SillyDog701

[richard mitnick]

The expeience now, from FF what? 5? through 8 is, don't voluntarily update FF, SM or TB. Wait until the software announces you are being updated. At that point, virtually all of your peculiarities will work.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:8.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/8.0

[Fulvio]

The expeience now, from FF what? 5? through 8 is, don't voluntarily update FF, SM or TB. Wait until the software announces you are being updated. At that point, virtually all of your peculiarities will work.

I have never allowed any software to update without me initiating the process. In fact, a lot of people had been caught unaware of this process. I update when I find out that a new version is out. By then, I have figured out what to do to have it with my favorite Themes and Add-ons.
This rapid release nonsense is annoying, but the fact that it does not update without your cnsent is great, although it may depend on your settings.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:8.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/8.0

[richard mitnick]

Oh, my friend, it will update without your consent if you wait long enough. You will launch the software and you will see the message "Installing updates" or some such language,not even downloading and installing, it is as if they downloaded in the dark of night.

But, frankly, I find this more acceptable. Basically, by the time something installs, nothing does not work.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:8.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/8.0

[Fulvio]

by the time something installs, nothing does not work.

Better nothing, than something that I don't want!
But, kidding aside, and that's when I was referring to Settings, if I have my Tools|Options|Advanced|Update set up so that "when updates are found Firefox asks me what to do, there will not be any sneaky update. I had chosen that setting, long, long time ago, and never got surprise. In fact, even incremental updates do not work, any longer, requiring the download of the full installer. and, I have to ask for it.
Maybe we have different types of Firefox!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:9.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/9.0

[richard mitnick]

No, no no, we have different kinds of headaches.

Always nice to lecture you, my friend, and be lectured in return.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:8.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/8.0

[James]

We take a different approach to this updating issue based no doubt on our different philosophical view of the process.

I allow it to update automatically (I always have) and I check the box that says: Warn me if this (update) will disable any of my add-ons.

The reasons I choose to do it this way are: 1) I'm lazy and would never bother to update manually; 2) believe that even if it were to notify me that an update existed it would make no difference since I would simply okay the update. After all... why would I balk at an update? I don't have the expertise to determine whether or not an update would harm my computer and so I must assume that the update is in my best interests in terms of stabilizing my browser and securing it. 3) Lastly, I've never had any untoward issues with allowing automatic updates so why worry now? Could something go wrong? Sure. Then again... holding off on an update could also backfire so I'm not certain I see any real advantage to pretending I'm an expert who knows best what my browser needs.

Again... this is my perspective on the issue. Not saying it's the best way, but it's mine and it hasn't failed me yet.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:9.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/9.0

[Anonymosity]

Firefox should not update itself if you have disabled both automatic update and just plain update for the app. If you refrain from clicking the "Check for Updates" button, everything should stay as it is. I have been updating entirely manually, but downloading the next full version and installing it myself. That way, I do not get any corrupt files in my profile.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; rv:8.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/8.0

[Edward]

In the Preferences for both SeaMonkey and Firefox, there is an option to install updates automatically. I found this to be enabled by default in both.

If you do not want SeaMonkey or Firefox to update automatically, uncheck that box. I did this, because I prefer to manually install new versions when they are released.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:9.0) Gecko/20111119 Firefox/9.0 SeaMonkey/2.6

[Fulvio]

The so-called "forced" updates (by default) have been around for long time, and I have been doing what Edward said. Clicking on "Check for Updates" will, never, cause an update to be either downloaded or installed, without your actions. I check for updates, all the time, to see what's out there, and, I, never, got an undesirable behavior.
In fact, when I heard about FF8.0.1, I went to check my FF8, for updates, and was told that I was ok. I an using Windows, and don't have any kind of Roboform, so I don't need an update, and Mozilla Firefox seems to detect that, maybe.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.8 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.938.0 Safari/535.8