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why are there almost weekly updates to firefox?

  • 7 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 67 views
  • Last reply by James

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Every other time I login, Firefox wants me to download an update. Why so freaking often?

Every other time I login, Firefox wants me to download an update. Why so freaking often?

Chosen solution

9diddy said

My question is why so many updates so close together.

They are not scheduled so close together.

Best case scenario there is only the Major version Releases. Sometimes there is security and or stability concerns that warrants a minor update now and not waiting till next major Release.

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Firefox 63.0.1 was released this week, and Firefox 63 was released Oct 23rd. Before that, the last update was 62.0.3, Oct 2nd.

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/releases/

You should have Firefox set to updated automatically, as we release new versions to fix issues in previous versions, fix security holes and add new features

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Automatic update is no good it will close windows I need to stay open. My question is why so many updates so close together. I’m glad security holes are being fixed, but why so many security holes in the first place. I’m inclined to just update every other time to save hassle.

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It's not that there are 'holes' in the program. It's that hackers try to break down the protection in those programs.

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We have scheduled major updates every 6-8 weeks. If we find issues in between those updates, we release smaller ones. Please update ASAP for every update. We don't update for no reason :)

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Automatic update is no good it will close windows I need to stay open.

i've never seen such a behaviour.

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Hi 9diddy, you can set Firefox to inform you of updates and let you choose when to install them. That way, if you're in the middle of something and you don't want to restart the browser until, say, the end of the day, you have more flexibility to manage the timing.

Find that on the Options* page. In the Find in Options box at the top of the page, type update to filter down to that section.

As for why such interim updates are needed: the population of "beta" testers is pretty small, so when a new version is released to millions of Firefox users across the great diversity of OS versions, add-ons, websites used, and work styles, new problems are always detected. Sometimes these are surprising severe, such as Firefox not being able to start, or crashing instantly.

Even if the .1 and .2-type fixes are not for crashes or security vulnerabilities, they generally are only released for bugs affecting a very large number of people, otherwise they would be saved for the next major (whole number) release. To see the main changes in each release, you can use this index: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/releases/

* For different platforms:

  • Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
  • Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
  • Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
  • Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it
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Chosen Solution

9diddy said

My question is why so many updates so close together.

They are not scheduled so close together.

Best case scenario there is only the Major version Releases. Sometimes there is security and or stability concerns that warrants a minor update now and not waiting till next major Release.

Modified by James