why not jump to 91.1.0 ESR ?
I use the portable version and see no difference from 78.14 ESR.

Can you post a link to 91 ESR portable? I cannot find it.

Thanks.

rebop2020 wrote:

Can you post a link to 91 ESR portable? I cannot find it.

Thanks.

Browse up a couple of posts.

Firefox 92.0.1

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/92.0.1/

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/92.0.1/releasenotes/

Firefox needs to fix its print protocol. Sometimes the print preview box shows blank pages or no content on pages, even though the document it is supposed to print has content. This happens no matter whether making a pdf file, using a pdf printer or whether a hardcopy off a real printer.

For example, I get in my e-mail a monthly report from Enphase (a solar panel monitoring company) containing a bar graph showing the photovoltaic production of my solar panels, for each of the weeks in the month. The graph prints OK, when printed as a pdf file or hardcopy off my printer. However, the e-mail also has 3 informational boxes, a) total monthly kWh production and the day in the month with the highest production, b) lbs of carbon offset and its equivalent in # of trees, c) year-to-date Mwh production and lifetime Mwh production. The boxes do not print. In addition, FF prints a blank page before printing anything, although there is no blank page in the e-mail.

When Edge is used to print the e-mail, everything prints, just as it appears in the e-mail — no blank page, bar graph is there, and the informational boxes are there, no matter whether it’s a pdf printer file or a hardcopy off a real printer.

I looked for a fix in the release notes, but apparently, FF is not fixing it. There are many comments in FF Help about this problem — namely, blank pages and missing content. I don’t like to use Edge, but I have to use it to get a pdf-printer file or a printer-file for my printer for this Enphase e-mail.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 92.0.1

? says:

Commit Log for Fri Oct  1 08:43:51 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (78.14.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) to 78.15.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

so long old friend…

FLASH. If you have compact mode on/have it enabled, 93 restores the old bookmark menu spacing! WHEW…

Firefox 93.0.

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/93.0/

Release Notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/93.0/releasenotes (not updated yet)

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 93.0

? says:

poppin’ fresh outta’ the digital oven:

Commit Log for Thu Oct  7 12:24:23 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (92.0+build3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 93.0+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (92.0+build3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 93.0+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

and see all the new things 93.0 build1 can do:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/93.0/releasenotes/?utm_source=firefox-browser&utm_medium=firefox-browser&utm_campaign=whatsnew

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

All platforms Mozilla Firefox ESR, 91.2.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.2.0

Firefox 94.0

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/94.0/

Release notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/94.0/releasenotes

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 94.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.3.0

Hmmm. “On Windows, there will now be fewer interruptions because Firefox won’t prompt you for updates. Instead, a background agent will download and install updates even if Firefox is closed.”

Great, another program which wants to update by itself when it feels like it.

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

I currently have Firefox 93 and I’ve got a message box in Help – About that is telling me that FF 94 is available.  I have FF updates set (in general settings) to notify me of updates but let me choose if and when to install them.  Is this changing in version 94?  If so, and there’s no work around for it, it will be bad for FF.  I don’t like any program that updates itself without my permission.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

samak wrote:

Great, another program which wants to update by itself when it feels like it.

That is the way Chrome, Edge works and it is good to be on the latest secure browser.

FYI … ghacks.net provides instructions to disable the Firefox background auto-update function on Windows …

On Windows, updates are now handled automatically in the background using a background agent. Mozilla mentioned the feature in the Firefox 90 release notes, and it is unclear why it is mentioned again in the Firefox 94 release notes.

The agent runs through a task in the Windows Task Scheduler, called Firefox Background Update. You may delete or disable the task, but it may be better to disable the option in the Firefox preferences.

Load about:preferences in the Firefox address bar.
Scroll down to “Allow Firefox to” on the page.
Uncheck “Use a background service to install updates”

Also an interesting discussion concerning which method to use in ghacks comments section …

Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
Groups A, B & ABS

2 users thanked author for this post.

Lars220, Charlie

I’m very glad to hear that the automatic updating can be disabled. It has always been my habit to wait a week or sometimes longer before manually installing a new Firefox program with all the new bells, whistles, and whatever else they’re continually dreaming up.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lars220

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox 94.0

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/94.0/

Release notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/94.0/releasenotes

Firefox 94.0.1

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/94.0.1/

Release Notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/94.0.1/releasenotes/

Firefox 94.0.1 fixes a browser hang issue on Mac OS X 10.12

..According to the report, watching high definition videos using Firefox will freeze the browser and the entire system. The report suggests that Mac OS X 10.12 is affected, and that Mac OS X 10.13 is not affected.

When the user loads a youtube high-definition video (4k), selects the best video quality, and goes into full screen, he will notice that the video is not displayed and the browser freezes. Moreover, the system is frozen as the user cannot exit this state unless restarting the whole system…

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 94.0.1

? says:

just now seeing this:

91.3.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.2

still using:

78.15.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

any problems with the version 91?

? says:

also got this:

Commit Log for Thu Nov  4 14:28:08 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (93.0+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 94.0+build3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (93.0+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 94.0+build3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

sysmon used to call browser process “Firefox,” now it is “Geckomain,” (226.4 MiB memory) and in Settings>Tabs, new line box checked “Confirm before quitting with Ctrl+Q.” love progress…

? says:

when updating esr from 78 to 91, does prefs.js also move and then one adds things like anti-proton? or does one simply move in dusted up prefs.js from current ff94? or ff93?

Had nothing but problems with a direct upgrade from 78.15 to 93.1ESR, so I took the long route and started every single tweak from scratch (all tested and checked over via different secuity sites) from a default build.
A long while later….93.1 is working fine here with incremental saves of prefs.js at certain stages i.e default/tweaked/added extensions all saved for future builds, what a pain!

If debian is good enough for NASA...

? says:

thank you for your reply, microfix, i’m lazy and have an ever lowering pain threshhold so i just saved the 78 prefs and installed 91.3.0esr from synaptic over it. my mozilla folder still shows as 78 (blah blah.default-esr78). i have run the prefs js since ubuntu 14.04 just adding things to it so i’m sure there are some conflitcs within. the only problem i have using the 91 esr is posting here. if i disable ublock and set my Settings> Privacy & Security> Browser Privacy> Enhanced Tracking Protection from Custom to Standard i can get a recaptcha to solve and make a post. so, thank you again for informing me to do the work for better results. p.s. F12 produces some interesting results on this page with my custom on and ublock running…

? says:

installed ff 91.0.3 esr over 78.15 what a joke. youtube drops loads of frames just like stock ff since 89. i ran a ookla on it and getting 26-30 download. using chromium download speed keeps going way up past 120. what gives firefox?

see:

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3628338/as-mozilla-talks-up-firefoxs-future-the-present-is-killing-it.html

 

4 users thanked author for this post.

Microfix, SueW, Charlie, Alex5723

Firefox 94.0.2

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/94.0.2/

No release notes yet.

Still no release notes and it has yet to be offered to any of my 2 Win 7, or 2 Win 8.1, or 3 Linux Mint machines. I’m not complaining, bit it does make me wonder what’s going on.

1 user thanked author for this post.

bassmanzam

DrBonzo wrote:

it does make me wonder what’s going on.

Fixed a bug in Microsoft Store Firefox version.

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Not being offered on my Mac Catalina yet either.

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Just checked mine, too, and it’s not being offered.

1 user thanked author for this post.

bassmanzam

Not here on MacOS Big Sur or Win8.1 either.

2 users thanked author for this post.

bassmanzam, DrBonzo

I haven’t seen it (94.0.2) on either of my Win 10 21H1 x64 Pro machines either.

However, in looking at the link provided in post 2402615 just above by Alex5723, in the comments it is mentioned that the release is only for the versions of FF that have been released through the MS Store for now. Folks in the comments also mention that 94.0.2 will be released for the rest of the world this coming Monday or Tuesday (November 22 or 23), since allegedly there are other fixes in it besides the fix for the MS Store versions.

We’ll just have to wait and see what Mozilla says once the release notes page that Alex links to in post 2402322 above goes live in the next couple of days.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Alex5723, bassmanzam

New release notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/94.0.2/releasenotes/

Improved hangs experienced by users of assistive technology such as NVDA when installing Firefox through the Microsoft Store (bug 1736742)

Resolved general instability/crashes on Linux caused by a file descriptor leak when backgrounding tabs using WebGL (bug 1741997)

Updated preference design for Firefox Suggest for improved clarity.

Firefox Portable 94.0.2

https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Ed./Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Edition%2094.0.2/

https://portableapps.com/news/2021-11-22–firefox-portable-94.0.2-released

I just now checked and I’m being offered 94.0.2 under Help – About Firefox which shows me the updates.  This is in Win 7 and I naturally don’t have a “Microsoft Store” version.  So I’ll just ignore it.  Nothing in Linux, and I don’t expect anything.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

Nothing in Linux, and I don’t expect anything.

“Resolved general instability/crashes on Linux caused by a file descriptor leak when backgrounding tabs using WebGL (bug 1741997”

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Firefox 95.0

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/95.0/

Release notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/95.0/releasenotes/ (not updated yet)

WebAssembly and Back Again: Fine-Grained Sandboxing in Firefox 95

In Firefox 95, we’re shipping a novel sandboxing technology called RLBox — developed in collaboration with researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Texas — that makes it easy and efficient to isolate subcomponents to make the browser more secure. This technology opens up new opportunities beyond what’s been possible with traditional process-based sandboxing, and we look forward to expanding its usage and (hopefully) seeing it adopted in other browsers and software projects.

This technique, which uses WebAssembly to isolate potentially-buggy code, builds on the prototype we shipped last year to Mac and Linux users. Now, we’re bringing that technology to all supported Firefox platforms (desktop and mobile), and isolating five different modules: Graphite, Hunspell, Ogg, Expat and Woff2 [1]…

Do we have to enable RLBox?  If so, how?

I just read the FF 95 release notes, I never dreamed that Web browsing could be SO complicated.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 95.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.4.0

Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2021-53
Security Vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox ESR 91.4.0

? says:

this just in:

Commit Log for Fri Dec 10 09:32:48 2021
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (94.0+build3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 95.0+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (94.0+build3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 95.0+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

seems to be ok, must dig into RLBox.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Microfix

anonymous wrote:

seems to be ok, must dig into RLBox.

Please forgive me for asking, but what pray tell is involved with digging into a RLBox?  If I get FF 95 on my Linux Mint 19.1, am I going to have to do this digging?  Never a danged dull moment.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

No, it’s an internal thing:

The RLBox sandboxing tech is coming with Firefox 95
…
Mozilla says this means if bugs or vulnerabilities are discovered in one of these subcomponents, the Firefox team won’t need to scramble to stop them from compromising the entire browser.

Firefox’s latest security feature is designed to protect itself from buggy code

2 users thanked author for this post.

WCHS, Charlie

Firefox 95.0.1

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/95.0.1/

Release Notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/95.0.1/releasenotes/ (none yet)

Firefox 91.4.1 ESR (I use ESR versions on most of my PCs)

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/91.4.1esr/

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.4.1/releasenotes/

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.4.1

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox 95.0.1

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/95.0.1/

Release Notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/95.0.1/releasenotes/ (none yet)

Firefox 95.0.1 fixes Microsoft.com connection issues and other bugs

I hope Firefox updates are cumulative, I’ve been assuming they are.  I haven’t installed FF 95 yet, and so now I will install FF 95.0.1 when it comes available on Linux Mint’s download manager.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 95.0.2

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/95.0.2/

Addresses frequent crashes experienced by users with AMD C/E/Z-Series “Bobcat” CPUs running on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Steve, Charlie, Microfix

Hello Microfix (ref. #2402335) and anonymous (ref. #2400353), I am a long time user of Firefox since 2010 being a past beta tester (anyone could do it) and finally have dropped Firefox in favor of Pale Moon.

Firefox was a good program, but as time went by it kept adding strange “features” that no one wanted and did not pan out, rather than working on performance and reliability issues that all were feedbacking to them. After several years beta testing and not seeing anything headed the correct way, I bailed out and changed over to ESR for reliability.

Firefox 52 ESR was a very good version, but the next two 68 ESR and 78 ESR were horrible when it came to memory. If I opened several web pages at one time all the RAM was used and then it would start swapping to disk. Now please note I do have 200+ tabs open in a dormant state (not active). I can not increase the RAM in this PC and I was NOT about to go buy a new PC solely for Firefox since EVERYTHING else was functioning normally. I too, like Microfix did everything listed to streamline my Firefox 78 ESR.

When 78 ESR was at EOL, I decided to examine the next ESR and noticed it was very large. Since I was already having memory issues with 78 ESR I decided to NOT go to the next 91 ESR. The older Firefox’s did not have the same memory hog concept. After living with the Firefox’s memory problem for 2 years, and not going to move forward, I then took a look at several browsers and decided on Pale Moon.

I have gone to Pale Moon as my main browser with Firefox 78 ESR as my backup. I am very happy with Pale Moon but be aware nothing is perfect. By using uBlock Origin and a few “Pale Moon addons” I am very pleased.

I would suggest people with older PC’s or lower RAM numbers investigate Pale Moon.

It’s as though if you have a new computer and 32 gigs of RAM, then Firefox may work OK.

uBlock Origin 1.40 for Firefox

uBlock Origin 1.40 Update prevents YouTube ads from loading when Chrome starts

https://www.ghacks.net/2021/12/24/ublock-origin-1-40-update-introduces-a-workaround-to-block-youtube-ads-in-chrome/

..With the change, uBlock Origin will reload active tabs when Chrome is launched, while ignoring the tabs that were inactive/suspended. The update for the extension also includes a couple of other improvements for the My Filters Editor’s auto-complete functionality, scriplets, defusers, and the issue reporter. Pop-up filtering now supports a new scriptlet, window-close-if. The update is not yet live on the Chrome webstore, Opera Addons store and Microsoft Store, but is already available on Firefox’s AMO…

Updated Firefox 91.4.1esr

Firefox 96.0 and ESR 91.5 now up on the mozilla FTP site.

No word on changes yet until 11th January when update channels are released.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Microfix, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 96.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.5.0

Mozilla Firefox Developer Edition, Portable 97b1

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Nightly 98

? says:

just came through synaptic:

Commit Log for Fri Jan 14 09:22:50 2022
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (95.0.1+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 96.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (95.0.1+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 96.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

Firefox 96.0.1

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/96.0.1/

Release Notes

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 96.0.1

Well, since today is Jan. 19th and I haven’t seen anymore complaints or tails of woe from anyone, I’m going to assume that the Firefox 96.0.1 update fixed the problems and is safe to let it install?  I always wait at least a week before installing these FF updates, and many times it has paid off.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

FWIW, I’ve installed 96.0.1 on 2 Win 7, 2 Win 8.1, 1 Win 10 (which I now have been forced to deal with), and 3 Linux Mint 19.2 machines. All seems fine. But don’t be surprised if the Mint now looks different. The default home page won’t be the Mint site, but rather an FF site. You may also have to check the default search engine. And while you’re at it, probably a good idea to revisit settings to make sure they are still what you want. This Mint change has come from the new agreement between Mint and Mozilla. It’s been talked about on AskWoody.

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/linux-mint-uma-20-2-released/page/2/#post-2417649

The link is to one of my posts, not because there’s anything noteworthy in it but because it lands you where the agreement has been discussed.

Edit: Well the link might not go to my post but scroll about 4/5 down the page and there’s discussion of the agreement.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

I don’t now and have never used a “default home page”.  I have always set my browsers to “Blank home page”.  Hopefully this has not changed, it would annoy me a lot if it has.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Well, it might have changed. I had just left the default page as the Mint page, but when I updated FF the default page was a Firefox page. If that happens to you you’ll need to go into settings ad change the default page. I’m OK with the FF default page so I didn’t try to change it. Hopefully, you’ll be able to.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Firefox 96.0.2

Release notes (none yet)

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

More fixes!  Still in my usual holding pattern…

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Thanks

Release Notes

Fixed an issue that caused tab height to display inconsistently on Linux when audio was played (bug 1714276)

Fixed an issue that caused Lastpass dropdowns to appear blank in Private Browsing mode (bug 1748158)

Fixed a crash encountered when resizing a Facebook app (bug 1746084)

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 96.0.2

I installed Firefox 96.0.2 on my Win 7 computer yesterday and all seemed okay.  Today I turned it on and after about 10 to 15 minutes I got this:

Firefox would not come up, and I didn’t find anything in the AVG quarantine.  I shut the computer down for about 10 minutes and then turned it back on.  All has been okay since.  Has anyone else had a problem like this?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Check your task manager for any strange running processes,
then kill them off. Might be an idea to run a full scan on
your PC with updated AVG.

Info:
Win32:Induc-W virus

Attempts to connect to a dead IP:Port (1 unique times)
Creates RWX memory
Starts servers listening on 0.0.0.0:7000
Unconventionial binary language: Chinese (Simplified)
Unconventionial language used in binary resources: Chinese (Simplified)
Checks for the presence of known windows from debuggers and forensic tools
Anomalous binary characteristics.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

? says:

don’t have AVG, maybe a false positive? borland delphi compiler virus from 2009.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Alex5723 wrote:

uBlock Origin 1.40 for Firefox

uBlock Origin 1.40 Update prevents YouTube ads from loading when Chrome starts

https://www.ghacks.net/2021/12/24/ublock-origin-1-40-update-introduces-a-workaround-to-block-youtube-ads-in-chrome/

..With the change, uBlock Origin will reload active tabs when Chrome is launched, while ignoring the tabs that were inactive/suspended. The update for the extension also includes a couple of other improvements for the My Filters Editor’s auto-complete functionality, scriplets, defusers, and the issue reporter. Pop-up filtering now supports a new scriptlet, window-close-if. The update is not yet live on the Chrome webstore, Opera Addons store and Microsoft Store, but is already available on Firefox’s AMO…

Updated Firefox 91.4.1esr

while not a regular site visitor, can someone explain why ublock stopped allowing blocking of one click analitics, goole, cloudflare,

<span data-i18n=”popupAnyRulePrompt”>all</span>

manga4life.com

ajax.googleapis.com

bootstrapcdn.com

stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com

cloudflare.com

cdnjs.cloudflare.com

cloudflare.net

use.fontawesome.com.cdn.cloudflare.net_{use.fontawesome.com}

cdn.jsdelivr.net.cdn.cloudflare.net_{cdn.jsdelivr.net}

fontawesome.com

use.fontawesome.com

google-analytics.com

google.com

gstaticadssl.l.google.com_{fonts.gstatic.com}

http://www.google.com

googlesyndication.com

pagead2.googlesyndication.com

gstatic.com

fonts.gstatic.com

http://www.gstatic.com

imgur.com

i.imgur.com

imgur.map.fastly.net

ipv4.imgur.map.fastly.net_i.imgur.com

jsdelivr.net

cdn.jsdelivr.net

nep.li

cover.nep.li

, while some seems ok, so many intrusive popups, uneeded data scrapping and gathering that doesnt or is forced a user to make a site broken without givin up said data collection, ublock used to allow u to block data services but doesnt anymore is like the how to fix but cant updates from 2020 with sites unaccessable “SSL_ERROR_RX_RECORD_TOO_LONG” to which searching doesnt provide any clear answers even with some “allowed from western browsers search results” fixes, changing browsers doesnt work either, i understand this site supports the great reset, but i thought there was some salvation with real writers providing support and answers for users..

I apologize, I’m not quite following your post.  Are you saying you are seeing these errors with this site?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

Jan 27th 2022
Mozilla Firefox & ESR respective updates on their way:

Firefox 96.03 (via FTP)
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/96.0.3/

Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/96.0.3/releasenotes/

Firefox ESR 91.5.1 (via FTP)
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/91.5.1esr/

ESR release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.5.1/releasenotes/

No info on changelog pages at time of posting. (check back later..)
Must be a security related fix if both versions are pending updates.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

So, it’s not a security issue at all, a long standing telemetry bug:
Unintentional collection of user-edited search engine values
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1752317

We discovered that we have been unintentionally receiving unwanted data in some of our search telemetry for Firefox Desktop, Firefox for Android (Fenix)…

Not from us they haven’t 😛
Reporting url’s within about:config are blank as a secondary precaution together with all telemetry switched off since the jurassic period..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

“Fixes an issue that allowed unexpected data to be submitted in some of our search telemetry.”

Yeah, I had to uncheck my “Firefox Data & Collection Use” setting boxes to not collect again after updating to FF 96.0.2 on my Linux Mint laptop.  Win 7 was not affected.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 96.0.3

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.5.1

Mozilla Firefox 97.0

Firefox 91.6 ESR

https://www.ghacks.net/2022/02/08/mozilla-firefox-97-0-here-is-what-is-new/

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 97.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.6.0

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2022-05/

About the Ghacks article, whose link is above in post #242392.

I am now using Firefox 97. Ghacks says that Mozilla is changing the download behavior in FF 97 whereby the download prompt, by default, is no longer displayed. But, Ghacks says you can change this behavior by going to about:config, entering “browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel” in the search field, and changing the setting to “false” to enable the classic behavior, whereby you DO get the download prompt.

Well, I tested out the new behavior by doing a download, but I got a download prompt. The prompt looks identical to the old download prompt of FF 96 and earlier, although Ghacks says it is not(??)

I checked about:config and found that “browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel” was already set to “false”.

It looks like you do not need to override the new download-prompt behavior, if you set (or have set) the option to “always ask where to download files”.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Taking out old color themes and putting in new ones. Very considerate of Win 10 users who have no colors.  Recognizing Win 11 scrollbars.  As usual, I’ll wait at least a week or longer.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla has issued a updated version (I don’t do the ESR stuff) that includes what they even label is ‘high risk’ vulnerabilities. List of high-risk security fixes is HERE

That brings us up to v97.  By this time next year, we’ll be updating to v355.3.0

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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Charlie

ClearThunder wrote:

By this time next year, we’ll be updating to v355.3.0

Correction:  that’s v355.0.3.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla Firefox 97.0.1 coming your way..
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/97.0.1/

Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/97.0.1/releasenotes/

nothing for ESR!

Fixed an issue where TikTok videos would fail to load when selected from a user’s profile page (bug 1750973)

Fixed an issue which led to Picture-in-Picture mode being unable to be toggled on Hulu (bug 1753401)

Works around problems with WebRoot SecureAnywhere antivirus rendering Firefox unusable in some situations (bug 1752466)

Fixed an issue causing users to see the Restore Session screen unexpectedly when starting Firefox (bug 1749996)

If debian is good enough for NASA...

3 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Charlie, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 97.0.1

? says:

the ff esr ppa just sent me 91.7.0esr+build1 to ubuntu 18.04 lts

still on 97.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 on 20.04 lts

time to update Firefox again

Firefox versions 97.0.2 and 91.6.1 ESR released March 4 or March 5, depending on region & time zone:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/97.0.2/releasenotes/
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.6.1/releasenotes/

-fixes recent security vulnerabilities mentioned in security bulletin MFSA2022-09

patch/update Firefox ASAP!

note to anonymous – need to obtain an ubuntu version of firefox 91.7.0 esr build 3 (not build 1) or higher for recent security bugfix

4 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Microfix, Alex5723, DrBonzo

Already installed it on a Win 10 Home and 2 Win 8.1 Pro. Seems fine.

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Microfix

There are more than two products affected!
Firefox, Firefox ESR, Firefox for Android and Focus all have these critical bugs reported by Wang Gang, Liu Jialei, Du Sihang, Huang Yi & Yang Kang of 360 ATA.

Impact CRITICAL
#CVE-2022-26485: Use-after-free in XSLT parameter processing

Removing an XSLT parameter during processing could have lead to an exploitable use-after-free.
We have had reports of attacks in the wild abusing this flaw.

Impact CRITICAL
#CVE-2022-26486: Use-after-free in WebGPU IPC Framework

An unexpected message in the WebGPU IPC framework could lead to a use-after-free and exploitable sandbox escape.
We have had reports of attacks in the wild abusing this flaw.

my bolding within quote*

These CRITICAL bugs have now been fixed in Firefox 97.0.2, Firefox ESR 91.6.1, Firefox for Android 97.3 and Focus 97.3

Looks like a weekend of Mozilla updates across various devices /sigh

If debian is good enough for NASA...

3 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, DrBonzo, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 97.0.2

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.6.1

? says:

thanks for the info about the security notices, was wondering why i had an update when i loged on:

Commit Log for Sat Mar  5 14:11:31 2022
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (91.7.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) to 91.7.0esr+build3-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

Coming to a Mozilla update channel near you on March 8th 2022

Firefox 98.0 (via FTP available now)
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/98.0/

Release notes for fartfox:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/98.0/releasenotes/

Firefox 91.7.0 esr (via FTP available now)
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/91.7.0esr/

Release notes for esr:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.7.0/releasenotes/

No info on changelog pages at time of posting. (check back later..)

If debian is good enough for NASA...

2 users thanked author for this post.

Alex5723, DrBonzo

https://www.ghacks.net/2022/03/08/mozilla-firefox-98-0-here-is-what-is-new/

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.7.0

All languages : https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Ed./Mozilla%20Firefox%20ESR%2C%20Portable%20Edition%2091.7.0/

? says:

just installed this on Slax 11.2.1

Commit Log for Mon Mar 7 08:58:18 2022

Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (91.6.0esr-1~deb11u1) to 91.6.1esr-1~deb11u1

? says:

this ff security patch arrived yesterday, just installed on the last of 4 machines:

Commit Log for Tue Mar  8 08:13:37 2022
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (97.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 97.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
firefox-locale-en (97.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 97.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

After installing Firefox 98, you will probably want to FIX the download process.  I’m assuming this affects Linux as well as Windows.  From the Ghacks.com website:

“Some Firefox users may prefer to display download prompts, and Firefox offers two options for that. The first enables prompts for specific file types.

1. Load about:preferences in the Firefox address bar.
2. Scroll down to the Application’s group.
3. Use the filter at the top to find a file type.
4. Double-click on its action field to switch the action to “always ask”.

Firefox will display a prompt whenever a file of the selected filetype will be downloaded.

The second option is found on the same page. Locate the Downloads section on the page, and switch the Downloads option from “save files to” to “always ask you where to save files”.”

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

1. Load about:preferences in the Firefox address bar.
2. Scroll down to the Application’s group (i.e., Application list).
3. Use the filter at the top to find a file type. (what if the file type is not listed??)
4. Double-click on its action field to switch the action to “always ask”.

From WCHS: Here, I’ve added by comments in bold face.

The problem is that the Application List is missing some file types, which leaves one with figuring out how to add the missing ones. The other problem is that after the 98.0 update on two machines, FF comes up with an Application List on one machine that is not the same as the one on the other machine, even though FF is synced on the two machines.

See my solution at #2430419 for adding the missing file types.

Yeah, that does present another problem.  It looks like you solved it though.  We should not have go through this nonsense, and why – just to make things quicker?  What happened to the Firefox reputation for Security?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 98.0.1

all platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/98.0.1/

No release notes yet.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 98.0.1

https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Ed./Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Edition%2098.0.1/

<li id=”note-788988″>Yandex and Mail.ru have been removed as optional search providers in the drop-down search menu in Firefox.If you previously installed a customized version of Firefox with Yandex or Mail.ru, offered through partner distribution channels, this release removes those customizations, including add-ons and default bookmarks. Where applicable, your browser will revert back to default settings, as offered by Mozilla. All other releases of Firefox remain unaffected by the change.

release notes

Win 10 home - 22H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Alex5723

I knew it.  Just about every time a new FF version update comes, there’s at least a .0.1 or .0.2.  That’s why I wait at least a week before updating FF.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 98.0.2

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/98.0.2/

Firefox 98.0.2 fixes a crash on Windows, an add-ons issue, and more

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 98.0.2

[Bob99]

For those who have no inclination to use an item that seems to have appeared in FF97 (I believe, don’t recall if that’s exactly when it showed up) in the Settings menu labeled “More From Mozilla”, there’s a way to remove it from the Settings menu.

Simply go into about:config and click your way past the warning that “thar be dragons here” (my wording). You should be presented with a blank search bar that lets you search through the myriad of preferences rather quickly. In that bar, type “moref”, and you should be looking at a preference that says “browser.preferences.moreFromMozilla” with a word across from it that says “true”. Simply double click that preference to change it to “false” which will also make it appear in bold type. Close the about:config page and go back to the Settings menu. You should now see that the listing for “More from Mozilla”no longer appears on the Settings menu.

If you change your mind in the future, simply go back to the same place in about:config and double click the preference to change it back to “true”.

BTW, these items have been performed successfully using FF 98.0.2, but can probably be done using FF98.0 and the latest ESR version (if it’s present on that version’s Settings menu) as well. If the “More from Mozilla” item is on the Settings menu, but the preference shown above is not in about:config, you might be able to add it to see if it has any effect.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Bob99. Reason: Added info about what version was used for changing the setting

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samak

Firefox 99

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/99.0/

No release notes yet.

Firefox 91.8.0esr

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 99.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.8.0

? says:

just set this up on ‘buntu 22.04lts beta:

Commit Log for Fri Apr  8 11:18:20 2022
Installed the following packages:
firefox-esr (91.8.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1)
xul-ext-ubufox (3.4-0ubuntu1.17.10.1)

works nice after rip snortin’ in the configs, have not gone to 99, yet…

It’s about that time to ask that question – is FF 99 working okay?  Is anyone using it and if so are there any annoyances or grief on either Windows or Linux?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I’ve got it on 1 W7, 1 macOS Catalina, 2 W8.1, 3 Mint 19.2 Cinnamon and 1 Mint 20.3 Cinnamon. Everything seems fine.

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bassmanzam, Charlie

Charlie wrote:

is FF 99 working okay?

I had a problem with FF and the FF uBlock Origins not letting me into my ISP e-mail URL. See the topic e-mailer timeout, with the so-far-it’s-working-solution at #2438716.

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Charlie

Firefox 99.0.1 : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/99.0.1/

Firefox 99.0.1 maintenance update released

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 99.0.1

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Charlie

Right on schedule.  This is why I always wait at least a week before updating FF manually.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

and the flipside is…
waiting THAT extra week may/ may not inadvertantly expose your btowser to nefarous miscreants. Remember, the browse IS one of the most important functions within ANY Operating System and one of the portals controlled by the end-user to access the world-wild-web.
Compare it to not changing the oil in a car when it’s due an oil service..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

When another monthly main update, or .01 update comes out, I go to the new FF version release notes and read about it, and I check to see how bad the security risks are.  The higher the risk factor, the quicker I do the update.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

And they still apparently will need another bug fix to correct the slow startup of FF 99.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

? says:

finally installed 99.0!

Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (98.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 99.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.2

now EFF Cover Your Tracks rates me as, “Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 212,441 tested in the past 45 days.

I’ve been upgrading my Linux Mint 19.2 computers to Mint 20.3 and I’ve noticed Firefox v99.0 is doing something that started back with v 89 (I think) where if you start typing something into the search box it actually goes into the address bar. If you’re seeing this @geekdom has posted the fix here (second post in the topic)

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/firefox-home-page-search-options/#post-2426959

It may just be that in upgrading to 20.3 I’m getting a completely new installation of FF and that therefor I had not yet applied the fix in the above topic.

? says:

i removed Firefox 99 version 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 and replaced it with

firefox-esr 91.8.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 and copied the prefs after setting it up. it works as expected…

Firefox System Requirements says that it requires 512 MB of RAM for the 32 bit version, they really mean it!  This may also only be the minimum.  The 64 bit version requires 2 GB of RAM.  I have the 32 bit version and it’s still slow on my 4 GB RAM computer.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

? says:

boy, do i feel your pain Charlie. i miss netscape navigator so much. my 99 and 91-esr run well because i work on them chop, chop slash and burn. this helps a little:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-stop-firefox-making-automatic-connections

but what really sped things up for me was cutting out all of the safebrowsing (aka Google) junk…

To my knowledge, I only have Google as one of my search engines, and nothing else.  No Gmail, no signing on to a Google account, etc.  Most times I use DuckDuckGo as my search engine.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

? says:

just updated esr:

Commit Log for Wed Apr 27 10:03:23 2022
Installed the following packages:
firefox-esr (91.9.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1)

loads quick and runs smooth…

Firefox 100.

No release notes yet.

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/100.0/

website in Firefox 100

You may find that some webpages do not work correctly in Firefox version 100. This is due to the website not updating to accommodate version numbers with three characters.

If this impacts a website that you use often, there is a temporary workaround:

Type about:config in the address bar and press Enter.
A warning page may appear. Click Accept the Risk and Continue to go to the about:config page.
Search for the network.http.useragent.forceVersion preference.
Select the Fx71aboutconfig-EditButton button next to the preference and set its value to 99.
Select Fx71aboutconfig-Checkmark to save the change.
Restart Firefox…

Firefox 102 is the next ESR release

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cyberSAR, LHiggins, WCHS, samak, DrBonzo

Maybe a stupid question, but why don’t they build the about:config changes into the update if it’s a known issue ?

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

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Charlie

samak wrote:

You may find that some webpages do not work correctly in Firefox version 100. This is due to the website not updating to accommodate version numbers with three characters.

With FF, it’s one problem after another!!!
They need to get with it or else they are going to keep losing out.

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Charlie

It’s not just FF, any browser using 3 digits for it’s “major” version (i.e. Chrome, Edge, etc.) can encounter this problem.

And it’s not a browser bug/problem, it’s caused by outdated website software/configuration.

 

2 users thanked author for this post.

LHiggins, Alex5723

Alex5723 wrote:

If this impacts a website that you use often, there is a temporary workaround:

Can you explain what these about:config changes do? Do they, for example, run v100 if a website can handle v 100, but revert to v 99 if a website can’t handle v.100?

The reason I am asking is this:
Let’s say that you DO run into a website now that can’t handle v 100, so you do the about:config changes.

Then, let’s say that your websites are able later to handle v 100, then what? If the about:config changes remain, do these ‘problem websites’ still revert to v 99? Or do the well-working websites (all of them at this later date) not revert any longer? And come version 101+, those about:config changes can still remain? Maybe, they’re actually mute by this time, because all of the websites are able to cope with versions higher than 99?

Just trying to get a grip on the impact of those about:config changes down the road, when problem websites are equipped to deal with versions greater than 99.

@WCHS –

What that particular change in about:config does is tell web sites that your browser’s version number is something lower than 100 (fewer than 3 digits).

This then avoids the problem of the web site being unable to deal with a browser version number higher than 99.something.

R/

Bob99

Alex5723 wrote:

Search for the network.http.useragent.forceVersion preference

I am on Version 100 and I find that a website is not working well. network.http.useragent.forceVersion preference does not exist in about:config. Should I click on the ‘+’ sign to add it. And then set its value to 99?

Thanks for this. I had just read it and 10 minutes later got a call with the issue. Chrome and Edge v100+ were working but not default Firefox. Thank you for a quick and easy reference!

What I’d like to know is whether FF users on FF 100 are able to follow those instructions that Alex quoted here. (They are also on FF Help at Difficulties opening or using a website with Firefox 100.)

Although FF says in its Help page that there is a preference named network.http.useragent.forceVersion, it does not show up in a search, but one DOES have the option of adding it.

I’ve never added a FF preference before, so does adding it then give you the opportunity to specify a value of 99?? And, if so, does adding it work when dealing with websites that are not yet prepared for FF 100?

I’d say that FF Help is not quite up to speed with version 100 because what Help says is there is NOT there.

I take all of that back now. I just searched *again* in about:config for network.http.useragent.forceVersion and it shows up with an ‘edit’ option.

Yeah!!

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 100.0

Firefox 100.0 new features and improvements

Firefox 100.   It’s times like this when a “Boo Hiss” do-hickey right next to the “Thanks” would really come in handy!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

2 users thanked author for this post.

cyberSAR, WCHS

I should clarify that I mean that Boo-Hiss to be aimed at Mozilla and not anyone here on the AskWoody site.  I think it would have been easier just to have gone back to the number 1.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

I should clarify that I mean that Boo-Hiss to be aimed at Mozilla

Mozilla has nothing to do with shady ill-updated web sites.

Oh, okay, then it seems we’re having to jump through hoops again fixing Firefox just to make it accommodate shady ill-updated websites.  I got it now, thanks.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I’ve installed FF100 on a Win 8.1 computer and have not had any problems loading web pages/sites. I’ve been to a few bank/financial sites, and even a couple federal government sites with no problems logging on. If the Fed gov’t can get it right, then anyone should be able to. Frankly, with all the advance notice about the 3 digit issue, I would question any site that’s having an issue with it.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

I ran into one yesterday for a financial institution. They had it working for Chrome and Edge but not Firefox. Client kept getting a warning to upgrade Firefox although of course she was on the latest version. Set the network.http.useragent.forceVersion and she was back to work.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, LHiggins, DrBonzo

Charlie wrote:

Oh, okay, then it seems we’re having to jump through hoops again fixing Firefox just to make it accommodate shady ill-updated websites.  I got it now, thanks.

I’m thinking Y2K . . .  🙂

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Alex5723

Yeah, but that was MS.  I’ve come to expect more quality from Mozilla.  Maybe I’m expecting too much.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla Firefox ESR 91.9.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.9.0

PortableApps : https://portableapps.com/news/2022-05-05–adding-12-languages-to-firefox-thunderbird-and-seamonkey

Adding 12 More Languages To Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey Builds

We’re happy to announce that we’ve added 12 more languages to builds of the Mozilla apps, expanding access to hundreds of millions more users. We cut down on unused languages for the Beta, Dev, ESR, and Nightly channels to free up build time and have now added Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Lithuanian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian (Nynorsk), Serbian, Swedish, Thai, and Vietnamese to all 3 apps where available. Firefox Portable is now available in 39 languages, Thunderbird Portable is now available in 37 languages, and SeaMonkey Portable is now available in 22 languages. Users of the PortableApps.com Platform who install or update one of these apps from today forward will automatically get their preferred language. You can also do a standalone upgrade with or without the platform to change to your preferred language.

Charlie wrote:

Yeah, but that was MS.  I’ve come to expect more quality from Mozilla.  Maybe I’m expecting too much.

What was MS ? Y2K ?
Y2K was a global problem where Windows was just a speck.
Main Y2K problems were with banks software.

Again as I said in a response, Mozilla has nothing to do with these Internet sites buggy handling. Mozilla gave a workaround (Google/Edge did too).

Alex5723 wrote:

Main Y2K problems were with banks software.

I think that the banks and most other companies in 1999 where all mostly using software made by Microsoft (Office, Windows, Internet Explorer, etc.).  Ten years earlier, smart people started thinking about the problem and taking measures to correct it.  I myself had to get special software made by Parson’s Technology to make sure my 1993 computer with MS DOS and Windows 3.1 and Windows Works would flip over to 2000 instead of 1900.  I don’t remember Microsoft producing anything to help even though they were the main source of software.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

I think that the banks and most other companies in 1999 where all mostly using software made by Microsoft (Office, Windows, Internet Explorer, etc.).

Far from it.
Banks, I worked at a bank and had to “fix” hundreds mainframe programs.. PCs were terminals connected to servers and mainframe.

Alex5723 wrote:

Charlie wrote:

I think that the banks and most other companies in 1999 where all mostly using software made by Microsoft (Office, Windows, Internet Explorer, etc.).

Far from it.
Banks, I worked at a bank and had to “fix” hundreds mainframe programs.. PCs were terminals connected to servers and mainframe.

Right. And not just banks. Any very large (and not so large) company or corporation or higher education institution or government agency, etc., still had plenty of mainframes in 1999 (and many still do).

At the very large government agency were I was working at the time they froze all IT activity for 18 months leading up to Y2K. Almost all of the huge IT staff were redirected to a massive effort to review, test, and update all of the code they were responsible for to make sure it was Y2K compliant. The only other changes allowed during that period were cyclical changes that had to be made (i.e. end of year tax related processes), legally mandated changes (i.e., new laws from congress), and emergency fixes for any serious problems that cropped up during that time that couldn’t be delayed.

It really was a massive effort, involving hundreds of thousands of mainframe programs, many going back decades, many of which hadn’t been touched for years.

So yeah, more than just banks and Microsoft. 🙂

I was not aware that banks had to write code and produce their own software.  I had thought that was done mostly in the scientific community.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

I was not aware that banks had to write code and produce their own software.  I had thought that was done mostly in the scientific community.

Banks, enterprises, governments… still develop and use their own software for both Mainframes and PCs.

? says:

don’t really remember y2k, that was 22 years ago and it is just a distant blur. remember new years nite, a little though, and that the world didn’t end…

any way just installed v100 and it took away my green security verified icon. about config “security.<wbr />secure_connection_icon_color_gray.” may have to revert to esr to get it to go green again.

Well, I waited a week and just installed Firefox 100 on my Win 7 machine.  The slow loading problem is gone!  As far as I can tell everything is fine.  It just goes to show, you never know (Roseanne Roseannadana).  Hope I can say the same for FF 100 on Linux Mint.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

? says:

aah, feel so much better, now:

Commit Log for Fri May 13 10:16:57 2022
Completely removed the following packages:
firefox
firefox-locale-en

and,

Commit Log for Fri May 13 10:21:14 2022
Installed the following packages:
firefox-esr (91.9.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1)

my little green man icon returned home…

Last night I installed the Linux Mint version of Firefox 100.  It seemed okay with the exception of the teeny tiny super thin Scrollbar!  Firefox Release Notes says this:

“Scrollbars on Linux and Windows 11 won’t take space by default. On Linux, users can change this in Settings. On Windows, Firefox follows the system setting (System Settings > Accessibility > Visual Effects > Always show scrollbars).”

The scrollbar now is only 1/8″ when it’s expanded, and I have a relatively old resolution of 1200 by 800.  I searched all through my LM System settings and nothing had changed there, the scrollbars were the same as I had them set previously. Then I checked the Firefox Settings and could not find any “setting” having to do with the Scrollbar or how to change its width.

Has anyone else found a way to correct or undo this annoyance?  This only happened on Linux Mint.  They were not messed up on Win 7.

I can see where they are right in saying “Scrollbars on Linux Win 11 won’t take space by default”, on the higher resolutions used on most modern computers you probably can’t even see them!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Well if anyone is interested, I found this:

Enter about:config, click okay, and enter widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.style in the search preference name box.

Press the Return or Enter key to find the setting.

Click the Edit (pencil) button on the right side of the widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.style setting.

Delete the current 0 value for the default OS style scrollbar.

Then input the value 1 (Mac OS X), 2 (GTX), 3 (Android), 4 (Windows 10), or 5 (Windows 11) in the widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.style box for the scrollbar style you want to change to.

For example, enter 4 to change the scrollbar to the default Windows 10 design (which I found the best).

Click the Save button on the right side of the widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.style setting to apply.

Entering 4 gave me nice size dark grey scroll bar which is so much better IMO.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

Steve

Firefox 100.0.1

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/100.0.1/releasenotes/ (not yet)

https://www.ghacks.net/2022/05/14/firefox-100-0-1-released-with-improved-windows-process-isolation/

? says:

14 days later comes:

Commit Log for Fri May 20 08:46:18 2022
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (91.9.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 91.9.1esr+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

keepin’ up wit the Joneses…

Security Vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox 100.0.2, Firefox for Android 100.3.0, Firefox ESR 91.9.1, Thunderbird 91.9.1

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2022-19/

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Alex5723

Downloads all platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/100.0.2/

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Steve

And also the downloads for Thunderbird :
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/91.9.1/

From : https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2022/05/21/mozilla-patches-wednesdays-pwn2own-double-exploit-on-friday/ , these releases address the 2 critical vulnerabilities exploited during the Pwn2Own competiton.

Cheers.

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Charlie

I’m glad I checked the 100.0.2 Release Notes – this update 100.0.2 takes care of two Critical vulnerabilities.  I updated right after finding that out.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 100.0.2

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.9.1

? says:

thanks, Alex,

Commit Log for Sun May 22 08:56:07 2022
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox (100.0+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 100.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 &

thunderbird (1:91.8.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 1:91.9.1+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/100.0.2/releasenotes/?utm_source=firefox-browser&utm_medium=firefox-browser&utm_campaign=whatsnew

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2022-19/ (same as post #2447978 above)

? says:

this just in:

Commit Log for Mon May 23 16:30:46 2022
Upgraded the following packages:
firefox-esr (91.9.1esr+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) to 91.10.0esr+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

 

Alex5723 wrote:

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.9.1

As per DefCon 4 info today…

“Consumer and home users–Anyone using Firefox will want to ensure that version 100.0.2 is installed. Released on May 20, it includes several updates discovered during Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative contest, called Pwn2Own.”

How does this pertain to ESR?

Currently I’m on portable v.91.7.1esr.  Do I need to be in a hurry to go to 91.9.1?

Win 8.1 (home & pro) Group B, W10/11 Avoider, Linux Dabbler

Purg2 wrote:

Currently I’m on portable v.91.7.1esr.  Do I need to be in a hurry to go to 91.9.1?

Firefox esr 91.9.1 which has been released together with 100.0.2 contains the same security updates.

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Purg2

Firefox 101.0 all platforms.

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 101.0

Firefox 101 Stable: security fixes and classic download behavior restored

Firefox 91.10.0esr all platforms.

? says:

thank you, Alex! Firefox 101.0 (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:101.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/101.0)

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2022-20/

longish list of broken securities this time…

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox 91.10.0esr all platforms.

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.10.0

Firefox 101.0.1 all platforms

*We’re still preparing the notes for this release

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Fred

Firefox 101.0.1 fixes issues in Mac, Windows and Linux versions

…Firefox 101.0.1 addresses three main issues, each affecting a different operating system.

Fixed Firefox clearing the clipboard when closing on macOS (bug 1771823)

Fixed a compatibility issue causing severely impaired functionality with win32k lockdown enabled on some Windows systems (bug 1769845)

Fixed context menus not appearing when right-clicking Picture-in-Picture windows on some Linux systems (bug 1771914)..

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Stable 101.0.1

13th June 2022 USN-5475-1
Ubuntu have issued a Firefox update for 18:04LTS, 20:04LTS and 21.20
Ref: https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-5475-1

Multiple security issues were discovered in Firefox. If a user were
tricked into opening a specially crafted website, an attacker could
potentially exploit these to cause a denial of service, obtain sensitive
information, spoof the browser UI, conduct cross-site scripting (XSS)
attacks, bypass content security policy (CSP) restrictions, or execute
arbitrary code.

check your updater/package manager although nothing from Mozilla.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

[Charlie]

Does this translate down to Firefox 101?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Charlie.

I am having trouble accessing several web sites: such as Staples; Newsweek; and a few others that I had no trouble before May 15th.  (if I remember correctly!!) I found if I use Microsoft Edge I can, however, I really hate Microsoft Edge!! If Firefox is the problem, how do I roll back Firefox to an earlier version or would it be easier just to complain loudly to Mozilla?

Please define “trouble accessing”.

Does it work if you run with add-ons disabled?

cheers, Paul

FYI

There is a reported widespread website outage with web domains and apps failing to connect:

1) Daily Mail – ‘And you thought the train strike was bad’: Cloudflare fixes major fault that caused hundreds of websites including Discord, Shopify, Peloton and JustEat to stop working and return a ‘500 Internal Server error’ message
————————————————————————-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10937043/Major-Cloudflare-outage-causes-hundreds-websites-return-500-Internal-Server-error-message.html

2) Twitter – Cloudflare
————————
https://twitter.com/Cloudflare/status/1539145219656011776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

According to Cloudfare, they have identified the issue, implemented and monitoring the fix, and resolved the incident.

This could be the reason for the trouble you are facing in connecting to several websites.

HTH.

Heads up..scheduled 28th June 2022 landing of the following:

Mozilla Firefox 102.0
release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.0/releasenotes/

Mozilla Firefox 102.0esr
release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.0esr/releasenotes/

Mozilla Firefox 91.11.0esr
release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.11.0/releasenotes/

introduction of the esr branch change to 102.0 seems interesting.

For those who wish to jump-in early, they are available to download over on:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Steve, Alex5723

Update channels opening and release notes completed 🙂

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 102.0

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 91.11.0

Firefox 102.0.1

“We’re still preparing the notes for this release, and will post them here when they are ready. Please check back later.”

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Microfix

Firefox 102.0.1 release information

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 102.0.1

13th July 2022
Mozilla Firefox 102.0.1esr released.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.0.1esr/releasenotes/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Why am I not able to update Fx 91.11.0 ESR through Help tab/about Firefox? When I open Firefox Help/about Firefox tab it checks and says I’m up to date. Shouldn’t I be offered the latest ESR version 102.0.1?

Hmmm….I have a vague recollection that I read somewhere that Fx 91.11.0 ESR will not update automatically to 102x until this September?

Mele20 wrote:

Why am I not able to update Fx 91.11.0 ESR through Help tab/about Firefox? When I open Firefox Help/about Firefox tab it checks and says I’m up to date. Shouldn’t I be offered the latest ESR version 102.0.1?

You can’t yet by the release channel but, you can if you downlowd 102.0.1esr from the mozilla firefox FTP
Once you have downloaded the firefox exe in your chosen language, double click it (I normally do it offline YMMV), choose the custom install and progress thru each screen checking things, Upgrade will then appear hit that button. Voila! upgraded from 91.11esr to 102.0.1esr
As usual, backup first.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Mele20, Alex5723

Firefox 103.0
Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/103.0/releasenotes/

Firefox esr 102.1.0
Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.1.0/releasenotes/

Firefox esr 91.12.0
Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.12.0/releasenotes/
All hitting their respective update channels tomorrow.

[Check back tomorrow to view release notes]

Available now over on the Mozilla FTP:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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bassmanzam, Slowpoke47, DrBonzo, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.1.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 103.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy 91.12.0

Security Vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox ESR 91.12

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 103.0.1

Firefox 103.0.2 all platforms.

Release Notes (not available yet).

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Slowpoke47, Fred, DrBonzo

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 103.0.2

Firefox 103.0.2  Fixes according to the Mozilla Release Notes:

Fixed menu shortcuts for users of the JAWS screen reader.

Fixed an occasional non-overridable certificate error when accessing device configuration pages.

Fixed an issue with Picture-in-Picture displaying in fullscreen on macOS.

No security updates are mentioned (my input).

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Alex5723

New Mozilla versions due to land via update channels tomorrow:
check back then to view release notes.

Mozilla Firefox 104.0.0
Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/104.0.0/releasenotes/

Mozilla Firefox esr 91.13.0
Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.13.0/releasenotes/

Mozilla Firefox esr 102.2.0
Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.2.0/releasenotes/

Early adopters, see previous posts for FTP download links.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Steve, bassmanzam, satrow, DrBonzo, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 104.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy91 91.13.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.2.0

Firefox 102.2.0-ESR works fine with diskcache deactivated and moved to RAM

* _ ... _ *

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Alex5723

Firefox 104.0.1 all platforms

Release Notes

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 104.0.1

Firefox 104.0.2 all platforms

Release notes

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Stable 104.0.2

New Mozilla Firefox releases due to land via update channels tomorrow 20th September 2022, check back then to view release notes.

Firefox 105.0.0
Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/105.0/releasenotes/

Firefox ESR 102.3.0
Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.3.0/releasenotes/

NOTE:
Firefox ESR 91.xx series will no longer be updated on that channel.
(91.13 being the last version)

Early adopters can visit Mozilla FTP to download:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 105.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.3.0

I updated today from 91 ESR to 102 ESR and major problems that have me beside myself.  I had an older topic on Firefox issues that were solved in 91. Will add to that topic and appreciate any help that anyone can offer. I feel like I have two flat tires and no spare.

 

~Bob

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Charlie

Firefox 105.0.1

All platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/105.0.1/

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 105.0.1

Firefox 105.0.2 all platforms.

Release Notes

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 105.0.2

Firefox 105.0.3 fixed Avast / AVG Antivirus crashing Firefox.

All platforms

Release notes (not yet)

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 105.0.3

17th Oct Firefox release due:
New Mozilla Firefox releases due to land via update channels tomorrow 18th October 2022, check back then to view release notes.

Firefox 106.0
Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/106.0/releasenotes/

Firefox ESR 102.4.0
Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.4.0/releasenotes/

Early adopters can visit Mozilla FTP to download:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Firefox 106 all platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/106.0/

Firefox ESR 102.4.0 all platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.4.0esr/

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 106.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.4.0

Noteable New Feature added to Firefox 106.0:

It is now possible to edit PDFs: including writing text, drawing, and adding signatures.
Setting Firefox as your default browser now also makes it the default PDF application on Windows systems…

More info along with HIGH security fixes for CVE2022-42927 Same-origin policy violation could have leaked cross-origin URL’s and CVE2022-42928 Memory corruption in JS Engine.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/106.0/releasenotes/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Microfix wrote:

Noteable New Feature added to Firefox 106.0:

This quote is not attributable to Microfix, but it’s in his post:

It is now possible to edit PDFs: including writing text, drawing, and adding signatures.
Setting Firefox as your default browser now also makes it the default PDF application on Windows systems…

I opened a pdf file with Firefox and tried the two editing features it offers. They are very easy to use. But, they are extraordinarily limited in scope compared to Acrobat Reader’s Comment Tools and Fill-in & Sign Tool.

I have been using FF 105 and 106. I’ve noticed that some pdf files (from reputable sources) will not download via FF’s Acrobat Reader option in the FF download dialog box, but will download via the FF option. In that case, I use the FF option to save it and then I load it into Acrobat Reader to add comments, boxes, lines, etc with the Comment Tools or the Fill-in & Sign Tool. I’ve also found that I have to rename it after marking it up or else it loses some of the usual security permissions (which you can check via the file’s Properties > Security details).

FWIW- Updated to FF 106.0 this a.m.- might have been a mistake.  This machine- Dell desktop, Linux Mate 20.3- previously running FF 105.0.3 with no issues.  Now updated, seeing occasional weird behavior when clicking on a link (occasionally fails with error message) or copy/pasting site address into new tab (pastes a completely different url).   Another machine- HP laptop, Mate 19.2- still runs v. 105.0.3 and continues to perform the exact same moves correctly.

Anyone else?

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Charlie

I’m still on FF 105.0.1 and as usual, I will not update to 106 for at least a week or two.  FF 106.0.1 is now out so we will hopefully see fixes for what ails it.  This goes for my Win 7, Linux 19.1, and Linux 20.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Microfix wrote:

Setting Firefox as your default browser now also makes it the default PDF application on Windows systems…

Not pleased about that, overstepping in my opinion. I’ll have four PCs to go into to reset the default PDF application back to my preferred choice.

opti1 wrote:

Microfix wrote:

Setting Firefox as your default browser now also makes it the default PDF application on Windows systems…

Not pleased about that, overstepping in my opinion. I’ll have four PCs to go into to reset the default PDF application back to my preferred choice.

nope, I never wrote that, I quoted it from Mozilla. However,that’s where FF ESR comes in handy, no additional beta test features, less point updates with only security updates for circa a year. Might be something to consider..

 

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Yes, I know you didn’t write that. I played around trying to insert the part you quoted without attributing it to you but it kept pulling you in anyway . . . 🙁

Looks like 106.0.1 is about to drop..wonder what they broke this time? 2 days since 106.0 release

Release notes –
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/106.0.1/releasenotes/

FTP link –
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/106.0.1/

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Charlie, Alex5723, Slowpoke47, Microfix

Definitely some bugs in 106.0.  Since updating yesterday, various glitches, solved only by closing/reopening FF.

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Charlie

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 106.0.1

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Slowpoke47

FF 106.0.1 now offered in Update Mgr for us non-techs.  Anyone tried it yet?  Results?

Last night I updated to 106.0.1 from 105.0.3 on 4 Mint Cinnamon 20.3 machines, 1 Win 7, 1 Win 8.1, and 1 Win 10. No issues on any of them, but full disclosure is that my testing was limited, maybe just a small handful of sites, verification of version number, decent speed. The only irritating thing is a “let’s set up some stuff” screens all of which I deflected (don’t remember the exact terminology), but included a color setting option, and a few other things. In other words I left things as they were before I updated.

Other disclosure is that other than the set up screens this was, for me and my computers pretty normal upgrading.

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Charlie, Slowpoke47

DrBonzo wrote:

The only irritating thing is a “let’s set up some stuff” screens all of which I deflected (don’t remember the exact terminology)

In other words, you weren’t forced to do anything and you ignored it.  I personally make a restore point before doing Firefox updates for the past several years.  I don’t know what makes them think they have to add some new geegaw(s) every month.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I couldn’t literally ignore it because it was a pop-up window that wouldn’t go away unless I accepted the change or clicked on the option to “skip this step”. Each click on “skip this step” produced another option 3 or 4 times in a row. Then it was done trying to convince me to do something and returned to normal browsing mode.

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Charlie, Slowpoke47

Still on 106.0, seems to be behaving today.  But that “Let’s set up…” popup displayed with this install also.  I found that if I opened another tab, the popup defaulted to a tiny tab of its own to the far left of the row of tabs.  Haven’t investigated further.

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Charlie, DrBonzo

Discovered today that the small FF tab can be dismissed via right-click.

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Bob99, DrBonzo

I suspect the “let’s set up” stuff was new to 106.0.0. I waited long enough before updating from 105.0.3 that 106.0.1 was already out. Apparently it didn’t take long for them to discover a bug in 106.0.0!

DrBonzo wrote:

Apparently it didn’t take long for them to discover a bug in 106.0.0!

Yeah- 2 days!  A record?

@Slowpoke47 and @DrBonzo –

Per the release notes page for Firefox 106.0.1,

Addresses a crash experienced by users with AMD Zen 1 CPUs.

So, it truly didn’t take long to flesh out a potentially ugly bug, although that is the only thing listed!  😉

I’m not sure that this length of time is a record for shortest time to release a bug fix for Mozilla, though.

DrBonzo wrote:

I couldn’t literally ignore it because it was a pop-up window that wouldn’t go away

Firefox portable editions doesn’t have pop-ups.
There are no benefits for installing software over portable.

Installed can be your default browser. Portable cannot.

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Alex5723

Okay so:

DrBonzo wrote:

I couldn’t literally ignore it because it was a pop-up window that wouldn’t go away unless I accepted the change or clicked on the option to “skip this step”. Each click on “skip this step” produced another option 3 or 4 times in a row. Then it was done trying to convince me to do something and returned to normal browsing mode.

And:

Slowpoke47 wrote:

Discovered today that the small FF tab can be dismissed via right-click.

And FF 106.0.1 is out, but does it correct this Pop Up annoyance?  No one has really said that it does.  Is this something we’re expected to put up with?  Still on FF 105.0.1.

 

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

When I dismissed it (on 106.0) as mentioned above, it didn’t come back when closing and reopening FF.  Mostly it just amounted to browsing history, which you can add to the notification area anyway via drag-and-drop.  It’s a useful feature- been using it forever- but it’s not there by default.  Hamburger>Add-ons and themes if you want it.

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Charlie

@DrBonzo , @Slowpoke47 and @Charlie –

I’m on 106.0.1 and when I first went to 106, I also had that screen come up after restarting FF, but I was able to get rid of it by simply clicking the little “X” on the right side of the page’s tab, and it hasn’t come back at all.

Right afterwards, I simply right clicked on the Firefox symbol that was newly present in the upper left corner of the browser’s window (to the immediate left of the row of open tabs), and then selected the option to “Remove from Toolbar”, which eliminated THAT from the display as well (thanks for the tip, @Slowpoke47 ). That FF symbol is for the new “feature” (my term) called “Firefox View”. This is also listed on the Tools drop-down menu if you have that enabled.

Having experienced the above behaviors, I then proceeded to go through all of my settings within FF with a fine tooth comb to make sure that nothing had been changed to a different setting than where I wanted it. I found no changes. However, I didn’t go through the about:config settings, but I will do so if I see anything out of the ordinary in FF’s behavior.

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Steve, WCHS, Charlie

Even though this seems like it’s simple to correct, I really hate having “features” I don’t want installed on my computers without my permission.  This is getting almost as bad as MS and its “updates” that have you wondering what you got that you didn’t want, and/or what you had that you no longer have!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

The “features” won’t install if you click on “skip this step”. After a few clicks you’ll get to a “continue browsing”, and then you can do just that – continue browsing with nothing changed. The next time you open FF it just starts as normal. Of course, as they say, YMMV.

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Charlie, Slowpoke47

Charlie wrote:

I really hate having “features” I don’t want installed on my computers without my permission. This is getting almost as bad as MS and its “updates” that have you wondering what you got that you didn’t want, and/or what you had that you no longer have!

ESR is your friend 🙂

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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SueW, Charlie

Yes indeed, Mozilla has been pushing me in that direction for a long time.  I’m going to brush up on what all is involved with switching to FF ESR.  Do they have an ESR version for Linux Mint C?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Check this out for Linux: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.4.0/system-requirements/

Win 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bit; Office 2010; Group B (SaS); Former 'Tech Weenie'

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Charlie, Microfix

Biggest change I find in FF106 is the “showcasing” of Private Browsing mode by now opening it as a separate window with dark mode.  It also adds a new entry onto the Start Menu.

There is discussion on AskVG and many complaints on Mozilla board itself which they claim to be taking under consideration.

I seldom utilize the feature, but dislike having to look at the new “Firefox Private Browsing” entry plastered on my Start Menu.  If I right click on it, I get an Uninstall option but unsure if this simply uninstalls the shortcut or if it is now an actual application?

Does anyone know?  How to remove this entry from the Windows 10 Start Menu?

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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Charlie

Tex265 wrote:

How to remove this entry from the Windows 10 Start Menu?

right-click>uninstall will uninstall the program on your device.
right-click>unpin from Start will remove it from the Start Menu, but it will still be listed in the App list (the left-most panel) of the Start Menu flyout — that is, if you have it set up for the App list to show.

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Tex265

@WCHS

Thanks for the reply…. My Start Menu shows 3 columns.  The left most column contains the Power Button, the middle column contains the Apps, the right most are the Tiles.

The “Firefox Private Browsing” entry appears in the middle column under the “Firefox” entry.  Since it has not been “pinned” to the Start menu, a right click allows to “Pin to Start”, More, or Uninstall.

I followed a web search link and under “More” went to “open file location”.  The link said you could delete or move the unwanted shortcut entry to have it removed from the start menu without uninstalling the app.

I moved it to under another unrelated start menu app, but the shortcut remained where it was, under the Firefox entry – hmmm?  Did I do something wrong?

Don’t want to Uninstall, so currently out of ideas.

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

Tex265 wrote:

My Start Menu shows 3 columns.

Yes, you are right. The left-most column has the power button icon in it. The column is so narrow that I barely notice it.

I have “Firefox Private Browsing” in the 2nd column (the App list) of the Start Menu.

It’s there because it is listed in C:\Users\mypersonalfoldername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs as a shortcut.

Its Properties indicate that its path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\private_browsing.exe. This is the location of the program for this FF function.

When I move this “Firefox Private Browsing” shortcut from its location in C:\…. Start Menu\Programs to somewhere else (let’s say in the Documents folder), it disappears from the Start Menu App list. So, its presence in C:\…\Start Menu\Programs is what makes it appear in the Start Menu Apps list. Instead of moving the shortcut, you can just delete it from C:\…\Start Menu\Programs and it won’t appear in the App list any longer. Since it’s a shortcut that you are deleting, you aren’t deleting the program itself, just the shortcut.

Maybe “Firefox Private Browsing” is still appearing in the Start Menu App list because it’s in “another unrelated start menu app”, whatever/wherever that is. I know that when I moved the shortcut to the Documents folder, it disappeared from the Start Menu App list.

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Tex265

Thank you for the time and detail on this issue.

Yes, I agree with what you did and I had previously did somewhat the same. This time I also moved the shortcut to my Documents Folder.  The shortcut remained on the Start Menu and right clicking on it then More>open file location still took me to the \Start Menu\Programs folder, but it no longer showed up there and clicking on it back in the Start Menu no longer worked  – strange!

I did a Computer Re-start and a voila now gone!

I’ll safe keep it in my Documents folder just in case Mozilla decides to provide a fix that somehow requires it to be put back there in order to work.

 

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

Tex265 wrote:

I did a Computer Re-start and a voila now gone!

A restart often straightens things out because it doesn’t have any old information to refer to (in layperson terms).

It has been a week or more since FF 106 came out so I let the 106.0.1 install on my Win 7.  I haven’t noticed anything different about it visually or otherwise.  No Pop-Ups or anything else that’s been mentioned here.  I was pleasantly surprised, but then, it’s on Win 7 and I keep my FF pretty spartan.  I haven’t put it on my Linux Mint C 19.1 and Mint C 20.  I may go with ESR on those.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 16.0.2 all platforms

Release notes

https://www.ghacks.net/2022/10/26/firefox-106-0-2-fixes-a-freeze-opening-issue-and-more/

2 users thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47, Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 106.0.2

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

Firefox 106.0.3 all platforms

Release notes

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Slowpoke47, Microfix

T H I R D Update within 2 weeks, any advances on four within the month?
Meanwhile, Firefox ESR is still on 102.4.0 since 18th October 🙂

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Firefox 106.0.3 fixes a crash and hangs on Windows

…Firefox 106.0.3 is an update that is relevant to Windows users only. It addresses two issues on Windows. The first fix addresses a startup crash for some users on Windows machines. The linked bug report, bug 1797464, reveals that Firefox is throwing an access violation exception on affected machines.

Enable/disable window occlusion only when compositor session exists on Windows

When compositor session exists, gfxConfig is already initialized.

If first AppWindow is destroyed in nsAppShellService::JustCreateTopWindow() because of error, the first window could be destroyed before calling gfxConfig::Init()

The bug affected Firefox 106.0, Firefox 106.0.1 and Firefox 106.0.2, and newer development builds of the browser. Firefox ESR 102 is not affected by it…

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Stable 106.0.3

Currently running FF 106.0 on Linux Mint Mate 19.2 and 20.3.  Interested in comments from other Mint users re experience with 106.2.  FF seems to have gone off the rails since v.102.0 last summer.

I just ran the FF 106.0.2 update on my LMC 19.1 laptop and everything seems okay.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47

Hey Slowpoke, I installed FF 106.0.3 from the Update Manager on my Linux Mint C 20 today and have been using it all day without any problem so far.  I wasn’t expecting to see 106.0.3 on the Update Manager but there it was, and I was behind in updating and missed 106.0.1.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

I’ve been using Firefox 106.0.1 on my Windows 7 machine with absolutely no problems.  I didn’t update to 106.0.2 because I didn’t feel a need to.  Not sure about Win 8.1, but haven’t heard any complaints from any Win 8.1 users.

So, when a Firefox update says it’s “for Windows”, I assume they’re referring to Windows 10 (as their Bug Report does also) and maybe, Win 11?  Are we not even mentioning Win 7 and Win 8.1 anymore?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

@Slowpoke47 , @DrBonzo , and @Charlie –

I updated to FF 106.0.3 yesterday (from 106.0.2) on both of my Windows 10 machines, and wanted to let you all know that the update to 0.3 put the FF Private Browsing icon BACK on my Start Menu. I promptly dumped it just like I did before and it’s now gone. BUT, it goes to show that if you had dumped it or “hidden” it in another location besides its’ default location for your OS, the installer for the update (possibly any update to FF nowadays) will probably reinstall the shortcut that you dumped or relocated.

@Charlie , here’s a link to the 106.0.2 release notes:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/106.0.2/releasenotes/

If you haven’t already done so, please feel free to give them a look-see to decide if you need to go from 0.1 to 0.2. As far as 106.0.3 goes, the release notes for 106.0.3 just say that

Fix a startup crash for some users on Windows

and

Fixed an incompatibility with the new Windows 11 22H2 Suggested Actions feature resulting in hangs when copying text on a web page

so, it remains to be seen if you really need to go get 106.0.3 or not for your Win 7 installation and your 8.1 installation.

If you’re not experiencing a crash or even a hiccup when you start FF 106.0.1 on either one of your Windows installations, and you’re not experiencing any of the symptoms described in the 106.0.2 release notes, I wouldn’t worry about either 106.0.2 or 106.0.3 for the time being. The time to worry about being really obligated to install a browser update is when there’s any security vulnerability that the latest update has a patch for OR when you’re experiencing a problem that the patch fixes, such as the aforementioned (and probably very annoying) startup crash.

HINT for all those who routinely use Firefox: 80-90% of the time (from what I’ve seen over the years in reading FF release notes), a full version release (for example FF 102.0, 103.0, etc.) contains several security vulnerability fixes, so they’re a great thing to install as soon as possible after they’re released.

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Charlie

The FF 106.0.2 and 106.0.3 updates came out very quickly with respect to each other and I missed getting 106.0.1 on my Linux Mint 20 machine.  Update manager was only offering 106.0.3 so I went with that.  I made a TimeShift restore point before installing it as usual.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 106.0.4 all platforms

Release notes

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Microfix

#2493524 within days of that post /sigh
Meanwhile back at the ranch, ESR is still on 102.4.0

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 106.0.4

https://www.ghacks.net/2022/11/03/firefox-106-0-4-fixes-crashes-in-the-browser/

Firefox 106.0.4 addresses three non-security issues in the web browser. Two of the three issues affect media playback in Firefox. One addresses a DRM video playback issue that can lead to a crash, the other a crash that could happen during media playback.

The first issue appears to be a regression. Mozilla explains that playback of DRM videos in Firefox could “in unusual circumstances” lead to a crash; this can happen in low-memory situations and other scenarios, according to Mozilla.

The second issue may cause Firefox to crash or freeze; this happens when the browser’s GPU process crashes or during a device reset.

The third and final issue addresses an issue with input elements. These stopped working after changing the type from date to datetime-local…

These FF updates are coming out almost like the daily newspaper.  The FF developers seem to be chasing problems but missing the solutions.  There is still an issue with FF freezes under as yet undetermined conditions.  After a clear spell, had one yesterday.  As seen on my Mint thread https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=376770  some users are seeing these more frequently.  This thread still running, since early July.

I just clicked on Help and About and got this:

This is on my Win 7 machine.  Didn’t know about this one!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Why it’s the FF update du jour, of course. I’ve heard rumors that Mozilla has put 1000 chimps in a room, each seated at a computer and then waited to see which occurred first: the chimps cranking out the complete works of Shakespeare or the next version of FF. Apparently the latter came first.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47

Yeah, and there’s probably a supervisor with a whip to try to hurry them up!  That’s probably why they don’t get it right the first time.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Per release notes here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/106.0.5/releasenotes/

Version 106.0.5, first offered to Release channel users on November 4, 2022

Addresses a crash experienced by users with Intel Gemini Lake CPUs.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Microfix, DrBonzo

Firefox 106.0.5 all platforms

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 106.0.5

Charlie & DrBonzo- Have a heart, fellas- 10,000 comedians out of work and you guys are cracking jokes- give ’em a break, willya?

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, DrBonzo

Alex5723 wrote:

…Firefox 106.0.3 is an update that is relevant to Windows users only.

Currently offered 106.0.3 in Update Mgr, Mint 20.3.  Any reason to install it?  Installed FF now is v. 106.0.  The FF freeze problem is not solved by 106.0.

Slowpoke47 wrote:

Currently offered 106.0.3 in Update Mgr, Mint 20.3.

the latest is 106.0.5 – all platforms. I have no problems with it, but I am not Mint. I am Win10 Pro/21H2 but no October patches yet, will do that today.

The latest FF version I’ve see that is actually being offered in Mint 20.3 is 106.0.3. 106.0.5 does exist and may be for all platforms, but it hasn’t been offered to Mint 20.3 through Mint’s updater.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47, Charlie, WCHS

As mentioned above in a post by a Guest who chose the name of Mothy, FF 106.0.5 sounds like it’s quite targeted:

Addresses a crash experienced by users with Intel Gemini Lake CPUs.

That’s also a direct quote from the release notes for 106.0.5.

For being so targeted, I got it offered to me yesterday on both of my machines, but they’re not Gemini Lake machines, they’re Coffee Lake Refresh machines, i3-9100 and i5-9500.

Maybe one day Mozilla will develop a routine that saves one’s hardware configuration in a way that the updater can use to avoid folks getting an update they may not need. OK, end of the wishful thinking.

Sounds like of you don’t have a Gemini Lake CPU from Intel, you may be able to bypass 106.0.5 altogether.

BTW, those chips were launched by Intel back in the last 3 months of 2017 and have since been discontinued. They were targeted towards low cost laptops and desktops as well as all-in-one PCs.

Mozilla Firefox releases due to land via update channels tomorrow 15th November 2022, check back then to view release notes.

Firefox 107.0
Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/107.0/releasenotes/

Firefox ESR 102.5.0
Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.5.0/releasenotes/

Early adopters can visit Mozilla FTP to download:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

2 users thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47, Alex5723

Firefox 107.0 & Firefox esr 102.5.0 are out

1 user thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.5.0

interesting fixes for mainstream Firefox 107.0, Firefox Esr 102.5 fixes also.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

2 users thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47, Alex5723

That seems like a lot of bugs for a new release update, or any update for that matter. How many bugs did they not find? Maybe they really are hiring chimps to program – no offense to chimps. My general impression over the years is that a lot of security folks think FF is perhaps the most secure browser out there (no, I can’t document that with references, it’s just my general impression). If that’s secure….

2 users thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47, Microfix

DrBonzo wrote:

My general impression over the years is that a lot of security folks think FF is perhaps the most secure browser out there

That’s dependant on which edition/version of Mozilla Firefox and what you do to it beyond defaults which is far more customisable than others I’ll not mention 😉

Remember:
Firefox ESR gets SECURITY ONLY patching whereas mainstream Firefox is morphing into a hybrid cluster of vanity and lazyware to compete with ‘oh dear I can’t do that due to so-called security restrictions’ browsers out there, and given the amount of patches within the last month proves it.

Firefox ESR = 1 month no point releases
Firefox Mainstream = 1 Month 5 point releases..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

5 users thanked author for this post.

Steve, Charlie, SueW, DrBonzo, Slowpoke47

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 107.0

With these updates coming every 2 or 3 days- are you installing every one or are you waiting for the dust to clear and seeing if a particular update causes any problems?

If you wait 2-3 days, at the rate they’re pushing updates, you have just missed the one you were waiting on and you will then have to wait on the next one. 🙂

1 user thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47

So is it best to install them as they come, or is it better to wait for any problems with a particular update to emerge?

On macs and Windows I usually wait a day. On Mint, whatever is in the updates on Thursday night gets installed. So far this has worked for me with no issues.

2 users thanked author for this post.

bassmanzam, Slowpoke47

It’s unusual, based on past experience, for Firefox to have five “in between” updates like they did between 106 and 107.  Now we’re at that main monthly update 107, and unless they have some gravely needed security, or real program improving things, I’ll wait the usual week for the “dust to settle” as you say, and to make sure there are no problems.

I’m still running 106.0.2 on my Linux Mint laptop, and 106.0.1 on my Win 7 box.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47

It strikes me as a bit weird that after five point updates to FF 106, there are so many security updates rated high and medium in FF 107.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47

Difficult to adopt a strategy that is the least disruptive.  Is it too much to expect FF to just run unobtrusively and reasonably efficiently in the background?

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Apparently it is asking too much. Unfortunately it is apparently also asking too much of almost all other software producers. Pretty much every time I turn a computer on these days it needs at least one software update. I think software producers – and the rest of the computing world – would be far better off if the producers gave more thought to what and how they code and to testing that code to make sure it works. Constant patch creation and updating is surely not as productive as creating a product that functions properly to begin with.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Slowpoke47

Firefox 107.0.1 due to land via update channels today.
29th November 2022
Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/107.0.1/releasenotes/
(check back later…)
As usual, available now via FTP.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

Not (yet) on https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/107.0.1/

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 107.0.1

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels tomorrow December 13th 2022, check back then to view release notes.

Firefox 108.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/108.0/releasenotes/

Firefox ESR 102.6
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.6/releasenotes/

Early adopters can visit Mozilla FTP to download when available:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Alex5723

Anyone read/ know whether Mozilla has made it’s mind up to the two consideration options for Win7/ 8.1 regarding Mainstream Firefox EoS?

The options that were on the table:
End support in January 2023
OR
Extend support until at least June 2023.

I’m aware that ESR will EoS in August 2023 on v102.15 but mainstream firefox users are kept waiting…

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.6.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 108.0

Mozilla Firefox 108.0.1
available soon via update channels or now via FTP:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/108.0.1/

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/108.0.1/releasenotes/

Fixes the default search engine being reset on upgrade for profiles which were previously copied from a different location.

What the…!

If debian is good enough for NASA...

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 108.0.1

How is FF 108 doing?  I generally assume if I don’t hear any complaints that it is okay.  Is this a correct assumption or should I allow more time before allowing it to install?

Also 108.0.1 is now added.  Are the security updates that critical?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Well, 7 days since it’s release and no complaints, so I installed 108.0.1 on my Linux 19.1 laptop.  It’s been working okay so far.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla are releasing a Firefox update 108.0.2 later today via the update channels. No word yet on the release notes as to what is affected, check back later to find out.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/108.0.2/releasenotes/

Also available via FTP
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/108.0.2/

Firefox ESR users, as you were…

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

macOS only.

Fixes a crash for some users on Mac OS X 10.12-10.14 during video playback.

The “Tabs sharing devices” menu item for WebRTC is now located in the tools menu on macOS only.

Fixes a crash that might occur when managing browser history

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 108.0.2

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels tomorrow,
Tuesday January 17th 2023
check back then to view release notes.

Firefox 109.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/109.0/releasenotes/

Firefox ESR 102.7
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.7.0/releasenotes/

Early adopters can visit Mozilla FTP to download when available:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

Release Notes now available within Mozilla links above.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Firefox 109: Manifest V3 support, security fixes and improvements

..Firefox 109.0 Stable is the first stable release that supports Manifest V3 extensions. These may now be installed from Mozilla’s addons repository and other sources.
The new version fixes 10 security issues that have severity ratings of high or lower…

Manifest V3 extensions

Firefox 109.0 is the first Stable release of Firefox that supports Manifest V3 extensions. Firefox continues to support Manifest V2 extensions. The update introduces a new extension button that lists all extensions and their site permissions, provided that these extensions are not pinned to the Firefox toolbar.

Selecting the cogwheel icon next to an extension displays the pin option to place it prominently on the Firefox toolbar. A right-click on pinned icons displays an option to unpin them. Unpinned extensions are moved to the Extensions menu automatically.

Mozilla reassured Firefox users that it would not follow Google’s lead on making Manifest V3 the exclusive option for extensions. ..

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable 102.7.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 109.0

Updated to Firefox ESR 102.7 yesterday…login field for reddit no longer there. Any one else seeing issues like this ?

Thanks

My mistake not getting back to this…the issue resolved itself. No other issues noted.

Sorry

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Charlie

Okay, so other than DriftyDonN’s ESR 102.7 problem with reddit, there doesn’t seem to be any more complaints about FF 109 other than the Extension Button.  It’s been over a week so I’m assuming FF 109 is okay to allow onto my computers?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

109 is running fine on all computers I deal with: Win 10 Pro 22H2 (2 computers), Win 10 Home 22H2, Win 8.1, macOS Monterey (2 computers), Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon (4 computers).

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

I’ve had an ongoing problem with FF (not specific to 109). Sometimes a pdf attachment will not open in either FF or Acrobat Reader without some special nudging — specifically, choosing a 2nd time to open it. It usually opens then. It seems to me that the first time is like priming a pump. And then with the 2nd attempt, you get the flow.

I am Win10/Pro 21H2

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Charlie

As it has on the last 5 main updates, Firefox seems to run slower on my Linux Mint with each update.  FF 109 was no exception.  It does, however, run just fine on Win 7 64 bit on the same computer.  This computer has 4 Gigs of RAM, and a 3.3 GHz Intel Core i3 cpu.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

Is it my imagination?  Seems to me, not that long ago, FF used to just run, no substantial issues, sorta like your refrigerator.

BTW Charlie- in response to your tagline, I never make the same mistake twice.  I can always find new mistakes to make. 🤪

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

It seems like Firefox started giving us annoying problems somewhere around 2015 – 2016.  That’s probably when they started trying to mimic everything the Chrome browser has, or doesn’t have.  I started with Firefox version 3.6 and it was great.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

Firefox 109.0.1 Update
30th January 2023
Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/109.0.1/releasenotes/
…Check back later

FTP: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/109.0.1/

No updates for Firefox ESR

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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DrBonzo, Alex5723, Steve, Slowpoke47

Firefox 109.0.1 fixes font smoothing and Enterprise authentication issues

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DrBonzo

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 109.0.1

https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Ed./Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Edition%20109.0.1/

Just in case you encounter a snag when a certain World-Wide Web site decides it is not going to display content in Firefox due to you running Windows® 7, I recommend going into about:config and adding this browser variable
general.useragent.override ; choose ‘string’ and put this line in the field

Code:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/109.0

This should convince whoever is checking that you are now running Windows® 10 x64, even though you are not.

Important links you can use, without the monetization pitch = https://pqrs-ltd.xyz/bookmark4.html

6 users thanked author for this post.

TaskForce141, jburk07, Pim, SueW, DrBonzo, Charlie

Just now offered FF 109.0.1.  Any repercussions from this latest version?  The time between FF updates gets shorter and shorter…

Slowpoke47 wrote:

Any repercussions from this latest version?

I cannot log into some online accounts. I get an “access denied” screen. This problem did not occur in 109.0.0. I called the purveyor of one of my online accounts (a major player in retirement investments) and the information I got was that FF was an issue with them — not enough security. They recommend Chrome. I WON’T use that, though.

I had no problem logging in with Edge.

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Charlie, Slowpoke47

WCHS wrote:

and the information I got was that FF was an issue with them — not enough security.

If you don’t already have it, I recommend the Firefox extension uBlock Origin.  It makes FF more secure if this remains a problem.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

WCHS

Charlie wrote:

If you don’t already have it, I recommend the Firefox extension uBlock Origin. It makes FF more secure if this remains a problem.

Yes, I have uBlock Origin enabled. And I also use the FF Multi-Account Container extension.

I sent Feedback to the “major retirement investment player” about the “access denied” problem with the new FF 109.01, and by evening time, its website was working fine with it. So, the problem must have been on the website end.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

109.0.1 doesn’t have any security fixes, and nothing they describe seems of any value to me, so I’m just going to ignore it.  At least I can do that until FF update 110 comes out somewhere around Feb. 16th.  They may come out with 109.0.2 with a fix to this (shades of MS).

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

Slowpoke47

Slowpoke47 wrote:

Any repercussions from this latest version?

Another some-time-suffering problem I have with these latest versions of FF is that the tabs at the top for File, Edit, View, History, Bookmarks, Tools, Help do not show up, unless I press the ALT key. And then, they show up only temporarily. I get tired of hitting ALT all the time.

This was NOT the case in earlier versions–the tabs were always there, unless you changed some preference to hide them.

It’s this kind of change from version to version that annoys me.

Right click in the upper space and check “Menu bar”

 

Yes, I do that. But, each new version of FF erases that check mark beside Menu Bar. It doesn’t erase my Bookmark Toolbar settings or my Customize Toolbar settings, but it monkeys with the Menu Bar setting.

Copied the problem below from a post at Ghacks.net

I noticed the same activity since updating to current FF version.

Anyone here found a solution to this problem?  Can the zero (0) size files be manually deleted periodically without causing a problem?

>>Firefox 109.0 broke clearing the Cache on “shutdown”.

Since updating I was noticing a ton of junk files being created when closing the browser.

(The folder with the junk files in question resides in your ProgramData folder and named “Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38”.)

https://i.imgur.com/dP8njcH.png

Well after doing some digging it seems to be 100% related to clearing Cache on shutdown.

https://i.imgur.com/1MtxKxU.png

If you had that enabled then you are probably getting those above “cache2.2023-0X-XX-XX-XX-XX5.purge” files building up…

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

I am FF 109.0.1
I have all five ‘History’ options checked in ‘Clear Recent History’ and I have no “cache2.2023-0X-XX-XX-XX-XX5.purge” files in ProgramData>Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38.

WCHS wrote:

I have all five ‘History’ options checked in ‘Clear Recent History’

Just to be clear, there are two (2) areas within  FF to clear those five “History” areas (both which includes the Cache checkbox option).
If you are referencing the “drop down” link “Clear Recent History” on the upper bar, that brings you to the “manual” way to clear those five “Histories” and is unaffected by this issue presented.  This manual clearance box is actually titled “Clear All History” and can also be accessed via the Settings>Privacy & Security>History area, behind the “Clear History…”  button.

The other “History” clearance box (looks exactly the same) but has the title “Settings for Clearing History” is found behind the “Settings…” button next one down. This one is activated when a checkmark is entered into “Clear history when Firefox closes”. This  then automatically clears FF upon closing.   It is when THIS area is checked AND the Cache is checked in THIS box that the problem arises.

Can you recheck and confirm that you have BOTH these areas active?  And that there is still no problem with those files accumulating in Program  Data?

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

To have the box to check for ‘clear history when Firefox closes’, you have to select ‘Use custom settings for history’ for Firefox will …. I have ‘Remember history’ for Firefox will … And I want the history to be remembered. But, with ‘Remember history’ and all five boxes checked under ‘Clear history’, the ProgramData>Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38 folder is only 15 MB.

WCHS wrote:

I have ‘Remember history’ for Firefox will … And I want the history to be remembered.

With that setting, the second “Settings…” button does not appear and probably the behind the scene config settings are different since you are not purging that data upon closing.  It is this purging action that appears the problem in creating those 0 byte files each time FF closes.

Thanks for checking into it. Hopefully FF will realize the issue and correct.

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

FF follies continue.  Just attempted to install several updates including 109.0.1.  Download popup showed 54 minutes to d/l(!) and displayed error message.  Tried again, all other updates w/o FF- all good.

That happens to me once in a while, not just with FF but with some other updates as well. When you see the download progress bar you should also see a download rate and a small black triangle with ‘Details’ next to it. Click the triangle and you’ll see the progress of everything that’s being downloaded. I’m guessing that for some reason the FF server was slow when you attempted to download. Could be a momentary thing or it could be for a more extended time. Try again later. I have some recollection that closing the Software Updater and rebooting cleared the error message and that the download then worked, although that may just be coincidence.

Might be of some use to make note of the download rate when things are working “normally” to get a feel for how fast your system typically downloads updates.

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Slowpoke47

@slowpoke47 I had several firefox (FF) and thunderbird (TB) update downloads fail or take a long time (not just this version). Typically to avoid problems, I hold FF and TB updates and do them separately especially when there is lot showing to update in Update Manager. Linux Mint Mate 20.3

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Microfix, Slowpoke47, DrBonzo

Yes, I do the same.  In this case, no hurry to install 109.0.1- might just wait for the next bus, quite frequent these days. 🙄

Ahem..Linux Mint over Mozilla itself before straying way off on an LM update tangent.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Tex265 wrote:

The other “History” clearance box (looks exactly the same) but has the title “Settings for Clearing History” is found behind the “Settings…” button next one down. This one is activated when a checkmark is entered into “Clear history when Firefox closes”. This then automatically clears FF upon closing. It is when THIS area is checked AND the Cache is checked in THIS box that the problem arises.

I am on FF 109.0.1 and set up as you describe above and I also have the cachePurge files in the folder you identified. For me it started on January 29. FF 109.0.1 was released on January 31 and I did not install it right away so this behavior must have started with 109.0.0. New files have been added multiple times on any given day, I assume each time I shut down FF.

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels later today, Tuesday February 14th 2023, check back then to view release notes.

Firefox 110.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/110.0/releasenotes/

Firefox ESR 102.8
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.8.0/releasenotes/

FTP links on previous notification posts..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.8.0esr/

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/110.0/

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Steve

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.8.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 110.0

Did latest FF ver 110 fix the below problem created in ver 109?

Tex265 wrote:

>>Firefox 109.0 broke clearing the Cache on “shutdown”.

Since updating I was noticing a ton of junk files being created when closing the browser. (The folder with the junk files in question resides in your ProgramData folder and named “Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38”.)

https://i.imgur.com/dP8njcH.png

Well after doing some digging it seems to be 100% related to clearing Cache on shutdown.

https://i.imgur.com/1MtxKxU.png

If you had that enabled then you are probably getting those above “cache2.2023-0X-XX-XX-XX-XX5.purge” files building up…

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

No.  It didn’t.

Still creating them and didn’t automatically remove previous entries (not sure if it will even when it is fixed).

They have no data in them (zero KB) and can be deleted.  Whether or not deleting them is a good idea remains to be determined.  Used Win 7 to see what would happen and there they were like you say.  I didn’t have many of them of course.

Do they show up anywhere in Linux Mint?  I don’t know where to look for them there.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Regarding the Bug in #2534691 above,  could someone here with expertise on how to do it report this into the Mozilla Bug reporting site to ensure that they are aware of the problem?

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

I deleted all of them except the latest one to the Recycle Bin. They’re still there (didn’t permanently delete them). It didn’t bother my Firefox 109.0.1 at all, FF just created more.  I’m a bit surprised that no one has or is able to get an answer on this.  I tried the Mozilla blog site and didn’t get any replies or answers.

Maybe someone who is a Mozilla member can get a response.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

Charlie- just to be clear, your FF issue arose in v.109.x and extends into v.110.0?  In Windows or Mint?

Sorry about that, I’m doing all this on Win 7 with FF 109.0.1.  When the “Programdata” folder was mentioned I checked it in my Win 7, sure enough the folder and files in question were there. I don’t have Win 10 or 11 so I don’t know if it’s happening there or not (most likely is though).

I have not seen anything in Linux Mint, and didn’t see any strange folders there, but there are so many places it could be hiding in Linux. Hopefully it’s not there.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

I’ll butt in since I posted this concern with #2531970

Don’t know about Mint but as respect Windows 10, it arose with v109 and remains with the latest update v110.

Charlie wrote:

I’m a bit surprised that no one has or is able to get an answer on this.

Totally agree, hard to image many many are not being affected by this setting bug.

 

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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Charlie

Just thought I’d report that I’ve installed Firefox 110 on my Win 7 desktop and LMC 19.1 laptop. Both are running fine, maybe even a little faster!  FF 110 still puts those still undescribed 0 kb files in the Programdata system folder. I can delete them, thankfully.  I can’t find anything like that in my LMC.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

Notice:  I spoke too soon as far as the FF 110 on my Linux 19.1 Mint!  At first FF 110 worked okay and seemed okay, but last night it crashed three times.  Once on my email provider and twice on this Askwoody site. I was logged on when it happened.  A message window came up and offered options of trying to regain the original connection, or restart browser.  Either way they sent off a report to Mozilla with details it had gathered on the crash.

I really hope no one else had this problem.  I did make a Timeshift restore point before I installed the FF 110. I’m hoping I won’t have to go back to FF 109.0.1.  At the risk of jinxing myself, FF 110 so far is running okay on my Win 7 machine and I’m using it to send this post.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

@Charlie, LM 19.x will be out of support in April 2023…might be an idea to move to a newer version rather than flogg a dying horse (just my 2c)

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Slowpoke47

Yeah, I know, but I thought I’d keep this old Sony laptop updated with as much as possible before the expiration so I have a backup laptop that I could still go online with for a bit longer.  I do have LMC 20 on another SSD in this desktop.  I’m planning to use it full time until its time is up and then who knows.

Does LMC 19.1 not meet these system requirements?  See the attached snip from Mozilla.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Any feedback, good or bad, after installing v.110.0 on a Mint 20.3 system?

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Charlie

I have LMC 20 and I’m holding off installing FF 110 on it.  Once burnt, twice shy!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

Likewise, currently still running 108.0.2.  Yet to see a compelling reason to update, especially considering your and others’ difficulties.

You said Mint 20- meaning 20.0?

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Charlie

Yeah Linux Mint Cinnamon version 20.  I didn’t want to make the jump all the way to 20.3 from 19.1.  With 20 I can update to 20.3 but I don’t know of a reason to.  All the 20.x series expire at the same time (I think).

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

I’m running FF 110.0 on everything: Mint 20.3 Cinnamon, W7 W10 Home and Pro, macOS Monterey. Not seeing any issues. Of course as they say, YMMV.

Edit: I should clarify W7 use. It’s a last resort computer and only online to update FF and Opera and MS Security Essentials. (I’m curious how long those three will be updated. If either MSSE or both browsers stop updating, W7 will go offlne completely.)

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Charlie, Slowpoke47

Me too. MacOS and all the different Win installations.

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Charlie, Slowpoke47

Just in case there is anyone here who is having a problem with Firefox 110 crashing, please take a look at this:

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=392008

Seems like in all cases the problem started when Linux Mint was updated to 110, and these folks have later, more powerful computers and later versions of Mint.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 110.0.1 all platforms

Release notes

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/02/28/firefox-110-0-1-fixes-security-issues-and-a-crash-here-are-the-details/

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 110.0.1

Firefox ESR anchored at v102.8 (reliability over functionality FTW)

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Just updated FF to 110.0.1 on this Mint 20.3 system.  No immediate issues, fingers crossed.

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Charlie, DrBonzo

110.0.1 has been running on Mint 20.3 Cinnamon, W10 Pro and Home, and macOS Monterey 12.6.3 since Friday (March 3). No issues.

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Charlie, bassmanzam, Slowpoke47

Same here Slowpoke. I just updated to 110.0.1 on my Linux Mint 20.0 and things seem to be okay so far.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

March 14th 2023
Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels later today.

Firefox 111.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/111.0/releasenotes/

FTP Link: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/111.0/

Firefox ESR 102.9
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.9.0/releasenotes/

FTP Link: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.9.0esr/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Slowpoke47, DrBonzo, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 111.0

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DrBonzo, Slowpoke47

These FF updates have become almost as frequent as changing one’s socks.

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DrBonzo, Microfix, Charlie

Scheduled Mozilla Monthly update, although v111.0 may change soon..
I usually change both socks, not just one 😛

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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DrBonzo, Slowpoke47

And I’ll bet they match, too, right?  😜

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DrBonzo

Yep, Death, Taxes, and Updates!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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DrBonzo, Slowpoke47

Just a note that I let the FF 111 update install yesterday in Win 7 and all is fine.  This one has security updates so I installed it a bit sooner.  Now I’ll do my Linux machines next.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47, DrBonzo

I have FF 111 on all my computers now. No issues. Mint 20.3, W10 Home and Pro, and macOS Monterey

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Slowpoke47, Charlie

Just FYI, @Slowpoke47 , @Charlie , and @DrBonzo , (in case you hadn’t already noticed on your own) according to the release notes for every major, full version release (ending in a .0 and without any .0.1 or .o.2 for example) for FF has had security fixes in it by default. I can’t remember the last time Mozilla had a full version release of FF that didn’t have security holes plugged/fixed according to the release notes for that version.

That makes for some mighty secure socks, IMHO!!  😜🙊

Firefox 111.0.1 all platforms

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1658986

Fix for a crash in MacOS.

Release notes

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 111.0.1

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.9.0

Seems the Windows fix in v111.0.1 relates to the Windows 11 March CU KB5023706 causing freezing on a ‘blank’ webpage upon firefox start.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

I’ve got Firefox 111 installed and running in my Linux 19.1 Laptop. It seems to be doing okay so far. Some websites take a while (15 seconds or so) to show up in the address bar, but once they do, things are normal speed. This was happening before 111, starting around the FF 109 update.  Dare I say, the crashes have stopped.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Increasingly I find sites that don’t work properly in Firefox but work OK in a Chromium-based browser. I’m considering abandoning FF. (111.01 64-bit, Win 10 Pro)

I found that the Duck Duck Go Privacy add-on was the culprit. Although I want to be protected I don’t want the protection to come at the loss of connectivity! I removed it and good old firefox was back.

I use Firefox ESR on Windows as my main browser.  Less hassle than the standard release.  And when something doesn’t render properly then I use Edge as a backup to view the website.  That doesn’t happen to me too often.

So I have two browsers installed instead of one.

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels tomorrow April 11th 2023

Firefox 112.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/112.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/112.0/

Firefox ESR 102.10.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.10.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.10.0esr/

Check back later to view release notes

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Is the recommendation to go with the ESR versions, rather than the regular ones?

Are they older, but more reliable, than the regular ones? Do the ESRs get updated regularly?

Find out what is new in Firefox 112

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 112.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.10.0

Firefox will support Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 until at least 2024 Q3 with Firefox ESR 115 :
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/mozilla-may-extend-firefox-on-windows-7-and-8-1-support-just-for-2023/#post-2551173

I suppose Mozilla will move Windows 7 and 8.1 users to the ESR channel once ESR 115 is released.

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 112.0.1

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/112.0.1/

Release notes :

Fixed a bug where cookie dates appear to be set in the far future after updating Firefox. This may have caused cookies to be unintentionally purged. (bug 1827669).

I am having multiple issues with Firefox since updates 112.0.0 & 112.0.1  Every time I now close out of Firefox, up to 180 additional Firefox “processes” are spawned in task manager. CPU usage peaks at 100% and memory usage goes through the roof. It takes approximately 2 minutes for all the processes to close and in the meantime, my computer is essentially not responsive. This happens every time I close Firefox.

The other issues now are that Firefox will spawn multiple “Crash Reporter” tabs and/or multiple “XULRunner.exe” error boxes; also upon exiting Firefox. I can’t even find XULRunner.exe anywhere on my computer. These 2 issues also started with 112.0.0, but do not happen “every” time I close Firefox; but they happen frequently. I’ve never had any serious issues with Firefox until now, and I have been using it for quite some time. Running Win7 Pro X64 SP-1, build 7601. I have made no other changes or updates to my computer.

Ideas? Solutions? Another user (Windows 10) and I posted this in Mozilla Firefox help, but no solutions yet.

 

This may not be useful to you but I am running FF 112.0.1 64 bit on Windows 7, 64 bit Home Premium and I have not had any problems.  Where I have had problems is running Firefox (since rev. 109) on my Linux Mint 19.1 laptop which crashed several times after 109 then stopped crashing with the next update. But I just had a crash the other day after none for a while.

Firefox has pretty much always run good on Win 7, but is very slow to load the URL in the address box, and slow to load the website on Linux Mint.  This slowness also applies to my Linux Mint version 20 which I run on my desktop.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I forgot to say that in no case have I had the problems you describe, such as 180 additional Firefox processes and 100% CPU usage.  One thing I have noticed since ver. 109 is that every time I start Firefox, the lights on my DSL modem start blinking and stay blinking (even though I’m not doing anything) for about 30 to 40 seconds.  Task Manager shows both download and upload activity.  I wish the heck I knew what was happening!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 112.0.2 all platforms :

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/112.0.2/

Release notes

Probably a fix to FF memory leak :

“Unresolved
Under rare circumstances, animated Firefox themes can use excessive memory.

If you encounter this problem, please change your theme to one that does not use animations to work around it. We are in the process of shipping a fix (bug 1828587)”

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 112.0.2

I have updated to Firefox 112.0.2 and it has made the “spawning excessive Firefox processes on exit” issue WORSE. Instead of an additional 180-200 processes, it now is spawning up to 270 additional processes on exit. CPU usage goes to 100% and memory usage goes to over 90%. It takes even longer for all these processes to close, rendering the computer useless until they all close.

For the record, I have run Firefox in Troubleshooter mode and have tried a different user profile to no avail. I am running the standard “System Theme- Auto”.

 

An alternative in the meantime is maybe to use the Firefox ESR branch if Firefox is the browser of choice:

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/firefox-and-firefox-esr-updates/#post-2551014

For the portable version of Firefox ESR :

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/firefox-and-firefox-esr-updates/#post-2551471

Take note though that the Firefox ESR portable version is a 64-Bit only app.
Re : https://portableapps.com/comment/251437#comment-251437

HTH.

Your problem sounds like one that should be drawing the attention of the Mozilla/Firefox people. I’d put a lot more pressure on them to help you.  If it were me, before trying to close Firefox the normal way, I’d right click on the task bar and bring up Task Manager. In the Applications tab I’d highlight Firefox and then do End Task.  Hopefully this will close the program faster.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Any Linux users seeing problems with FF 112.0.2 aka the flavor of the week?

No issues on any of my computers (linux Mint, Win 10, macOS Monterey)

3 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, bassmanzam, Slowpoke47

@Slowpoke47 –

I’d say to go ahead and install it, especially since it contains a fix for those users running Linux:

Fixes an issue where Linux users with bitmap fonts installed may have had entire sections of text invisible to them on some sites (bug 1827950).

That’s a direct quote from the 112.0.2 release notes. Also good to see that Dr B hasn’t had any issues either, running a setup very similar to yours.

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DrBonzo

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels tomorrow 9th May 2023

Firefox 113.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/113.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/113.0/

Firefox ESR 102.11.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.11.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.11.0esr/

Check back later to view release notes.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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bassmanzam, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.11.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 113.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 113.0.1

Mozilla Firefox 113.0.1 all platforms

Release Notes

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Microfix

Okay, it has been a week since Firefox 113 was released.  I haven’t heard a peep out of anyone, but fortunately Firefox itself caught some problems and came out with fixes in 113.0.1.  Guess I’ll take a chance and let the latest 113.0.1 update install itself since there are no comments here or anywhere giving reasons not to.

Prophecy – tomorrow they’ll come out with 113.0.2.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

This whole FF parade of new versions leads me to resist updating it at all, since 112.0 has so far been working ok without stumbles.  Someone once said, better the devil you know than the one you don’t.

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Charlie

…Sorry I didn’t “peep” sooner! FF Ver 113.0.0 solved the issue of spawning hundreds of processes on exit. It closes quickly and normally now. I also updated to 113.0.1 and noticed no changes from 113.0.0.

Thanks, everyone!

 

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Charlie

I glad to hear your problem is fixed!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

FWIW I’ve got FF 113.0.1 on a couple of Macs, a couple of Win 10s, all with no issues. My Mint machines will be updated on Thursday night; right now they’re running 113.0.0 with no issues.

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Charlie, bassmanzam, Slowpoke47

Updated to FF113.0.1 on 2 Mint 20.3 Cinnamon machines, 1 Mint 21.1 Cinnamon machine, and 1 Mint 21.1 Xfce machine. No issues so far.

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Slowpoke47, bassmanzam

I updated my Win 7 to 113.0.1 first and all is well there.  I just updated Linux Mint 19.1 and it’s doing good too.  I’m very glad to still be getting all updates on LM 19.1.  LM 20 will be next.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

Any theories on why these FF updates are in recent weeks/months coming so frequently?

Firefox is my default browser. I use it every day, all day long.

I update Firefox (currently 113.0.1) within a day or two of the update release. So far, I have not had any problems doing that.

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Slowpoke47

PKCano wrote:

Firefox is my default browser. I use it every day, all day long

Same here.  Any thoughts re frequent updates?

It’s due to feature updates being included more often in the rapid release version after which bugs are discovered (from more wide spread use/feedback by general users after the release). So another small update is needed to fix those bugs. Whereas the ESR version does not receive feature updates as often, only security updates. So it’s much more stable and less likely to need such frequent updates to fix bugs. Below is from Mozilla regarding the two versions: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/choosing-firefox-update-channel

“Rapid Release: receives major updates every four weeks and minor updates such as crash fixes and security fixes as needed during those four weeks.”

“ESR: receives major updates on average every 42 weeks with minor updates such as crash fixes, security fixes and policy updates as needed, but at least every four weeks.”

Also see this thread with more info regarding the use of ESR: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/why-use-firefox-esr/

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Slowpoke47

Slowpoke47 wrote:

Any theories on why these FF updates are in recent weeks/months coming so frequently?

Fixing bugs.

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Slowpoke47

Slowpoke47 wrote:

Any theories on why these FF updates are in recent weeks/months coming so frequently?

All of the above plus trying to keep up with Chrome, constantly improving the Picture-In-Picture gizmo, and last but not least, Security patches and fixes.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

A good reason to switch to esr.

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SueW

Slowpoke47 wrote:

A good reason to switch to esr.

Provided that a current version of the ESR release (within the last few days or the last week) is available for your particular platform/variation/edition of Linux Mint.  😉

I’ve been using the “Advanced users” option to get the latest version as soon as it’s released as referenced per Mozilla: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux#w_install-firefox-from-mozilla-builds-for-advanced-users

Using some of the steps from that page below is what I use to install/update ESR on my Linux Mint 21.1 systems.

1. Download the *tar.bz2 file for Firefox ESR from: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/ (ex. 102.11.0esr/linux-x86_64/en-US/firefox-102.11.0esr.tar.bz2 – 74 MB size)

2. Go to where the file was downloaded, right click on it and choose “Extract Here”

3. Open the /opt directory as root (right click it and choose “Open as root”)

4. Copy the extracted Firefox folder to /opt

Note: if updating an existing installation, delete the contents of the /opt/Firefox directory. Then copy the extracted contents of the Firefox directory into /opt/Firefox

5. Create a symlink to the Firefox executable:

ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/local/bin/firefox

6. Download a copy of the desktop file:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mozilla/sumo-kb/main/install-firefox-linux/firefox.desktop -P /usr/local/share/applications

Alternatively, if wget is not installed on your computer, go to the URL mentioned above, right-click on the page to open the contextual menu and select Save Page As. After you downloaded the file, move it to /usr/local/share/applications.

To verify that the installation was successful, you can open the Troubleshooting Information page. In the Application Basics section, the value of Application Binary should be /opt/firefox/firefox-bin.

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Slowpoke47, Bob99

Thanks for the guidance for those who’re interested in keeping FF ESR as current as possible on Mint!

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 113.0.2

Mozilla Firefox 113.0.2 all platforms

Release notes

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Microfix

Firefox 114 all platforms : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/114.0/

Release notes : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/114.0/releasenotes/

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 114.0

Firefox 102.12.0 ESR all platforms

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.12.0

No secure DNS in ESR version.

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox 114 all platforms

FF 114 is giving me a headache.

In FF 113 I was able to search my local library’s catalog with no problems.

But, now, when I go the library’s URL, the splash page comes up OK, but clicking on the link for the library’s catalog gives me a FF banner announcing that Java Script has been disabled.

When I do a DuckDuckGo search for the library’s URL, DuckDuckGo comes back and says that I am being redirected to a non-JavaScript site. Then, DuckDuckGo lists a non-Java URL for it. I click on it and see a FF dialog box for redirection. I get to the library’s site, and I see a https:// URL for in the URL field. The library’s catalog link produces that JavaScript-has-been-disabled banner again.

Was JavaScript disabled by default in FF 113? I don’t think so, because I have not ever seen the ‘JavaScript has been disabled’ banner in FF 113. Evidently, it’s disabled now in FF 114. Or, maybe just disabled for this URL. But, no matter, FF 114 has gone off on some tangent.

The ‘Default DNS over HTTPS’ Protection level is checked. FF 114 automatically made this the option when I updated from FF 113 to 114. I have ‘Don’t enable HTTPS-Only mode’ checked for HTTPS-only Mode. This was there in FF 113. I opened and closed FF and made sure these options were sticking. It says that the Protection Status is Active and that the Provider is Cloudflare.

I ended up fixing this JavaScript problem by going to ‘Manage Data’ at Privacy and Security>Cookies and Site Data, removing the library’s cookie(s), closing/opening FF and using the library’s URL in the FF URL field again. The link to the library’s catalog no longer yields that dag-gone banner and I can do a catalog search now.

The best I can ascertain is that FF had somehow created a buggy cookie for this URL.

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Alex5723

See attached from Ghacks:

What’s the advice regarding the four (4) new Secure DNS options now within FF 114.0?

Pls explain the impact of DNS selection and which option would be best.

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/06/06/firefox-114-updates-security-and-improves-dns-over-https-accessibility/

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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Charlie, Alex5723, WCHS

See my further comments involving AT&T at #2564313

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

WCHS wrote:

But, now, when I go the library’s URL, the splash page comes up OK, but clicking on the link for the library’s catalog gives me a FF banner announcing that Java Script has been disabled.

By any chance, are you able to reach the library site on a different machine, ideally, one with FF 114 installed?  A good method of troubleshooting is to reduce the variables to, if possible, a single one.

Slowpoke47 wrote:

By any chance, are you able to reach the library site on a different machine, ideally, one with FF 114 installed?

When my other device (a laptop,too — same vendor — with the same FF settings and the same Win10/Pro settings and version, same Desktop with same file/folder/URL shortcuts, same data/.exe files) updated to 114, the same thing happened. I should have mentioned that.

So, it doesn’t seem to be related to the device.

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Charlie

As always, I’m in a one week minimum holding pattern to see what happens to those who update Firefox real soon.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Mozilla 114.0.1 released
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/114.0.1/releasenotes/

bugfix for crash on startup!
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1837201

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/114.0.1/

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Microfix, Steve

Firefox 114.0.2
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/114.0.2/

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/114.0.2/releasenotes/

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 114.0.2

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels tomorrow 4th July 2023

Firefox 115.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.0/

Firefox ESR 102.13.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.13.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.13.0esr/

Firefox 115.0esr NEW VERSION RELEASE
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0esr/releasenotes/

FTP Download link: (Available now via ftp)
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.0esr/

Check back later to view the release notes.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Slowpoke47, Alex5723

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/04/firefox-115-new-esr-base-and-some-add-ons-may-be-blocked-from-running-on-certain-sites/

..Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 installations of Firefox will be migrated automatically to Firefox 115 ESR. Mozilla continues to support these operating systems, while all Chromium-based browsers have dropped support by now. Firefox 115 ESR will be supported until September 2024.

Similarly, users of macOS 10.12, 10.13 and 10.14 devices will also be migrated to Firefox 115 ESR to stay supported until September 2024…

Some add-ons are blocked from running on certain sites
Firefox users who run add-ons that are not monitored by Mozilla may notice a new notification in Firefox when they visit certain sites. The notification informs them that “some extensions are not allowed” and were blocked from running on that site.

Mozilla writes on a support page: “As of Firefox version 115, we have introduced a new back-end feature to only allow some extensions monitored by Mozilla to run on specific websites for various reasons, including security concerns”…

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 102.13.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 115.0

From the v.115.0 release notes:

“On Linux, middle clicks on the new tab button will now open the xclipboard contents in the new tab. If the xclipboard content is a URL then that URL is opened, any other text is opened with your default search provider.”

Anyone tried this yet?  If I’m reading this correctly, it amounts to a convenient way to view clipboard contents.

None of my linux machines are modern enough for middle click devices!

Mozilla Firefox Updates released
7th July 2023

Firefox 115.0.1
FTP: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.0.1/
Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0.1/releasenotes/

Firefox ESR 115.0.1
FTP: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.0.1esr/
Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0.1esr/releasenotes/

No update for Firefox 102.13 ESR

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 115.0.1

Mozilla Firefox 115.0.2
11th July 2023

Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0.2/releasenotes/

Security Info:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2023-26/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.0.2/

Mozilla Firefox ESR 115.0.2

Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0.2esr/releasenotes/

Security Fix Info:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2023-26/

FTP Download Link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.0.2esr/

No update for Firefox 102.13 ESR

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 115.0.2

Microfix’s signature is very relevant here – What’s the hurry.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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SueW, Microfix

absolutely, I’ve stuck to the FFx 102 series from an aged previous experience, so no hurry.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Charlie, SueW

Mozilla Firefox 115.0.3 ESR released
18th July 2023
Release notes link:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0.3esr/releasenotes/

“Fixes crashes with Beijing Qihu Technology modules within Qihoo 360 Antivirus.”

I’ll be skipping this one on the test device, had enough this month..already

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Charlie, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox 115.03 released
27th July 2023

Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0.3/releasenotes/

Improved migration experience for users switching to the ESR release.

13 seems lucky this month…..as in ESR v102.13

FTP link: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.0.3/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Firefox 115.0.3 fixes a Stable to ESR migration bug for Windows 7 and 8.1 systems

Mozilla plans to release a new stable point update for the Firefox web browser today. The new update, Firefox 115.0.3, fixes a bug that affected the migration of Firefox 115.x installations to Firefox 115.x ESR…

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Charlie

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 115.0.3

Microfix wrote:

Mozilla Firefox 115.0.3 ESR released
18th July 2023
Release notes link:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0.3esr/releasenotes/

“Fixes crashes with Beijing Qihu Technology modules within Qihoo 360 Antivirus.”

I’ll be skipping this one on the test device, had enough this month..already

well I did NOT skip 115.0.3 ESR – that one’s a keeper for me, especially on my old PCs running Win7 & Win8.1

I ran the standard FF 115.0.3 update on my Win 7 and things appear okay.  I do, however, now have a new update 115.1 esr showing in the About Firefox box.  Should I wait to run that?  I wasn’t expecting it until Aug. 1.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

There no 115.1 in pub/releases yet.

This came up after doing the 115.0.3 update on Win 7:

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

MacOS has 115.1esr
Android has 115.1 update.

Can’t find any mention of 115.1esr for Windows(7).

Well, I’ve apparently got it; I wasn’t expecting it so soon, and now the question is do I run it now or wait.  Waiting is my normal way of thinking in situations like this. Win 7 and 8.1 are supposed to get changed to FF ESR.  If anyone knows any other related info. I’d be happy to hear it.  Thanks.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

@Charlie and @Alex5723 –

Here’s a link to Mozilla’s FTP site that has 115.1 ESR, but listed under their “/candidates” directory instead of the normal directory you’re supposed to get full, normal releases from, the “/releases” directory:

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/candidates/115.1.0esr-candidates/build1/win64/

From there, simply click on your language preference, and there are many. The list is in alphabetical order.

Because of just where this version is located on the ftp server, @Charlie , if you were to click that button in the “About Firefox” box, I’m pretty sure you’d get the version in the “/candidates” directory which isn’t yet a “release” but just as the directory says, a “candidate. Due to this, @Charlie , I’d wait a while longer until this version (115.1esr) is listed in the /releases directory. Just how long that will be is, as usual, anybody’s guess.

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Bob99 wrote:

I’d wait a while longer until this version (115.1esr) is listed in the /releases directory. Just how long that will be is, as usual, anybody’s guess.

Per the calendar located at the link below, that date will be August 1st., so the day after tomorrow! Not long to wait at all.

https://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php?title=Release_Management/Calendar&redirect=no

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Charlie

On my Windows 7 laptop I just got the drop down notification that a Firefox update is ready. I went to Help > About to confirm that I was on 115.0.3 and there was a button to update to 115.1esr, so I clicked on it. After it updated I went back to Help > About and it shows 115.0.3 – ‘Firefox is up to date’ . . .

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Charlie

Sooo, I guess I wasn’t quite correct about what would happen if one clicked the upgrade button.  😳

From the sounds of it, it could be that the button is just there waiting for the time when 115.1esr is moved from the \candidates directory to the \releases directory, at which time it will then be fully functional. When the button was clicked, the built-in updater might have looked for 115.1 in the default location it’s supposed to use and didn’t find it, so then went through the other motions anyway for some reason.

@opti1 , just to be sure, navigate to the C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox directory and look for “firefox.exe” in that directory. Hovering the mouse over the file name will produce a pop-up “balloon” after a second or two that will contain data about the file including the actual version number. What is that version number, 115.1 or 115.0.3? From the sounds of it, that number should be 115.0.3.

Thanks for taking the update plunge and letting us know what really happened!

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Charlie

Bob99 wrote:

What is that version number, 115.1 or 115.0.3? From the sounds of it, that number should be 115.0.3.

It is 115.0.3. File properties shows:

File version 115.0.3.8607

Product version 115.0.3

Size 670 KB

Date modified 07/29/2023 6:59 AM

When I do another Help > About it checks for updates and still shows ‘Firefox is up to date’.

Maybe after offering and trying to install 115.1esr that one time it determined that I didn’t need it? Or it’s still not yet actually in the release channel?

Searching on that file version with .8607 at the end doesn’t yield any meaningful results.

 

 

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Charlie

I am Win10/Pro 22H2 updated through June

I am on FF regular 115.0.3 and I am debating as to whether to switch to ESR 115.0.x One of the reasons I’ve stayed on the “regular” FF is that I figure it is easier to be introduced to changes version by version and keep up with them that way, rather than remaining stable with an ESR and then down the road having to update the ESR and manage all of the changes in one gulp. Any opinions about that?

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels
1st August 2023

Firefox 116.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/116.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/116.0/

Firefox ESR 102.14.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.14.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.14.0esr/

Firefox ESR 115.1.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.1esr/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.0esr/

Check back later to view the release notes.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

FYI,

The Firefox 116, Firefox 115.1 ESR and Firefox ESR 102.14 releases all contain various security fixes.

Ghacks – Firefox 116: improved upload performance and security fixes :

Security updates / fixes
————————
Information about security fixes in Firefox 116 is published here (some time after the official release).

Update: Mozilla addressed 14 different security issues in Firefox 116. The aggregate severity rating is high; there are no critically rated security issues

Here are the links to the security advisories:

Security Vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox ESR 115.1

Security Vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox ESR 102.14

Security Vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox 116

HTH.

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 116.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy 115.1.0

FYI

Further info regarding the Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy 115.1.0 (which is separate from Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.1.0 ) :

PortableAppCom Comment – Ends Windows 7/8/8.1 Support – Legacy Version Created
—————————————————————————————
“Firefox 116 ends support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Firefox Portable Legacy 115 has been released as a custom channel separate from Stable and ESR which will continue to support Windows 7/8/8.1 through Sept 2024. It can run alongside Firefox Stable without issue.

When existing Stable users upgrade from 115.x to 116.x, a FirefoxPortableLegacy115 instance will automatically be created alongside the existing FirefoxPortable stable instance. This instance will also automatically be kept up to date by the PA.c Platform for users who use it. When Firefox Portable 116 is run on an unsupported version of Windows, it will offer to run FirefoxPortableLegacy115 if it exists. If it does not exist, it will offer to take you to its homepage to download it.”

HTH.

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Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.1.0

Following up on my previous post https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/firefox-and-firefox-esr-updates/#post-2576922

On my Windows 7 laptop I again got the drop down notification that a Firefox update is ready. I went to Help > About to confirm that I was still on 115.0.3. This time there was a button to update to 115.1.0esr instead of 115.1esr.

So I clicked on the button. It showed a downloading counter as it downloaded 60MB. When it completed downloading a UAC prompt popped up which I accepted, and Firefox closed.

After it updated and opened again I went back to Help > About and now it shows 115.1.0esr – ‘Firefox is up to date’ . . .

File properties for C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox.exe now shows:

File version 115.1.0.8605

Product version 115.1.0

Size 670 KB

Date modified 8/2/2023 7:05 AM

Date created March 22, 2023, 9:48:47 AM

I don’t remember ever having seen the downloading counter nor a UAC prompt before when updating Firefox so that was awkward. But so far Firefox 115.0.1esr appears to be operating without issues.

 

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Charlie

That’s good news.  On Win 7 I’ve always gotten a “Restart Firefox” after it downloads the update, and then the UAC prompt.  Then another little window comes up with a bar showing the new update installation progress.  When it’s all done the updated FF appears, and often a second Tab too with info. about the update.  This all usually takes less than 10 to 15 minutes.

Thanks again for the info. opti1.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I just updated my Win 7 to FF 115.1.0 esr and it appears to be working okay.  Nail biting time is over for the time being it seems.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Firefox 116.0.1

Release notes

Fixed an issue which caused chart elements to render incorrectly for Windows users. (bug 1846613)

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 116.0.1

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Microfix

Firefox 116.0.2

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/116.0.2/

‘Fixes an issue that was causing keystrokes to be scrambled for users using ZoneAlarm anti-keylogger. (bug 1847033)”

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Microfix

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 116.0.2

Mozilla Firefox 116.0.3
16th August 2023
116.0.3 Release Notes

Fixed an issue where Firefox would hang when doing a Google search.

Fixed an issue that was breaking screensharing for some users on Wayland

Fixed an issue where a fullscreen notification was persistently being shown to a user, even after disabling it

Fixed an issue for OPFS users (especially those using the Adobe Photoshop) that broke access to files that were locally cached in a previous version

Available via Mozilla Firefox FTP

If debian is good enough for NASA...

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 116.0.3

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels on
Tuesday 29th August 2023

Firefox 117.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/117.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/117.0/

Firefox 102.15.0esr NOTE: LAST for 102.xx Series *
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.15.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.15.0esr/

Firefox 115.2esr
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.2.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.2.0esr/

Check back later to view the release notes.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 117.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy115 115.2.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.2.0

Mozilla Firefox 117.0.1
due via update channels later today.

FTP download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/117.0.1/

Relase notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/117.0.1/releasenotes/
(unavailable at time of posting, check back later)

Mozilla Firefox 115.2.1 ESR
due via update channels later today.

FTP download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.2.1esr/

Release notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.2.1/releasenotes/
(unavailable at time of posting, check back later)

Mozilla Firefox 102.15.1 ESR !!

FTP download link:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/102.15.1esr/

Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/102.15.1/releasenotes/
(unavailable at time of posting, check back later)

Looks like a major security update for all, as 102.15 was scheduled to be the last in it’s release channel series..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.2.1

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy115 115.2.1

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy102 102.15.1

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels on Tuesday 26th September 2023.

Firefox 118.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/118.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/118.0/

Firefox 115.3esr
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.3.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.3.0esr/

Check back later to view the release notes.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Boy, did I make a mistake~!! Saw the notice to update my 102.15 ESR and thought it was a point update, but installed 115!! Everything was garbled in my broser. Likely mostly because I use a highly customized Chrome setup from Classic Theme Restorer.

Was VERY difficult to get everything back, but fortunatelt could find 102.15 ESR 64 bit to download and restored my profile from my overnight backup. So far, only my Google logins were broken.

So two questions:

Anyway to turn off check for updates? The option to never check was removed some time ago.

AND, anything compelling in 115 ESR? I will download the portable but if history repeats, will take a week or so of spare time to cgo through all the options in Classic Them and get things “just so”.

Thanks.

There is a registry key to stop updates:

————————————————————————-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;
; This will disable updates for Firefox
; Aug 10, 2021
;

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox]
“DisableAppUpdate”=dword:00000001

;
; This will disable updates for Thunderbird
;
; [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Thunderbird]
; “DisableAppUpdate”=dword:00000001

————————————————————–

 

 

 

Thanks!

I wonder if it works on portable editions as well. I use both for different reason. Will find out!

Ooops. Not classic them restorer. That has been dead for years. But I forgot the one I do use. Will have to check. That’s how long its been since I needed to reconfigure 🙂

 

rebop2020 wrote:

lt could find 102.15 ESR 64 bit to download

112.15esr is the last esr and not supported anymore with security updates.

Fully understood. But it is also not corrupted to death by my profile as is 115. And as I said, will take me at least a week to get 115 close to as productive as 112 is for me. And I have multiple antivirus and protection software. Not concerned in the least. Was much more concerned getting back to where I was last night when I mis-clicked update thinking it was a 112 point update.

@rebop2020 –

Please please heed the guidance given by @Alex5723 , and upgrade thyself sooner than later to FF 115.3ESR. As he mentioned, you’re NOT going to get ANY more security updates of any kind from Mozilla. Although you have several items to help with your defense against the junk (trying to put it nicely and keep it “G” rated) that your browser is subjected to, there are vulnerabilities that will invariably crop up that you won’t be able to defend against because the vulnerability(ies) will be built-in to the browser’s code (the way it inherently works without regards to any add-ons) itself and NO amount of security-related add-ons will protect you from them.

You don’t necessarily have to frequent or even visit any allegedly nefarious sites in order to be affected by one of these bugs, you just have to be on the web itself. You NEVER know where you might run into malicious code that will claim you as its next victim. That’s why Susan has repeatedly stressed the importance of NOT using an outdated browser. She is also a very strong advocate of letting the browser automatically update itself with no input from the user.

If you’re reluctant to make the jump due to configuration and page display issues, we can help here on AskWoody. Just start a thread describing what the issue is, like you’ve done before. We can also help you with just how to do things in 115.3ESR due to its different layout.  🙂

EDIT: Hey, I just had an idea (imagine that 😉 ) ! Download a copy of the portable edition of FF 115.3ESR. Yes, it installs, but it installs to its own completely separate directory from your regular FF installation. To uninstall it, simply delete the directory it installs itself into, no uninstaller needed! So, for example, if it installed itself into the C:\Downloads\FirefoxPortable directory, simply delete the directory labeled “FirefoxPortable” and that’s it, no muss no fuss! When it runs, it keeps everything it needs within that directory and doesn’t mess with your regular Firefox installation or your associated profile.

Using a portable edition of FF is a great way for you to familiarize yourself with its new features and the newer way of getting things done in the browser. When you’re completely done with the test drive, simply delete the directory its in! While “test driving” FF 115, if you can’t quite figure something out, just ask us and we’ll let you know how to proceed! 😉

Thanks BOb. I already have the protable and started working. And appreciate the offer, but you cannot help. I have lines and lines of css code to tweak to get things the way I like them. Period. I have for 20 years. One reason I use ESR so I only have to do this every few years. And tonight, 115 was garbled. By now I have it usable. Going faster than usual. A few more days, perhaps, then a few days of use to feel confident.

And I NEVER EVER let anything auto update. Master of my own domain.

Eset does a pretty good job of protecting browsers.

Concern appreciated.

All done. Took three days – maybe 15 hours to get the CSS files in sync and modified for desired results. Everything just right and on 115 ESR with the possible exception that this version seems to use more CPU opening multiple tab sets. Working on possible enhancements for that.

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Bob99

Congrats on getting everything that you’ll be using with FF115 up to snuff!

I take it that you’ve also allowed 115 to update to 115.3.1 due to a severe security vulnerability that’s being actively exploited right now?? Plugging this hole is the sole purpose of the .1 release, see the link to the release notes below in @Microfix ‘s post number 2590256. Mozilla rates this bug as “Critical” and they don’t deliberately “over-rate” bugs’ nature just to grab attention…they take their severity ratings very seriously. SO, if you haven’t updated to 115.3.1ESR, please use the built-in updating mechanism to do so now.

FF 118.0 comes with a new feature enabled and publicized by a new tab that opens when you restart FF. That feature allows FF to translate pages that aren’t in your default language.

Don’t want that feature? Easy! Simple go into about:config, click you way past the warning about potentially messing things up, and search for the settings of “browser.translations.automaticallyPopup” and “browser.translations.enable” and set them both to “false” by double clicking on them.

I have done both settings on both of my machines, but I’ll freely admit that it might only be necessary to change the setting of “browser.translations.enable” and not the other one. Time will tell!

Bob99 wrote:

FF 118.0 comes with a new feature enabled and publicized by a new tab that opens when you restart FF. That feature allows FF to translate pages that aren’t in your default language.

I’m now in FF 118. There was a new tab that opened a page about this new translation feature, but I think I selected for the fields incorrectly, because a FF page in Spanish popped up, which surprised me because I thought I had selected for English. Anyway, the new tab is gone now.

I checked about:config and the preferences are ‘true’.

The translation icon is not in my toolbar (as it is described at Firefox Fullpage Translation), but the “hamburger” does list ‘Translate page’. Something seems odd here — preferences are ‘true’, ‘Translate page’ is in the hamburger menu, but the translation icon is not in the toolbar.

Maybe, that’s because I use the FF Multi-Account Containers extension and all of my tabs are ‘container-identified’, which puts two more icons in the box and there’s no room for the translation icon??

I’ve accessed a website that is NOT ‘container-identified’ and the translate icon does not appear, although the preferences are ‘true’.

So, the “no room” hypothesis is debunked. Looks like there’s plenty of room for the translation icon, but it’s not there.

However, if I select ‘Translate page’ from the hamburger menu and select ‘Spanish’, I do get the translation icon and the web page translated into Spanish. Clicking on the blue ‘ES’ icon tells me that it’s been translated from English into Spanish and that I can switch back to the original. So, in this case the translation icon does appear.

So, maybe you don’t get the translation icon at all a) unless you’ve accessed a page that is not in the default language or b) unless you have elected to translate a page from the original.

I’ll have to try accessing a website that is originally in Spanish to see if I get a translation icon.

Yep, I accessed a Spanish website and now I get the translation icon.

But, clicking on the icon does nothing.
And neither does selecting ‘Translate page’ from the hamburger menu.
Can’t get it translated into English.

Post Edit: I guess it took awhile for it to react.
Clicking on the icon or selecting ‘Translate page’ does eventually get FF to translate the site.

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy115 115.3.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.3.0

28th September 2023 (Critical Fix)
Heap buffer overflow in libvpx currently being exploited in the wild.

Firefox 118.0.1
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/118.0.1/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/118.0.1/

Firefox 115.3.1esr
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.3.1/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.3.1esr/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

3 users thanked author for this post.

Sueska, Charlie, Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 118.0.1

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.3.1

Hi All:

The PC finally had to go to the shop; a networking error wasn’t allowing me to connect to anything! After 3 days of bashing my head against the issue, I said, “You know you’re no networking guru, buster, turn it in!”

Well, here I am 3 days later with the PC back, the connectivity seems to be fine, until THIS happened:

“Firefox was unable to update to Firefox 115.3.1 esr”. (I”m on 115.3.0,and seemingly stuck there.) …and I was directed to https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/enterprise/?reason=manual-update.</span&gt;

Um, this doesn’t look right.

1) Why won’t it update as usual?

2) Do I have to, for some bizarre reason, install a whole new version just to get an update?

3. If so, why? That seems wrong.

4. When the rig was in the shop, I had them split the access into a “User” and “Admin” accounts, as I was told running it as the sole user meant that I was running it as Admin as well, and not good for security.* I shrugged and took his advice, and had access to the machine split into “User” and “Admin”. I figured he knew more about networking than I did, having nailed the connectivity issue. I tried running FF as “Admin”, and it didn’t make any difference. Still got the same message.

So, do I now have to download a full FF ESR version, or is FF/Mozilla having a glitch on their own, or what?

*I was always able to run programs as “Admin”  in a “User” session before, so was this guy talking through his hat? This machine only has one user.

I hope that in fixing the connectivity issue, the TCP/IP stack (as we called it the old days) wasn’t altered so that FF is now throwing up on updates….fix one thing, and two new issues spring up…

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

Well, got another weird message tonight:

“FF failed to check for updates”.

What?

Is anyone else having issues getting FF esr to update? This is nuts, or I am.

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

NTDBD, this is where an over-the -top install comes in handy.
It might/ might not fix your update issue but, certainly worth doing to keep your browser safe from whatever online.
Download the newest version of FF from the Mozilla FTP. (linked above by myself #2590256)
Once downloaded, install ensuring you use a custom installation to preserve your settings,
and follow the wizard to the ‘upgrade’ window. (I prefer to do this offline YMMV)

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks

Microfix wrote:

from the Mozilla FTP.

Instead of going to the Mozilla FTP, can you go to https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/releases/ and download the latest release? And continue to follow your instructions?

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks

Nibbled is on Windows 7 and is using the ESR version of Firefox, so that page won’t do any good. That page you linked to only has non-ESR releases listed on it.  🙁

The link that Nibbled mentioned in post 2590394, which includes the word “enterprise” has links that are for getting the ESR version of FF (just edit it to erase everything after the word “update”, even the period that’s there immediately after the word). Once on that page, simply click the blue button labeled “Download”. On the subsequent page, there’s a choice of 3 different versions, each with drop-down boxes to select the exact version. Inside these drop-down boxes is the choice for the ESR version of FF.

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks, WCHS

Bob99 wrote:

Inside these drop-down boxes is the choice for the ESR version of FF…..

If ‘MSI installer’ is NOT in the name does that mean you have selected the portable version – ESR or not ESR?

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks

No, it simply means that you have selected the plain ‘ol executable version, ending in .exe, instead of the Microsoft Installer version, ending in .msi.

Mozilla realizes that there are instances where the .msi installer format needs to be used instead of an ordinary executable installer.

I’ve always used the executable installers and have had no issues thus far. As is said, though, YMMV.

BTW, the portable versions of FF can’t be gotten from the Mozilla site, as they’re not put out or developed by Mozilla. They can only be obtained from non-Mozilla sites that are frequently listed in posts here in this thread.  🙂

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks

Nibbled To Death By Ducks wrote:

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 “Ivy Bridge”, 12GB RAM, Group “0Patch”, Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn

Which OS are you having this problem with?  Win 7 or Linux?  I’ve successfully updated my Win 7, 64 bit, custom built, Intel Core i3, Sandy Bridge, 4 GB RAM computer with Firefox 115.3.1 esr and had no problem.  I was getting ready to do my Linux Mint until I saw your message and am waiting a bit longer.  Although this doesn’t help you much, at least you know now that someone with Win 7 was able to update their Firefox esr.

If it’s the Linux you’re having a problem with, I’m very interested!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks

@Nibbled-To-Death-By-Ducks –

I seem to recall that early on when I was using Windows 7 (and had different hardware which has since all been retired), every so often my installations of Firefox and Thunderbird would simply refuse (in one way or another) to get the latest update, forcing me to go get the latest full installer. This usually seemed to happen when I had a list that was from 10-15 updates long in the box within FF and T’Bird where you can have it show all the installed updates. The good news here is that the installer remembered all my settings from my profile, so I wound up with a new version of FF or T’Bird with all my settings intact. Please do not follow this exact sequence, as it’s been years since I had to do it and you might have unfortunate results if you follow it exactly. See further below in this post.

I haven’t had to do that since moving to Windows 10, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you are experiencing the same thing I used to, so I’d like to urge you to follow @Microfix ‘s advice and go get the latest installer for FF 115.3.1 ESR from the site you linked to above or from their FTP site that @Microfix linked to. Just make sure you get the 64 bit version, because according to your screenshots that’s the version you’re currently running.

Unlike what I had to do before, though, please follow @Microfix ‘s instructions and select the Custom option during the installation to “preserve your settings”.

 

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks

Tip o’ the hat to all, very gracious helpers, all of you!

One remaining question:

If I do an “over-install”, besides my ‘settings’ being preserved, will this also preserve my graphic theme, bookmarks, layout, add-ons, extensions, etc?

It took a lot of time and massaging to get it the way I like it…

———————–

Side note… since I got the PC back from The PC Repair Shoppe to get the TCP/IP stack uncorrupted, I’ve gotten what looks like a fake financial institution email phishing attempt. Hm! (I hate taking the thing in for anything…I mean, one has a lot of very important info on one’s box…and the guy did ask, “Have you got anything sensitive on here?” I looked at him like he was nuts and said “Of course! That’s why they call it a ‘personal computer!'” <sigh>

Well, if more suspicious stuff arrives, we know where to tell Ye Fraude Squadde to look…

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

FWIW- Just updated to 118.0.1 yesterday.  So far one site that functioned as expected previously now no longer does so.  No other changes to system.  OS is Mint Mate 20.3.

Vivaldi to the rescue.

Hello again, all:

I hope this thread is  not run out, nor patience exhausted, as I still have a couple of questions:

#1:

If I do an “over-install”, besides my ‘settings’ being preserved, will this also preserve my graphic theme, bookmarks, layout, add-ons, extensions, etc?

It took a lot of time and massaging to get it the way I like it…

#2: I am assuming this “over-install” will just go to the same places, i.e. directories, files, etc, or will I have TWO FF’s to deal with?

Sorry for the extra questions, but I’m senior getting over a long illness, and sometimes I need to have it really spelled out for me. 🙂

Thanks to all in advance.

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

See this important feature discussed on ghacks.net.

I am running FF 118.0.1 with the required settings yet the “test” sites referenced in the article show ECH as not active?  Anyone else have this working?

Firefox 118 boosts security with Encrypted Client Hello support
Mozilla released Firefox 118 Stable in late September 2023 to the public. It was a major release, as it introduced the long awaited native translate feature in the browser.

Privacy friendly translations of websites was not the only privacy feature that Mozilla integrated into the browser. Firefox 118 Stable is also supporting Encrypted Client Hello, which many may see as even more important. The main purpose of the security feature is to protect data from network spies. A spy can be the Internet Service Provider or anyone listening in on the traffic in the network…..

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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WCHS

Tex265 wrote:

Firefox 118 Stable is also supporting Encrypted Client Hello, which many may see as even more important. The main purpose of the security feature is to protect data from network spies. A spy can be the Internet Service Provider or anyone listening in on the traffic in the network…..

I’m updated to 118.0.1. I just checked ECH out at General>Privacy & Security for the first time. FF set me up for Max Protection.

I’m not sure that it’s working, though. A few days ago, with a FF Multi-Account Container tab open, I searched the Apple website. Since then, I’ve received a number of phishing e-mails telling me that my order for a MacBook Pro has been confirmed — NOT. This has to be a sign of a leak in the browser.

I receive similar “confirmations” for other goods (for NETFLIX subscriptions and Amazon orders), but this is the first time I’ve received them for Apple products — I don’t think it’s coincidence, rather a direct consequence of my visiting the Apple site, leaving some cookie crumbs behind for some ‘listener’ to snarf up.

WCHS wrote:

I’m updated to 118.0.1. I just checked ECH out at General>Privacy & Security for the first time. FF set me up for Max Protection.

Not sure how you “check ECH out” in FF.  According to the article, ECH is just suppose to be automatic when you go to Settings>Privacy & Security>DNS over HTTPS and enable Secure DNS by selecting one of the 3 choices. Sounds like FF selected Max Protection for you as the Default (with Cloudflare as the provider, I assume?)

Per ghacks.net:  “Firefox users need to make sure that DNS over HTTPS is used in the browser to utilize Encrypted Client Hello….

With DNS over HTTPS enabled, Firefox will use Encrypted Client Hello automatically, provided that the web server of the site supports it. Users who want to know for sure can check out these two test sites to find out.”

Further research on the internet (reddit.com in particular) appears to indicate that this may be a rollout situation over time as various FF config settings need to be set to make this happen.  The ghacks.net article doesn’t mention or address this at all so not sure what is going on.  That is why I am asking if others have ECH working yet.

 

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

Tex265 wrote:

Not sure how you “check ECH out” in FF.

I meant that I looked at Settings>Privacy & Security>DNS over HTTPS to see which one of the three choices had been checked. Yes, you’re right — FF selected Max Protection for me.

After reading your post above (#2591775), I went to Cloudflare’s Browsing Experience Security Check and checked the orange button to “Check My Browser”. All four columns (Secure DNS, DNSSEC, TLS 1.3, and Secure SNI {the column did NOT say Encrypted Client Hello, though} )” were checked. So, I checked FF out there.

Then, at about:config, network.dns.echconfig.enabled is True, network.trr.mode is 3, not 2 as the
ghacks article says it should be, and network.trr.uri is blank, i.e, no Mozilla URL is there

I don’t know what to make of this: ghack’s description of Encrypted SNI is crossed out and replaced with a description of ECH, but the short list of instructions that follows seems be indicating the results for Encrypted SNI, which are not the results I got for network.trr.mode and for network.trr.uri.

So that’s how the Cloudflare ‘Check My Browser’ and the about:config preferences checked out for my FF 118.0.1.

As I understand it, ECH has replaced Secure SNI.

Here are 3 websites which discuss the need to change various Settings within FF to make this work.  I have not gone that far – as per ghacks this was suppose to happen automatically within FF 118 and the selection of DNS over HTTPS.  Confused!

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/13canhc/a_guide_on_how_you_can_enable_ech_and_http3_in/

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/xszzae/encrypted_client_hello_doesnt_seem_to_work/?rdt=51927

https://groups.google.com/a/mozilla.org/g/dev-platform/c/uv7PNrHUagA/m/BNA4G8fOAAAJ

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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Charlie

Topic started at #2591358

Interesting that there appears to be little interest  in (what appears to be) an important security/privacy upgrade in FF, even from the Woody’s experts here.

Is ECH working as advertised or not?

Has anyone with the expertise to do so got it to function?

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/10/04/firefox-118-boosts-security-with-encrypted-client-hello-support/

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

Tex265 wrote:

Here are 3 websites which discuss the need to change various Settings within FF to make this work. I have not gone that far – as per ghacks this was suppose to happen automatically within FF 118 and the selection of DNS over HTTPS. Confused!

I am using FF 118.0.1.
I have looked at all three websites in your post.
Here are the results of checking the FF preferences and the ECH tests. I’ve also included the results of testing the suggestions at ghacks, as well.

DNS-Settings-in-FF-118.0.1-Preferences-and-ECH-tests-v2

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Tex265, Lars220

@WCHS

Amazing you went through all that effort and excellent documentation!
Many many thanks!

I assume when you say “as it should be” that the default setting you found on your system agreed with the suggested setting shown in/on the various website pages. (Though I got the impression from your first posting that your system was also NOT passing the ECH tests?) Did you end up having to make any setting changes?

That being said, I am also running FF 118.0.1 but most of my settings show as “false”!

Below findings presented in the same order as your findings:

network.dns.echconfig.enabled True (Mine shows False)
network.dns.http3_echconfig.enabled True (Mine shows False)
network.trr.mode 3 (Mine shows 3)

 

network.dns.echconfig.enabled True (Mine shows False)
network.dns.http3_echconfig.enabled True (Mine shows False)
network.dns.force_waiting_https_rr True (Mine shows False)
security.tls.ech.grease_probability 100 (Mine shows 0)
security.tls.ech.grease_http3 True (Mine shows False)

 

network.dns.echconfig.enabled True (Mine shows False)
network.trr.uri blank (no Mozilla URL is present) (Mine is also blank)
doh-rollout.uri shows https://mozilla.cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query (Mine also shows this line)

 

Have you noticed any problems with websites, site speed, etc with those settings?

I wonder why the difference? One article said/thought this may be a rollout over time?
Interesting that it took 4 articles to document all the settings changes necessary.
Not sure whether to make the changes manually or wait to see if FF eventually makes them.

Perhaps others may comment in on their systems to see what’s out there.

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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WCHS

See more discussion on ECH below at #2592642

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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WCHS

Ooooookay….guess the thread patience looks like it HAS been exhausted on my subject. Well, I’ll take the plunge tonight and do an “over-install” per Microfix. Will let all you know the results, hope it doesn’t wind up in a train wreck.

I never went in for Bungee jumping, but if there ever was a software equivalent…I know, FF’s balloon says I won’t lose and settings OR customization’s.

<Dentist: “…now, you might feel a little pinch…”>

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

A twitch here, a wiggle there….and Bob’s my uncle! IT WORKED! <sfx-skyrockets, firecrackers>

One thing as input for those who have to do an “over-install”: the install routine does NOT, I repeat, NOT outright ask you to preserve your settings; selecting the “Custom Installation” option automatically does this, although I think the fact that it picks up on the original install directories and paths has a lot to do with this.

Sorry to be such a pain about this, but before retiring I did an awful lot of Technical Writing for MIL-STD, and it’s made me a little too over-literal and over-think some things: I was looking for a dialog box that said, “Preserve your settings and customization?”

All’s well that ends well, at least for the moment! Thanks and cheers to all! 🙂

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

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Charlie, WCHS

So much goes on with Firefox these days, it really is hard sometimes to understand it and keep up with it.  Glad things turned out well for you.

 

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Note:

This Topic is getting long and crowded with various things about Firefox.  Maybe a new separate Topic should be made just for problems, questions, and answers about Firefox.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

Maybe a new separate Topic should be made just for problems, questions, and answers about Firefox.

I agree. Maybe break out “Questions: Browsers and desktop software” so that there’s a separate sub-forum for Firefox. Right now, Firefox topics are mixed in with topics about other browsers and desktop software.

Maybe, the same thing could be done for Thunderbird?

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Lars220, Charlie

That sounds like a good idea, what say you Susan?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Lars220, WCHS

Tex265 wrote:

I assume when you say “as it should be” that the default setting you found on your system agreed with the suggested setting shown in/on the various website pages. (Though I got the impression from your first posting that your system was also NOT passing the ECH tests?) Did you end up having to make any setting changes?

@tex265 (in answer to your #259262):

Yes, that’s what showed up when I checked the preferences today for 118.0.1. I didn’t make any changes at all. I’ve seen no problems with those preferences. I presume they are that way because the Max Protection radio button is selected — I didn’t select it; FF automatically selected it for me when I upgraded to 118.0.0. Maybe, FF’s automatic selection turned out that way because of the selection I had made in this section prior to the upgrade. I can’t tell you what I had before the upgrade because I don’t make a record of all of my settings prior to an upgrade.

But I do have some notes for FF 114, which says that the “DNS over HTTPS” is a new section (it wasn’t in FF 113) and those notes say that Max Protection was selected. I don’t fiddle much with FF settings, so I presume that Max Protection was still selected before the upgrade to 118.

Do you have Max Protection selected?

When I made the earlier post, I didn’t know about the other two test sites. I only knew about the Cloudflare site from ghacks and the last column there said “Secure SNI” and not “Encrypted SNI” of the ghacks screenshot nor the “Encrypted Client Hello” that ghacks described, so I didn’t know for sure that my FF was passing the ECH tests.

But, thanks to your links in YOUR post, two other test sites were mentioned, so my pdf file shows their results — that I do have ECH.

WCHS wrote:

Do you have Max Protection selected?

Yes, I have Max Protection selected with Cloudflare.

I selected this when the option first became available and before FF 118 came out. I had to make the selection, it was not automatic as your’s was?

Again, wonder if this is a rollout timing issue as it is strange you have your setting and I have mine with the same DNS over HTTPS settings and same FF version.

It would be beneficial it some other Woody’s members could check their settings to see if there is a consensus of what is going on with FF 118 and ECH.

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

Tex265 wrote:

I had to make the selection, it was not automatic as your’s was?

I turned on Max Protection when it first came out in v 114, and it’s been ON ever since, i.e., in all later versions through the latest 118.0.1. So, the Max Protection was “automatic” in that the ON setting carried over, without any action on my part, from preceding versions to the current version.

Yes, it would be useful to know what settings other FF 118 users have for those settings I outlined in my pdf file (and you have documented for your settings).

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Tex265

I stuck my toe in the water and tried out making FF config setting changes one at a time to my Settings as previously given above #2592622 and shown below (the first three):

network.dns.echconfig.enabled True (changed Mine from False to True)
network.dns.http3_echconfig.enabled True (changed Mine from False to True)
network.trr.mode 3 (Mine shows 3) Left this one at 3

Made no other changes to the other settings even though some were different from yours.

And, IT WORKS!  My FF passes all the same tests that you performed so not sure why those other remaining settings were made by FF within your system, but so far, so good.

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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WCHS

Mozilla Firefox 118.0.2
10th October 2023
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/118.0.2/releasenotes/

Various stability and bug fixes..

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/118.0.2/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

2 users thanked author for this post.

Alex5723, WCHS

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 118.0.2

Firefox 119.0

Release notes

Firefox 115.4.0esr

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bassmanzam, Slowpoke47

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels sometime on Tuesday 24th October 2023.

Firefox 119.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/119.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/119.0/

Firefox 115.4esr
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.4.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.4.0esr/

Check back later to view the release notes.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks, WCHS, bassmanzam, Slowpoke47

What to expect in Firefox 119 has been published by Martin Brinkmann:
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/10/24/firefox-119-ships-with-security-fixes-and-privacy-enhancements/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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WCHS, Slowpoke47, Alex5723

Microfix wrote:

What to expect in Firefox 119 …

Well, I’ve updated to v119 and I don’t see any change in Firefox View. It looks the same as it did in v 118 — still ‘Tab Pickup,'(presented in boxes) and ‘Recently closed tabs’. No section for ‘Open tabs’ at the top. No re-ordering of ‘Recently closed tabs’ and ‘Tabs from other devices’, which in v118 is/was called ‘Tab Pickup.’ No legend/sidebar on the left in Firefox View either — no ‘Recent browsing’, ‘Open tabs’, ‘Recently closed tabs’, ‘Tabs from other devices’, or ‘History’. Clearly, V119 Firefox View is out of whack — not showing what the v119 Release Notes say it’s supposed to show.

The ‘Add image’ icon is there for editing PDF files, though. So, v 119 does manifest that change.

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Charlie

WCHS wrote:

Well, I’ve updated to v119 and I don’t see any change in Firefox View

Here is what Firefox View v119 is supposed to look like, according to the v119 Release Notes:

Here is what Firefox View v119 looks like for me: It’s the same as what I saw in v118.

Is anyone seeing what the v119 Release Notes say should be there for Firefox View?

I just read this at Mozilla help: Firefox View

Starting in Firefox version 119, Firefox View includes new content. You will be able to see all open tabs, from all windows. If you sync open tabs, you’ll see all tabs from other devices. Browsing history will be listed and you can sort by date or by site. (This new content will be rolled out gradually so not everyone will see it). As before, recently closed tabs are also listed. {My bold and italics.}

For some bizarre reason FF esr won’t update, and gives me the wrong “enterprise” directory to go to to download, like last time. Went to the FTP site given by Microfix and got the appropriate version, will do it tomorrow. I’m too toasted tonight (2:00 AM).

I have two separate accounts on this machine, Admin is one. I ran FF from the User position, and it barfed on me. Tried running it as Admin from User, no joy. Switched to formal Admin account, no luck from there either.

Microfix, I appreciate your wisdom when you said that downloading it would fix my not being able to get the current version installed, but it sure didn’t fix the basic issue of the thing not being able to update itself. “Naturally”. I have it set to “notify but don’t download until I say so,” but it just sticks at updating without an over-install.

Ah, life…

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.4.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 119.0

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.4.0 Rev 2

Once again, the ‘Uberinstall” worked like a charm.

Weird.

This is a FF thing; I updated Pale Moon with no hassle.

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

First Firefox crash in years today in 115.4 Esr. No idea why.

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Charlie

I’m really glad I stopped by here and read this.  I was getting ready to do the update.  Now I’ll wait and see.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

I updated my Win 7 to Firefox 115.4 earlier today and it seems fine. I haven’t done Linux yet.  What OS are you using?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

rebop2020 wrote:

First Firefox crash in years today in 115.4 Esr. No idea why.

My portable version doesn’t.

With so many reports of mishaps arising from these frequent FF updates, I’m a little gun-shy re installing 119.0 without hearing from some brave pioneers who have successfully updated to that version on their Linux Mint systems.

Good, bad, indifferent?  Anyone?

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Charlie

I’ve got 19.0.1(or whatever the very latest version is – might be 19.0.2, I have version number overload on a variety of software since no one seems able to program without leaving security flaws and other bugs in their wake) installed on 2 20.3 and 2 21.1. Haven’t noticed any issues.

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Charlie, Slowpoke47, bassmanzam

Just updated to FF 119.  Message “could not connect to server.”  On restart seems ok.  Time will tell.

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Charlie

What Operating System are you using Slowpoke?  I have only updated Windows 7 with FF 115.4 esr.  I still as yet have not updated my Linux Mint 20 with FF 119.  I’m sort of waiting for an “all’s clear” from someone before installing 119 on my Linux.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

This is a desktop running Mint Mate 20.3.  No issues since the aforementioned restart, no idea if the server hiccup was related to the update.  If the restart hadn’t worked, I would have dug deeper.

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Charlie

Firefox 119.0.1

Release notes

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 119.0.1

Now running 119.0, yesterday on bootup FF split the 6 tabs I normally keep open into two windows.  Didn’t immediately notice the second window in the tray, thought FF just dropped some of the tabs.  Is this Mozilla’s version of video games?

Just installed FF 119.0.1 on Mint 20.3 and 21.1, seems okay.  Also tried the pdf editor feature, as described  https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/text-editor-for-pdfs/#post-2600564 by Sueska.  Pleased to have it for future reference.

20th November 2023 *
Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels on Tuesday 21st November 2023.

Firefox 120.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/120.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/120.0/

Firefox 115.5esr
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.5.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.5.0esr/

Check back later to view the release notes..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Firefox 120 ships today with massive privacy improvements

Massive?

Mozilla introduces several smaller changes in Firefox 120 that are related to privacy.

(One of the two not enabled by default.)

Massive indeed

Firefox supports a new “Copy Link Without Site Tracking”

Firefox now supports a setting (in Preferences → Privacy & Security) to enable Global Privacy Control.

Firefox informs the websites that the user doesn’t want their data to be shared or sold.

Firefox’s private windows and ETP-Strict privacy configuration

Firefox has enabled Cookie Banner Blocker

Firefox has enabled URL Tracking Protection

Firefox now imports TLS trust anchors

Keyboard shortcuts have now been added for editing and deleting a selected credential

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/120.0/releasenotes/

Alex5723 wrote:

Massive indeed

Firefox supports a new “Copy Link Without Site Tracking”

Will anyone notice?

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox now supports a setting (in Preferences → Privacy & Security) to enable Global Privacy Control.

Firefox informs the websites that the user doesn’t want their data to be shared or sold.

Off by default, and only potentially useful in California, Colorado and perhaps the EU.

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox’s private windows and ETP-Strict privacy configuration

“… add Fingerprinting Protection to the Canvas API to further strengthen privacy while using the browser.”
That must be the “massive” one? (Is it really big though?)

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox has enabled Cookie Banner Blocker

In Germany. In private windows only.

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox has enabled URL Tracking Protection

In Germany. In private windows only.

Alex5723 wrote:

Firefox now imports TLS trust anchors

Not privacy related.

Alex5723 wrote:

Keyboard shortcuts have now been added for editing and deleting a selected credential

Not privacy related.

“Will anyone notice?”

B, that’s what we’re here to inform users about.

Germany often starts the ball rolling on privacy settings.

How about we encourage more vendors to be more proactive and not nit pick posters in the forum?  I still see this as a win.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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SueW, satrow

ghacks.net labelled it “massive”. Is it?

(Others drew attention in their comments to the fact that the headline “massive” contradicted the article which said “smaller”.)

Massive or not is perhaps a matter of opinion and what one defines as massive.

If you actually read the article the word “massive” appears in the headline. The second sentance uses the phrase “…includes a large number of privacy improvements…”. The first bullet point under Executive Summary uses the phrase “… large number of privacy improvements.”

In the second sentence under Firefox 120.0 major changes, the phrase “… several smaller changes…” is used, the meaning of which is quite clear: there were several changes and those changes were smaller, smaller than the changes described earlier in the article.

There is perhaps some inconsistency between the words “massive” and “large”, but that would ultimately depend on how large the large number is. All in all, an issue that seems to be far from the central content of the article.

DrBonzo wrote:

In the second sentence under Firefox 120.0 major changes, the phrase “… several smaller changes…” is used, the meaning of which is quite clear: there were several changes and those changes were smaller, smaller than the changes described earlier in the article.

Which privacy changes in Firefox 120.0 are described earlier in the article?

This is a silly discussion. If you have issues with the article you should take them up with the author of the article. I’m only reporting what the article said and how the language in the article would be interpreted by someone reading the article.

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Susan Bradley wrote:

“Will anyone notice?”

Also copy clean, which also has been in brave for years, well, it is pretty much useless, so I wouldn’t call it ‘massive improvement’ it is nice to have, but most of the time, people will go to the link and copy from the URL.

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/11/21/firefox-120-ships-today-with-massive-privacy-improvements/#comment-4576967:~:text=Also%20copy%20clean%2C%20which%20also%20has%20been%20in%20brave%20for%20years%2C%20well%2C%20it%20is%20pretty%20much%20useless%2C%20so%20I%20wouldn%E2%80%99t%20call%20it%20%E2%80%98massive%20improvement%E2%80%99%20it%20is%20nice%20to%20have%2C%20but%20most%20of%20the%20time%2C%20people%20will%20go%20to%20the%20link%20and%20copy%20from%20the%20URL.

@b , it looks like the copy/paste function got a little wonky on you for some reason. I believe the following is the link you may have meant to post:

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/11/21/firefox-120-ships-today-with-massive-privacy-improvements/#comment-4576785

If it’s not the link you meant to post, my apologies.

The part of the comment you quoted above begins in the 4th or 5th paragraph of the comment, depending on how you want to consider the initial lines of the comment.

I just this moment took a look at the comments on the site under the article, and for some reason there is no comment numbered 4576967. The currently-existing post numbers top out at post number 4576883, which is much lower than the post number referenced in your quoted URL. Perhaps they had site issues and had to renumber the posts down in the comments under the article??

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b

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 120.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.5.0

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy115 115.5.0

Configure DNS over HTTPS protection levels in Firefox ?
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/dns-over-https?as=u&utm_source=inproduct#

At the bottom of Privacy and Security preferences there are 4 options in “Enable secure DNS using:”
Mine is set to OFF (Use your default DNS resolver)
I see there is a “Default Protection” option but the explanation for what this does is pure gobbledygook to me. It mutters about secure DNS but wouldn’t I have that already? Why should I use (and trust) a secure DNS provider that Firefox decides is a good thing? Who are these guys ?

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

samak wrote:

…Why should I use (and trust) a secure DNS provider that Firefox decides is a good thing? Who are these guys ?

Cloudflare is one of the leading DNS providers around, and they’ve signed a privacy agreement with Mozilla, whose terms were dictated by Mozilla, to not disclose any data that may be created from your using their secure DNS service with Firefox. It’s only because of this signed disclosure that Mozilla has placed Cloudflare within the browser as a secure DNS selection.These statements are based upon what I recall reading from Mozilla at the time they made this choice available quite some time ago.

However, I can’t speak to the inclusion of NextDNS in Firefox, as I haven’t read any info from Mozilla regarding their inclusion as a choice within the browser.

You are completely free to use whomever you individually choose instead of Cloudflare, and it will remain that way within Firefox.

I hope this helps somewhat.

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samak

samak wrote:

At the bottom of Privacy and Security preferences there are 4 options in “Enable secure DNS using:”
Mine is set to OFF (Use your default DNS resolver)
I see there is a “Default Protection” option but the explanation for what this does is pure gobbledygook to me. It mutters about secure DNS but wouldn’t I have that already?

Probably not:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_over_HTTPS#Windows
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_over_HTTPS#Mozilla_Firefox

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samak

Firefox 120.0.1

Release notes

and I thought ‘green screens’ were used in the movie business for superimposing actors into whatever CGI background…

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 120.0.1

https://www.neowin.net/news/mozilla-firefox-fixes-slow-startup-100-cpu-use-green-screen-youtube-videos-and-more/

Recently, Google found itself in a bit of a tough spot as Mozilla Firefox users started suspecting foul play when they noticed that YouTube would seemingly load slower when it detected that the browser was not Chrome. The tech giant later explained how and why this was not intentional and linked it to adblocker usage.

Although unrelated to that, the latest version of Firefox, 120.0.1, fixes a bug that was causing startup slowdowns. Mozilla explains that the problem was due to the un-optimal usage of cached quota information. While this one is on Windows, Mozilla also adds that a slow startup bug has also been fixed on Linux as well…

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Charlie

Firefox 121.0

Release notes

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 121.0

Release notes published

Security fixes

Mozilla Firefox releases due via update channels on Tuesday 19th December 2023.

Firefox 121.0
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/121.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/121.0/

Firefox 115.6esr
Mozilla Release Notes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.6.0/releasenotes/

FTP Download link available now:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/115.6.0esr/

Check back later to view the release notes..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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satrow, Alex5723

Firefox 121: Mozilla ends 2023 with a bang

Executive Summary

AV1 hardware encoding support on Windows with Microsoft’s AV1 extension.
Wayland is the default on Linux, which adds all sorts of improvements.
The native macOS voice commands are supported.
The new release addresses security issues in the browser…

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/firefox-121-released-now-defaults-to-wayland-on-linux

Wayland on Linux:

Better graphics performance
Non-blurry rendering on HiDPI displays/fractional scaling
Per-monitor DPI settings respected
Full support for touchpad and touchscreen gestures

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition Legacy115 115.6.0

Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition 115.6.0

Firefox 121.0.1

Release notes

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Microfix

A user at Ghacks claim : “121.0.1 Breaks uBlock Origin. No way to update the filters anymore.”

https://www.ghacks.net/2024/01/09/firefox-121-0-1-fixes-a-hang-and-a-usb-security-key-issue/

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Slowpoke47, Charlie

Good to know- we use that app on our machines.

@Slowpoke47 –

What Alex quoted about uBlock Origin being broken by the latest version of FF has been debunked. The lack of functionality within uBO has been determined to be deliberate changes the uBO programmers made in the program itself. Please read the ENTIRE chain of comments below the post on GHacks quoted by Alex, and you’ll see that it’s a deliberate change in uBO that changed things, NOT a change in FF that changed things.

I hope this clears things up for you.

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Microfix, Charlie, satrow

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 121.0.1

Bob99 wrote:

Please read the ENTIRE chain of comments below the post on GHacks quoted by Alex, and you’ll see that it’s a deliberate change in uBO that changed things, NOT a change in FF that changed things.

It doesn’t matter as now both FF and uBlock are not compatible

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Slowpoke47

Alex5723 wrote:

It doesn’t matter as now both FF and uBlock are not compatible

Alex – Can you expand on ‘both FF and uBlock are not compatible’?

How does this change affect everyday use of FF and uBlock Origin?

Thanks!

Mod edit: fix quote

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Microfix, Charlie, satrow, Slowpoke47

Please read comments at : https://www.ghacks.net/2024/01/09/firefox-121-0-1-fixes-a-hang-and-a-usb-security-key-issue/

” latest uBlock Origin ver. 1.55.0 removed “Purge all caches” button from “Filter lists” pane, explained as :

“Purging all the lists from cache storage is detrimental to differential update, and cause filter lists to be updated less often and consequently to be less up to date then when letting differential updater do its work.”

uBlock Origin 1.54.0 Chrome Version 121.0.6167.57

Alex5723 wrote:

Please read comments at : https://www.ghacks.net/2024/01/09/firefox-121-0-1-fixes-a-hang-and-a-usb-security-key-issue/

Has nothing to do with Firefox; I believe it applies to all browsers that run uBlock Origin.

https://www.ghacks.net/2024/01/09/firefox-121-0-1-fixes-a-hang-and-a-usb-security-key-issue/#:~:text=Has%20nothing%20to%20do%20with%20Firefox%3B%20I%20believe%20it%20applies%20to%20all%20browsers%20that%20run%20uBlock%20Origin.

uBlock Origin made a change to make it more efficient in all browsers.

What’s the problem?

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Slowpoke47, Microfix, Alex5723, satrow

I’m running UBO 1.55.0 on Firefox 115.6 esr with no problems showing.  May be this only affects FF 121.0.1?

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Charlie wrote:

with no problems showing

Do you have ‘Purge all caches’ tab ?

No, but I never used it anyway, so it’s no big deal for me.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Alex5723

Hi Alex, I realize you weren’t asking me, but thought my feedback may help clarify what is happening. In Firefox, on one computer, I am on the newest version of Firefox and I am on version 1.54 of ublock origin. The Purge all Caches tab is still present. In this version of FF I had deselected (unchecked) the FF extension option to Update Add-ons Automatically.

On my Firefox ESR that I recently updated, I had the check mark selected for FF to Update Add-ons Automatically. On this PC, I was upgraded to 1.55 of ublock origin and the Purge all Caches tab is gone. So basically this due to a version update of ublock origin. It is possible to upgrade the filter lists without the version upgrade. It does not matter which version of Firefox you are on. I believe the Update Add-ons Automatically in Firefox is the default setting. Hope this helps.

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Slowpoke47, Charlie, Alex5723

So for those running FF and uBlock Origin on Mint, is there a takeaway from this discussion?  Should we be hiding under the bed?

My takeaway is not to worry Slowpoke. I like many others, thought the Purge all Caches + Update Now in UBO were necessary steps and would routinely select them whenever I updated or thought there was a weird page loading issue due to ads. Now, I realize that these actions costed the UBO host unnecessary bandwidth costs. Furthermore, I was unnecessarily selecting these options right after the filters just updated. Firefox is still my browser of choice for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Firefox allows you to “NOT” update the addons automatically, something other browsers like Chrome & MSEdge do not. If one really wanted to you can use older versions of the addon from the github site and not update the addon. Personally I support UBO is doing the right thing and am comfortable with the UBO new version.

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Bob99, Slowpoke47, Charlie, satrow

Maybe this will put some minds at ease:  Mozilla Firefox not only offers a uBlock Origin “Extension”, they recommend it.  I have not seen anything contrary to that recently.  UBO is a godsend for me because of the loads of ads it blocks that would slow my browsing down a lot.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Slowpoke47

This topic is continued HERE

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Steve, Slowpoke47