Go to the ESR page and download the full installer.

I can't even download Firefox 35 much less get to the ESR page.

"Customize" doesn't even work.

I'm will to try Firefox 35 but, at a minimum,I want to get rid of 31 ESR and go back to 24 ESR first, and hold it as a working fall-back position. Screw Mozilla's self-perpetuating messages.

IE is looking better and better.

Where are you getting the message that you need to update?. The old Firefox start page on Google has not been updated ever since Firefox 4.0 was released as about:home has been the default since.

The only secure versions of Firefox is the current 31 esr and Firefox 35.0

Using Google as start page. Band across top of page (main page beneath toolbars). Now occurring in 31.4.0 ESR. About the same place as the message in 24.6.0 ESR but a slightly different look. Since I wasn't planning on going to 31.4.0 ESR that is another nail in the coffin Mozilla is creating.

Since the updates (sic) from 24 ESR were/are progressively less user friendly (to me) and the listed security fixes were not critical to me either, 24 ESR was just fine...except the dunning messages were getting annoying.

I've found that add-ins to make Firefox work the way I prefer do not work well in 31.4.0 ESR, so I found a way to update (sic) to 35.0.

I am assuming now that I am more "secure". I have found that about half the add-ins to make Firefox work the way I prefer do work, and I guess that is progress.

I am hoping that someone will create a browser that works like Firefox did when it was user friendly.

What add-ons are not working?

I've fought through several items with Firefox 35, and the one now on my list is "Manage Search Engines" button (current version 1.0) by Alexander Schlarb.

In 24 ESR, a similar (if not same) Add-on, created a list of my search engines in the search box. An icon for that engine was on the left of the box and a magnifying glass was on the right.

The current Add-on by the same name creates a "Manage Search Engine" icon with my engines. Clicking on one seems to make it the engine in use. The search box has a magnifying glass on the left and a check mark on the right. Clicking on the magnifying glass opens a drop down with icons of my engines that I can choose from. All this seems to require more "clicking" then necessary.

Also, although I may be misreading the description, there may be a way to revert back to the more user friendly mode but I haven't figured it out.

I bypass the whole thing like this;

Context Search {web link} Expands the context menu's 'Search for' item into a list of installed search engines, allowing you to choose the engine you want to use for each search.

I Do Not Know if this will work for your system;

If you want to restore the previously used standalone window to manage search engines then you can toggle this pref to false with a middle-click on the about:config page.

about:config page: browser.search.showOneOffButtons = false

You need to close and restart Firefox to make this work properly.

In the address bar, type about:preferences#search<enter>

Not all Mozilla pages (if any) recognize the current Firefox 3.4.0 release as up to date. I see such a notification bar as well and you can safely ignore it if Help > About shows that you have the latest ESR version and that no updates are available.

This worked.

If you want to restore the previously used standalone window to manage search engines then you can toggle this pref to false with a middle-click on the about:config page.

about:config page: browser.search.showOneOffButtons = false

You need to close and restart Firefox to make this work properly.

Thank you.

Firefox is, at least for now, back in my good graces.