Author Topic: Was Firefox 47.0.1 the end of the line for you as well? (Read 17842 times)

Curt · « **on:** August 18, 2016, 03:43 AM »

For safety's sake I thought I would update my Firefox 47.0.1 to Firefox 48.0. So I did.

After 2x restart I was surprised to realize that a number of favourite addons clearly had stopped working, so I went to see what's wrong with my Nightly Tester Tool who's job it is to "Force Addon Compatibility". Turns out it has been overruled by Firefox, so no compatibility was forced on anything.

At Mozilla's page I was told a story about the "many" addons that are trying to steel my money, identity, etc. Of course such a story is difficult to believe, since I never have met such an addon. New homepage redirection, yes, but never anything dangerous. Maybe we just don't hear about them? But of course, I guess they're out there, just waiting for a chance to enter my PC, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

And because of this I should be thankful for Mozilla now blocking every unsigned addons, I assume...

I do, however, not agree with Mozilla on this. Do you? The unsigned addons that I have are not new in any way. They have been on my computer for many years!! On my PC there is nothing to fear (of course there is, but so far it all went well) - and I totally want to have my addons back. They were there for a reason; without them, Firefox is no longer the best. In fact, without addons Firefox is nothing but the fattest kid in the world.

So I removed 48 and reinstalled 47.

Do they know what they're doing?!
Have you abandoned Firefox? If not: Do you use a newer version than 47.0.1?

Post modified with a list of the addons that I have on Firefox 47.0.1:

Spoiler

- Adblock Plus 2.7.3
   http://adblockplus.org/
   Reklamer er fortid!
   https://addons.mozil...x/addon/adblock-plus

- Add to Search Bar 2.9
   http://firefox.malte...ns/add-to-search-bar
   Tilføj hvilken som helst søgning, på hvilken som helst side, til søgefeltet.
   https://addons.mozil...n/add-to-search-bar/

- Add-ons Manager Context Menu 0.4.2.1-signed.1-signed
   http://loucypher.git....com/AM_contextmenu/
   Add more items to Add-ons Manager context menu.
   https://addons.mozil...fox/addon/am-context

- Auto Context 1.5.0.3 (Inkompatible)
   https://addons.mozil...g/firefox/addon/5714
   Automatically shows User Popup Menu if text is selected

- Bookmark Toolbar Menu Button 1.1.2.1-signed
   https://codefisher.org/toolbar_button/
   Show the contents of the Bookmarks Toolbar in a drop down menu. This compresses the bookmark menu into one button that you can put on any toolbar you want to.
   https://addons.mozil...-toolbar-menu-button

- Bulk Image Downloader 4.91.0.0
   http://BulkImageDownloader.com
   Easily download images from image host sites. The Bulk Image Downloader app ($25) must be installed for this to work.
   https://addons.mozil...ulk-image-downloader

- Classic Theme Restorer 1.5.6beta2
   https://github.com/A...ClassicThemeRestorer
   'Classic Theme Restorer' ...
   https://addons.mozil...classicthemerestorer

- Clean Uninstall 0.1.7
   http://firefox.add0n...clean-uninstall.html
   Uninstall an extension and clean its fingerprints (stored preference values for instance)
   https://addons.mozil...ddon/clean-uninstall

- CoLT 2.6.7
   http://www.borngeek.com/firefox/colt/
   Tilføjer et Kopier linktekst-punkt til browserens kontekstmenu.
   https://addons.mozil...s/firefox/addon/colt

- Context Search 0.6.4
   http://www.basson.at...addons/contextsearch
   Expands the context menu's 'Search for' item into a list of search engines.
   https://addons.mozil...addon/context-search

- Download Manager (S3) 4.07
   http://www.s3blog.org/
   Vis og håndter filhentninger fra en smart nydelig statusbjælke
   https://addons.mozil...s3download-statusbar

- Downloads Context Menu 1.7
   http://www.bm-productions.tk
   Shows the Explorer context menu of downloaded files in the Downloads list
   https://addons.mozil...nloads-context-menu/

- Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express 9.08
   http://yourvideofile.org/
   Best extension for 'Superfast' and easy video download links in FLV, 3GP, MP3 (256kbps HQ Direct Link), MP4, 720p + 1080 HD and Full-HD ("Original") qualities on Youtube pages.

- EPUBReader 1.5.0.9
   http://www.epubread.com/
   Read EPUB files just in the browser. No installation of additional software needed.
   https://addons.mozil...fox/addon/epubreader

- ErrorZilla Plus 1.2.4.2
   https://addons.mozil...don/errorzilla-plus/
   Show a more useful error page when the network address cannot be reached.

- Extension List Dumper 2 1.0.1
   https://addons.mozil...ension-list-dumper-2
   Dumps a list of the installed extensions.

- Flagfox 5.1.13
   https://flagfox.wordpress.com/
   Viser et flag, der afbilleder den pågældende servers placering
   https://addons.mozil...irefox/addon/flagfox

- Flickr Size Pickr 1.0.1.1-signed
   https://addons.mozil...on/flickr-size-pickr
   Adds a context menu to view or download any Flickr photo

- Google Reverse Image Search 48.0
   http://barisderin.com/
   Google Reverse Image Search is a simple tool that lets you search the images reversely on Google Images.
   https://addons.mozil...reverse-image-search

- Google Search Disable Before You Continue 43.5
   https://addons.mozil...rch-disable-before-y
   Disable Before You Continue dialog for Google Search

- Google search link fix 1.5.3
   https://github.com/palant/searchlinkfix
   Prevents Google and Yandex search pages from modifying search result links when you click them.
   https://addons.mozil...ogle-search-link-fix

- I don't care about cookies 2.5.8
   https://addons.mozil...t-care-about-cookies
   Get rid of annoying cookie warnings from tens of thousands of 'infected' websites

- Image Toolbar 0.6.18
   http://www.basson.at...-addons/imagetoolbar
   Provides easy access to common image functions.
   https://addons.mozil.../addon/image-toolbar

- InstaDown: Instagram Image & Video Downloader 1.0.3
   https://addons.mozil...instagram-image-vide
   The extension adds a direct download button for images found on instagram user pages, and also for videos on single item popups.

- Interclue 1.6.3.1-signed.1-signed
   http://interclue.com/
   The ultimate link augmentation multitool
   https://addons.mozil...efox/addon/interclue

- MyBookmarks 0.6.17
   http://www.catsyawn..../mybookmarks_en.html
   Creates a formatted page from bookmarks.
   https://addons.mozil...ox/addon/mybookmarks

- Nightly Tester Tools 3.7.1-signed.1-signed
   https://wiki.mozilla...s/NightlyTesterTools
   Useful tools for the nightly tester.
   https://addons.mozil...nightly-tester-tools

- Open In RegEdit 0.1.2.4
   https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/4478/
   Select registry keys in the page and open them in the registry editor

- Open With 6.7.1
   https://github.com/darktrojan/openwith
   Quickly test out your web pages in Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, or Opera. Open With opens the current page in your other browsers with just one click.
   https://addons.mozil...efox/addon/open-with

- Restart 1.2.8
   http://www.schuzak.jp/
   Adds "Restart" menu and button.
   https://addons.mozil...refox/addon/re-start

- RightToClick 2.9.6
   https://addons.mozil.../addon/righttoclick/
   Allows right clicks, highlighting and more where forbidden by javascript

- Save Session 1.3.1.6.1-signed.1-signed
   http://diary.noasobi.net/
   Save Session can save the session only once.
   https://addons.mozil...x/addon/save-session

- Saved Password Editor 2.9.6
   https://addons.mozil...ved-password-editor/
   Adds the ability to create and edit entries in the password manager.
   https://addons.mozil...aved-password-editor

- SCDL SoundCloud Downloader 1.7
   https://mrvv.net/scdl
   SoundCloud Download Helper. Adds ARTWORK, ARTIST, GENRE, TRACKNAME !!
   https://addons.mozil...oundcloud-downloader

- SoundCloud Downloader - SoundGrab :: Add-ons for Firefox -
   https://addons.mozil...efox/addon/soundgrab

- Self-Destructing Cookies 0.4.10
   https://addons.mozil...-destructing-cookies
   Fix the web. Gets rid of a site's cookies and LocalStorage as soon as you close its tabs. Protects against trackers and zombie-cookies. Trustworthy services can be whitelisted.

- Show my Password 2.0.1-signed.1-signed
   http://netcat.ath.cx/extensions.html
   Shows your password in readable letters
   https://addons.mozil...password/?src=search

- small-clock 0.0.2
   https://addons.mozil...ox/addon/small-clock
   A simple and small 24hr clock which sits in your toolbar. Ideal for fullscreen browser use

- Smart HTTPS 0.1.6
   http://mybrowseraddo...com/smart-https.html
   Automatically changes HTTP addresses to the secure HTTPS, and if loading encounters error, reverts it back to HTTP.
   https://addons.mozil...ox/addon/smart-https

- Status-4-Evar 2015.11.16.23.1-signed.1-let-fixed
   http://forums.mozill...p?f=48&t=2001965
   https://addons.mozil...addon/status-4-evar/
   Status-widgets og forløbsindikatorer til Firefox 4+

- Stop Ads 0.0.4
   https://addons.mozil...refox/addon/stop-ads
   Stop Ads extension

- Stylish 2.0.7
   https://userstyles.org/
   Gendesign internettet med Stylish, en user styles manager.
+   https://userstyles.o...ver-with-large-icons

- Textarea Cache 0.9.3.4
   https://addons.mozil...ddon/textarea-cache/
   Allows to save automatically the content in a text input field.

- Video DownloadHelper 6.0.0
   http://www.downloadhelper.net/
   Download Videos from the Web
   https://addons.mozil...video-downloadhelper

- YouTube ALL HTML5 3.0.3
   https://addons.mozil...on/youtube-all-html5
   Play all videos on youtube without flash.

- Youtube's Annotations No More 0.3
   http://www.kiboke-st.../browser-extensions/
   Disable Youtube's annotations.
   https://addons.mozil...-annotations-no-more

- Youtube's Autoplay No More 0.3
   http://www.kiboke-st.../browser-extensions/
   Disable Youtube's up-next autoplay feature.
   https://addons.mozil...bes-autoplay-no-more

eleman · « **Reply #1 on:** August 18, 2016, 03:52 AM »

Use a browser which does not introduce changes every six weeks, and you'll have more time for non-virtual aspects of your life.

I'll deal with the unsigned add-on clusterjoy around the time of Firefox 53. Not sooner.

IainB · « **Reply #2 on:** August 18, 2016, 03:55 AM »

@Curt: You're a bit late, but welcome to the party. Go to http://www.slimjet.com/

Shades · « **Reply #3 on:** August 18, 2016, 12:03 PM »

Unsigned...is it not possible to sign extensions yourself? According to Mozilla, you can. This link explains which versions of Firefox allow for unsigned extensions, and behind this link you will find step by step instructions (not specifically for Windows, but the steps are clear).

Just make sure you create a sufficiently strong certificate (RSA 2048/SHA256 minimum), else it is likely Firefox will complain about the weak certificate. The EasyRSA scripts allow you quite some freedom when generating self-signed certificates. At least, I use it myself whenever I have a need for self-signed certificates.

tomos · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2016, 12:37 PM »

I'm with:

Firefox ESR 38.8.0 (up-to-date)
Pale Moon -- just updating to 26.4.0 (x64 portable)

CWuestefeld · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2016, 12:39 PM »

I haven't tried this, but our friends at gHacks have an article up describing how to disable Firefox's feature:

The following guide walks you through the steps of overriding the add-on signing enforcement in Firefox Stable and Beta. You will be able to install unsigned add-ons in Firefox versions in which this should not be possible.

exjoburger · « **Reply #6 on:** August 18, 2016, 01:16 PM »

Wow Curt, that is an impressive list of addons

. I'll have to give some of them a try.

I'm on Firefox 48.0 as my primary browser.
I've also tried CyberFox, but I'm finding the update mechanism to be a pain.
Palemoon is quite decent.
I keep an installation of FireFox ESR as a backup, and use the latest PortableApps version so I don't have to mess around with multiple profiles more than necessary.

From the host of other replies, it seems that there are a bunch of options to keep using unsigned addons.

Curt · « **Reply #7 on:** August 19, 2016, 03:05 AM »

Wow Curt, that is an impressive list of addons . I'll have to give some of them a try. (...) I'm on Firefox 48.0 as my primary browser.
-exjoburger (August 18, 2016, 01:16 PM)

impressive or obsessive, I am not too sure. Useful, is the word, I hope.
I have modified the list; now with the proper Mozilla links. But remember, Firefox version 48 will say some of them are outdated.

@IainB, I am slow, but not late!
> right-click > Open With...

@ eleman, tomos and exjoburger (what a name! Did you use to live in Johannesburg?), Thank you for reminding of the ESR version. I am flipping a coin, will do / will not do, right now 47.0.1 will do.

@Shades and CWuestefeld (Post#1,000!!), I am flattered. Just looking at the how-to instructions, made my stomach spin

Will test some other day... http://www.ghacks.net/2016/08/14/override-firefox-add-on-signing-requirement/

Thank you for the responses. Due to the addons, I want my local Firefox to stay in the game!

oblivion · « **Reply #8 on:** August 30, 2016, 01:56 AM »

I haven't tried this, but our friends at gHacks have an article up describing how to disable Firefox's feature:

The following guide walks you through the steps of overriding the add-on signing enforcement in Firefox Stable and Beta. You will be able to install unsigned add-ons in Firefox versions in which this should not be possible.
-CWuestefeld (August 18, 2016, 12:39 PM)

I HAVE tried this, and it works. I don't use many unsigned addons but one that I do -- DownloadStudio -- I sort of rely on, now... and I've invested so much time and effort in getting Firefox "right" that jumping ship is more of a deal for me than just making a decision.

Curt · « **Reply #9 on:** August 30, 2016, 03:00 AM »

-thank you, oblivion!

So far I have however not found any ~~compelling~~ reason to upgrade from version 47.
but maybe that's me being oblivious

CWuestefeld · « **Reply #10 on:** August 30, 2016, 12:17 PM »

So far I have however not found any compelling reason to upgrade from version 47.
-Curt (August 30, 2016, 03:00 AM)

Since 48.0.1, I've found that it's much better behaved with memory usage. Earlier, I had to restart the browser at least once a day, but no more. (My experience is with 64-bit, and of course a specific mix of plugins; YMMV).

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #11 on:** August 31, 2016, 07:02 AM »

@Curt: You're a bit late, but welcome to the party. Go to http://www.slimjet.com/
-IainB (August 18, 2016, 03:55 AM)

Holy shit, that thing is fast!!

IainB · « **Reply #12 on:** August 31, 2016, 10:37 AM »

@Curt: You're a bit late, but welcome to the party. Go to http://www.slimjet.com/
-IainB (August 18, 2016, 03:55 AM)
Holy shit, that thing is fast!!
_________________________
-Stoic Joker (August 31, 2016, 07:02 AM)

Yes, and by now - even after adding in the bloat of a stack of favourite Chrome extensions in the meantime - it still seems just as fast.
Also, by now, I have expunged Google Chrome Canary - and Chromium - from my system, thereby freeing up gigabytes of space on my hard drive.
I have almost stopped using Firefox. Keeping it as it is the only browser that I can get:

to play Unity-based games (important to my 6 y/o son).
to manage my FF Scrapbook extension archives (quite important to me).
to provide a syncable repository of FF extensions, bookmarks etc. for my daughter (who also sometime uses FF).

I am currently trying to figure out how to migrate the Scrapbook archives to another browser/database.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #13 on:** August 31, 2016, 11:36 AM »

@Curt: You're a bit late, but welcome to the party. Go to http://www.slimjet.com/
-IainB (August 18, 2016, 03:55 AM)
Holy shit, that thing is fast!!
-Stoic Joker (August 31, 2016, 07:02 AM)

In case anyone is curious I have been using the 32 bit portable since some point in the 9x builds. For grins I tried the x64 portable about a week ago. I did not notice any difference until I did something that used extensions. Then the 32 bit seemed way faster. In this case it was a YouTube download extension. The 32 bit SlimJet downloaded the same file 3 or 4 times faster. Just my anecdotal experience. But who ya' gonna' believe? Me or your own eyes?

IainB · « **Reply #14 on:** September 01, 2016, 12:06 PM »

^^ I hadn't realised that they had a 64-bit version of Slimjet and had assumed mine was 32-bit anyway. How does one tell which type (32 or 64-bit) one has? It's not mentioned in the "About" section.
My trial of Google Chrome Canary (64-bit) seemed none too hopeful. so I shall wait awhile before going to a 64-bit browser again.

By the way, at http://www.slimjet.com/en/webhelp/ it says (my emphasis):

Introduction to Slimjet
Slimjet is a fast, smart and powerful web browser built on top of the Chromium open-source project (on which Google chrome is based as well). It adds more options to Chromium to make it more flexible and customizable. It also integrates more features to Chromium so that users can get more done in less time without relying on external plugins.

Almost all of the features in Chromium have been kept in Slimjet to ensure compatibility. Most plugins and extensions designed for Chrome should work just fine in Slimjet. You can install any extension and theme from Chrome web store directly onto Slimjet. ...
_____________________________

That rather looks like a polite indictment of plugins/extensions.

wraith808 · « **Reply #15 on:** September 01, 2016, 01:29 PM »

It doesn't seem that much faster to me, unfortunately. I'm still trying it, but underwhelmed.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #16 on:** September 01, 2016, 02:24 PM »

It doesn't seem that much faster to me, unfortunately. I'm still trying it, but underwhelmed.
-wraith808 (September 01, 2016, 01:29 PM)

Are you trying the 32 bit or 64 bit version?

wraith808 · « **Reply #17 on:** September 01, 2016, 02:53 PM »

32-bit.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #18 on:** September 01, 2016, 03:20 PM »

How does one tell which type (32 or 64-bit) one has? It's not mentioned in the "About" section.
-IainB (September 01, 2016, 12:06 PM)

Considering you have to dig through a layer of warnings against using the x64 version, to download the x64 version ...(if you don't remember the ruckus)... I'd be inclined to just assume it's x86.

Curt · « **Reply #19 on:** September 01, 2016, 03:47 PM »

the missing information:

32-bit Slimjet Web Browser is recommended for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows. If you want to go 64-bit at the cost of more memory usage, you can get 64-bit Slimjet for Windows.

Slimjet Web Browser for Windows 64-bit Version:
http://www.slimjet.com/en/dlpage_win64.php

64-bit version uses significantly more memory than 32-bit version. It has some stability and performance improvements which are not quite noticable for most people. We do not recommend it for machines with under 8GB memory or nerves sensitive to the memory usage of applications. If your computer has affluent memory and you want to screeze the last bit of performance out of Slimjet, go for it by all means.
-Flashpeak Slimjet

MilesAhead · « **Reply #20 on:** September 01, 2016, 05:16 PM »

32-bit.
-wraith808 (September 01, 2016, 02:53 PM)

I have a slow HD. Only Sata II. So I followed IainB's lead and put the cache in a ramdisk. I only allocated 256 MB to the ramdisk and set the limit in SlimJet to 200 MB cache. It seems to speed it up a bit. I added the ramdisk cache folder to CCleaner and periodically empty the cache conveniently that way.

Edit: It doesn't download any faster than Firefox. If you leave your browser up and running all the time you may not see much benefit. But if you only run it when you actually want to browse something, SlimJet jumps onto the desktop. Whereas now Firefox takes about 45 seconds to load on my Laptop. I have a bunch of folders on my bookmarks bar. There seems to be a 20 second delay for the folder icons to appear after the folder names are shown. Firefox never used to have that lag. It is hard for me to believe none of the developers notice any of this stuff. They should get a slow PC for testing some of these builds. It's ridiculous to wait a minute after double clicking to type something into the address bar.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #21 on:** September 01, 2016, 05:27 PM »

How does one tell which type (32 or 64-bit) one has? It's not mentioned in the "About" section.
-IainB (September 01, 2016, 12:06 PM)

Considering you have to dig through a layer of warnings against using the x64 version, to download the x64 version ...(if you don't remember the ruckus)... I'd be inclined to just assume it's x86.
-Stoic Joker (September 01, 2016, 03:20 PM)

Once running you can always look in Task Manager. If it is 32 bit it will say so next to the program name.

Deozaan · « **Reply #22 on:** September 02, 2016, 02:54 AM »

How does one tell which type (32 or 64-bit) one has? It's not mentioned in the "About" section.
-IainB (September 01, 2016, 12:06 PM)

Check the install location. If it's in "Program Files" then it's 64-bit. If it's in "Program Files (x86)" then it's 32-bit.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #23 on:** September 02, 2016, 07:32 AM »

How does one tell which type (32 or 64-bit) one has? It's not mentioned in the "About" section.
-IainB (September 01, 2016, 12:06 PM)

Check the install location. If it's in "Program Files" then it's 64-bit. If it's in "Program Files (x86)" then it's 32-bit.
-Deozaan (September 02, 2016, 02:54 AM)

If you downloaded the portable the self-extracting exe has either x86 or x64 in the filename.

Curt · « **Reply #24 on:** September 02, 2016, 11:48 AM »

How does one tell which type (32 or 64-bit) one has? It's not mentioned in the "About" section.
-IainB (September 01, 2016, 12:06 PM)
Check the install location. If it's in "Program Files" then it's 64-bit. If it's in "Program Files (x86)" then it's 32-bit.
-Deozaan (September 02, 2016, 02:54 AM)

- eh, no! On a 32-bits system the %1% is "Program Files", because there is no other system.