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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Mozilla Firefox may reset custom browser preferences when the web browser is updated to a newer version so that the preference is set to its default value.
I was contacted by two Ghacks readers in the past two weeks about Firefox resetting preferences of the web browser during updates.
Jern informed me that Firefox reset the block lists setting of the browser's Tracking Protection feature from strict to basic when the browser was updated to version 50 from Firefox 49.0.2.
Basic protection is the recommended and default value of the setting. It does not block as many trackers as the strict blocking list. I confirmed that the upgrade to Firefox 50 did indeed reset the preference.
Michel told me a week later that a recent Firefox update (to 50.0.1 or 50.0.2) did reset another preference. This time an URL string that Michel modified on Firefox's about:config page.
Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2016/12/05/beware-firefox-updates-may-reset-preferences/
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @03:29AM
That's why you use a Firefox fork like SeaMonkey or Pale Moon. Sticking with ordinary Firefox at this point is just asking to be screwed over.
(Score: 2) by xpda on Wednesday December 07 2016, @12:27AM
I just tried Pale Moon (again), but uninstalled after half a day because of a couple of bugs. Clicking on a link in Fark or Slashdot (new window) brings up a window that is not maximized like it's supposed to be. (Yes, I am a dinosaur with a single monitor, and I don't use tabs.) Second, the only cookie whitelist extension I could find won't work with Pale Moon on Garmin Connect and a couple of other sites. So, I'm back with Firefox. I stopped upgrading Firefox some time ago, so my settings are safe.
(Score: 2) by purple_cobra on Friday December 09 2016, @12:38PM
Ditto. I usually use uBlock Origin and uMatrix to keep the worst of the nasties out of the browser, but in Pale Moon the buttons disappear from the toolbar after closing/re-opening the browser. Looking on the PM forum, it seems this isn't an isolated incident and a few others are reporting it; Ghostery is named as a potential cause but as neither I nor some of the others complaining about this bug don't have it installed, that doesn't seem to be the issue. The PM teams response has been "works for me" or "blame the author", so not entirely helpful. One thing I haven't done is tested it on Linux so I'll do that later. Trying to get the uBlock options screen via the plugin popup doesn't work either; what it should do is open a local html file that gives you access to the plugin's options, what it actually does is open a blank tab with the correct path in the tab title but not in the URL bar. I'll just try it again in another six months.