5 ms·

Every time I restart Firefox, I get about 8 different prompts for "See what's new!" "Reset your Firefox profile now!" "See our new diversity initiative now!" et

by nikanj 5y ago

Every time I restart Firefox, I get about 8 different prompts for "See what's new!" "Reset your Firefox profile now!" "See our new diversity initiative now!" etc. It feels like opening a Windows Me installation from 2000. I just want to get browsing done.

system2 5y ago
Same here. I just started Firefox now, UAC prompt came again. Restarted, pocket started showing me random stuff, tabs open. I do not want any of this.
pasc1878 5y ago
I get none of that - you musty have some odd config.
- madjam002 5y ago
  I get the same thing and I reset my config to defaults.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  He's exaggerating a bit bit his point still stands. After an update there's at least one extra tab about the update, and sometimes more like the recent-ish stupid color scheme feature.
  - iso1631 5y ago
    Exaggerating isn't particularly helpful, makes me thing the problems the OP has with the browser are more based on perception of "culture" or something rather than the actual product
    - Nextgrid 5y ago
      It's not about perception. The browser's job is to display webpages and otherwise get out of the user's way - Firefox constantly fails at that, much more than a lot of paid, proprietary software even.
      - iso1631 5y ago
        Really? I've never had that happen and I've been using Firefox for 2 decades. Occasionally I've had a grumble about it not being the latest version, but that didn't stop me. Short of the removal of flash I can't think of anything you could be referring to, so perhaps rather than exaggerating some actual concrete examples would be good.
        philovivero 5y ago
        Also been using FF for 2 decades, but can corroborate the experience you cannot. I have seen all those things he complained about. Diversity initiatives, new features, etc. For me it appears as a new tab on restart that I have to close, and it does feel like it's every single time I update, and sometimes between updates.
        Nextgrid 5y ago
        It is especially annoying on a seldom-used machine where the browser will typically be outdated every single time you start it up. To make things worse, the machine is rarely used and only gets powered on when you actually need to do a task right away, so the bullshit update notifications are infuriating. I can put up with the updates themselves for security reasons, but intentionally getting in my way for no functional reason is too much.
    - nikanj 5y ago
      Perceptions are pretty much 100% of the reason people pick a browser.
- dewey 5y ago
  I have a pretty standard config and I got that the other day: https://twitter.com/tehwey/status/1483531515631919106 https://twitter.com/tehwey/status/1483531515631919106
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
I believe the reset thing is due to it being a good way to solve user problems that have accumulated over time. It seemed a bigger thing a few years ago, but if you keep seeing it, then they've probably identified you as someone likely to benfit from it. I don't think I've seen it for years. This is just speculation though. I just get an update "what's new" tab after every update, which seems reasonable if you are adding or removing things.
temp0826 5y ago
That's...not the case (and never has been) for me. You only restart it when you get an update (in which case that wouldn't be very often)? Or you did something whacky in about:config? Or maybe a bad extension. Dunno, not normal
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  Maybe you have an old profile. I often see this kind of messaging when starting up Firefox on a freshly installed OS.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
  May be OS-specific, or it may not happen when you've set Firefox to restore previous tabs when restarting, or there may be a way to turn it off. I don't remember seeing many of these on my actual machine (I did get the color scheme nonsense if I remember correctly), but I'm constantly seeing these in dev/testing VMs where I just installed it for testing and occasionally keep it updated.
- Steltek 5y ago
  Updates are probably more frequent on the Beta/Aurora/Whatever channel?
- nikanj 5y ago
  I only start FF when I get a customer report about an issue on FF. I guess I start it seldom enough to always trigger some sort of watchdog? Anyway, here's my 2 cents. I only open FireFox when a customer reports an issue, and I'm always barraged by a deluge of unwanted info, which doesn't encourage me to open FF more often.
  - jamesgeck0 5y ago
    If you're on the stable channel you'll see a single tab of "unwanted info" once every six weeks. Half the time it's just a generic "Firefox updated!" page.
- dpedu 5y ago
  I don't often relaunch my apps but I relaunched firefox just now to see what would happen to test this. Here's what I was greeted with - an ad for pocket: https://i.imgur.com/hYYZYE3.png https://i.imgur.com/hYYZYE3.png
BlackLotus89 5y ago
about:config Search for mstone (browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone) and set it to "ignore" (without the quotes) am not sure why this has to be done this way and I don't have it disabled since I want to know what's new, but hope it helps. Oh and browser.disableResetPrompt and set it to true. Create it if it doesn't exist
- marcosdumay 5y ago
  Honestly, I gave-up on editing about:config. As soon as I do it, the non-dismissable "let's reset your profile" message pops up again. There's no point.
  - BlackLotus89 5y ago
    The second setting disables this message.... But it seems like you have already given up.
    - marcosdumay 5y ago
      Yep, I gave up way too early. Thanks.
russdpale 5y ago
What? I've been using firefox for years and I never see any of this, you may want to run some virus scans.

by nikanj 5y ago

system2 5y ago

Same here. I just started Firefox now, UAC prompt came again. Restarted, pocket started showing me random stuff, tabs open. I do not want any of this.

pasc1878 5y ago

I get none of that - you musty have some odd config.

madjam002 5y ago
I get the same thing and I reset my config to defaults.
Nextgrid 5y ago
He's exaggerating a bit bit his point still stands. After an update there's at least one extra tab about the update, and sometimes more like the recent-ish stupid color scheme feature.
- iso1631 5y ago
  Exaggerating isn't particularly helpful, makes me thing the problems the OP has with the browser are more based on perception of "culture" or something rather than the actual product
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    It's not about perception. The browser's job is to display webpages and otherwise get out of the user's way - Firefox constantly fails at that, much more than a lot of paid, proprietary software even.
    - iso1631 5y ago
      Really? I've never had that happen and I've been using Firefox for 2 decades. Occasionally I've had a grumble about it not being the latest version, but that didn't stop me. Short of the removal of flash I can't think of anything you could be referring to, so perhaps rather than exaggerating some actual concrete examples would be good.
      - philovivero 5y ago
        Also been using FF for 2 decades, but can corroborate the experience you cannot. I have seen all those things he complained about. Diversity initiatives, new features, etc. For me it appears as a new tab on restart that I have to close, and it does feel like it's every single time I update, and sometimes between updates.
        Nextgrid 5y ago
        It is especially annoying on a seldom-used machine where the browser will typically be outdated every single time you start it up. To make things worse, the machine is rarely used and only gets powered on when you actually need to do a task right away, so the bullshit update notifications are infuriating. I can put up with the updates themselves for security reasons, but intentionally getting in my way for no functional reason is too much.
  - nikanj 5y ago
    Perceptions are pretty much 100% of the reason people pick a browser.
dewey 5y ago
I have a pretty standard config and I got that the other day: https://twitter.com/tehwey/status/1483531515631919106 https://twitter.com/tehwey/status/1483531515631919106

ZeroGravitas 5y ago

I believe the reset thing is due to it being a good way to solve user problems that have accumulated over time. It seemed a bigger thing a few years ago, but if you keep seeing it, then they've probably identified you as someone likely to benfit from it. I don't think I've seen it for years. This is just speculation though. I just get an update "what's new" tab after every update, which seems reasonable if you are adding or removing things.

temp0826 5y ago

That's...not the case (and never has been) for me. You only restart it when you get an update (in which case that wouldn't be very often)? Or you did something whacky in about:config? Or maybe a bad extension. Dunno, not normal

selfhoster11 5y ago
Maybe you have an old profile. I often see this kind of messaging when starting up Firefox on a freshly installed OS.
tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
May be OS-specific, or it may not happen when you've set Firefox to restore previous tabs when restarting, or there may be a way to turn it off. I don't remember seeing many of these on my actual machine (I did get the color scheme nonsense if I remember correctly), but I'm constantly seeing these in dev/testing VMs where I just installed it for testing and occasionally keep it updated.
Steltek 5y ago
Updates are probably more frequent on the Beta/Aurora/Whatever channel?
nikanj 5y ago
I only start FF when I get a customer report about an issue on FF. I guess I start it seldom enough to always trigger some sort of watchdog? Anyway, here's my 2 cents. I only open FireFox when a customer reports an issue, and I'm always barraged by a deluge of unwanted info, which doesn't encourage me to open FF more often.
- jamesgeck0 5y ago
  If you're on the stable channel you'll see a single tab of "unwanted info" once every six weeks. Half the time it's just a generic "Firefox updated!" page.
dpedu 5y ago
I don't often relaunch my apps but I relaunched firefox just now to see what would happen to test this. Here's what I was greeted with - an ad for pocket: https://i.imgur.com/hYYZYE3.png https://i.imgur.com/hYYZYE3.png

BlackLotus89 5y ago

about:config Search for mstone (browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone) and set it to "ignore" (without the quotes) am not sure why this has to be done this way and I don't have it disabled since I want to know what's new, but hope it helps. Oh and browser.disableResetPrompt and set it to true. Create it if it doesn't exist

marcosdumay 5y ago
Honestly, I gave-up on editing about:config. As soon as I do it, the non-dismissable "let's reset your profile" message pops up again. There's no point.
- BlackLotus89 5y ago
  The second setting disables this message.... But it seems like you have already given up.
  - marcosdumay 5y ago
    Yep, I gave up way too early. Thanks.

russdpale 5y ago

What? I've been using firefox for years and I never see any of this, you may want to run some virus scans.