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Why does Windows shows multiple versions of Firefox installed?

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I am running Firefox 11.0 on Windows 7 home premium 64 bit OS. Firefox seems to be working fine.

When I check the list of installed programs in the Windows control panel I see two versions of Firefox listed (11.0 and 10.0.2). Is this normal? Does the installer not remove older versions when it does an update? Is is safe for me to uninstall the older version?

By the way, same situation for Thunderbird. It shows both 10.0.2 and 9.0.1!

I am running Firefox 11.0 on Windows 7 home premium 64 bit OS. Firefox seems to be working fine. When I check the list of installed programs in the Windows control panel I see two versions of Firefox listed (11.0 and 10.0.2). Is this normal? Does the installer not remove older versions when it does an update? Is is safe for me to uninstall the older version? By the way, same situation for Thunderbird. It shows both 10.0.2 and 9.0.1!

Chosen solution

Hi cor-el. Thanks for the response.

I could not find the registry key you referenced in your reply but I did a search and found the entry here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Mozilla Firefox 10.0.2

After removing this registry entry, version 10.0.2 no longer appears in the installed program list, and this worked for Thunderbird 9.0.1 as well.

Thanks again.

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All Replies (2)

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It sometimes happens that the updater doesn't remove the old entry in the installed programs section and thus shows multiple versions as installed. You usually only have the most recent version installed and will remove that version if you try to uninstall the older version because both point to the same installation folder. You can either remove that registry key yourself or use a registry cleaner.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Mozilla Firefox (????)
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Seçilmiş Həll

Hi cor-el. Thanks for the response.

I could not find the registry key you referenced in your reply but I did a search and found the entry here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Mozilla Firefox 10.0.2

After removing this registry entry, version 10.0.2 no longer appears in the installed program list, and this worked for Thunderbird 9.0.1 as well.

Thanks again.