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How did update occur without admin access on Windows 7?

  • 3 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by meganever

meganever
meganever
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I clicked the Update to Firefox v19.0.2 last night on a Windows 7 laptop.

Everything else on the laptop is the current version.

I was logged in as a user that does not have admin access to install anything on the laptop. I was expecting the dialog box to pop up asking me to enter an admin password in order to allow changes to be made on the laptop.

That dialog box never appeared, but the update successfully completed and Firefox shows the most recent version in About...

How did you bypass the security on my laptop?

I am concerned that if you can do it, so can everyone else out there. I thought I was protected from things being installed on my computer without my express permission.....

How do I protect myself from such unauthorized changes in the future?

Thank you for your help,

Megan Everett

I clicked the Update to Firefox v19.0.2 last night on a Windows 7 laptop. Everything else on the laptop is the current version. I was logged in as a user that does not have admin access to install anything on the laptop. I was expecting the dialog box to pop up asking me to enter an admin password in order to allow changes to be made on the laptop. That dialog box never appeared, but the update successfully completed and Firefox shows the most recent version in About... How did you bypass the security on my laptop? I am concerned that if you can do it, so can everyone else out there. I thought I was protected from things being installed on my computer without my express permission..... How do I protect myself from such unauthorized changes in the future? Thank you for your help, Megan Everett

Chosen solution

Firefox 12 and later use a privileged Windows service to update Firefox without the need to enter an administrative password. See the following blog article for the full explanation:

http://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2011/10/04/mozilla-firefox-and-silent-updates/

Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (3)

iamjayakumars
iamjayakumars
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Firefox be default in Auto Update Mode.

You can turn off it

dcorzine
dcorzine
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Chosen Solution

Firefox 12 and later use a privileged Windows service to update Firefox without the need to enter an administrative password. See the following blog article for the full explanation:

http://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2011/10/04/mozilla-firefox-and-silent-updates/

meganever
meganever Question owner
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Thank you both, iamjayakumars and dcorzine!

I turned off auto-updates (something I was sure was already off previously) after imajayakumars answer, but dcorzine explained why this happened in the first place.

Between the two of you I'm no longer worried that silent changes to my settings and admin access to my drive are occurring without either notifying me or requesting permission.