Mozilla Firefox Version 37.0 Released

[Corrine]

Mozilla sent Firefox Version 37.0 to the release channel.  The update does not include any security fixes.   See Correction reply posted below.

A major addition included in the browser is called Heartbeat,  described as User Voice in Firefox. Essentially, it is a user rating  system.  Heartbeat will appear randomly requesting a rating:

which may be followed by an "Engagement" request:

Personally, this seems like a whole lot of nonsense to me and a wasted effort on the part of Mozilla.org to increase its following.  It is  nonsense like that that convinces me further that I made the right  decision to switch to Pale Moon.

If you do not wish to allow Heartbeat, it can be disabled as follows:

• Open about:config
  
• Click "I'll be careful, I promise!" when presented with the warning.
  
• Type selfsupport in the search box
  
• Set browser.selfsupport.url to ""
  

Additional information about the update is available in the Mozilla Firefox Release Notes

[Corrine]

Correction:  Although not listed in the Release Notes, it appears that Version 37.0 does indeed include security fixes:  four (4) critical, two (2) high, five (5) moderate and one (1) low.

Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories — Mozilla

Thanks ky331!

[plodr]

Thanks for the directions to mute another nonsense addon!

I'll install and fix this on my husband's desktop. Of course I have the FF icon hidden. Palemoon is front and center for him to use.

[Corrine]

I haven't had the incentive to even launch FF to update it after seeing that.  Basil commented to me in Twitter:

It seems to me Firefox has lost its way! I am also glad I use Pale Moon. :-)

All I could think about after reading that was Bing Crosby singing about the lambs who have lost their way, apparently named the "Whiffenpoof Song".  Substituting Firefox for lambs seems to fit:

We're poor little Firefox who has lost our way
Baa, baa, baa
We're little Firefox browser who has gone astray
Baa, baa, baa

[plodr]

I tried to update to 37, on the one computer NOT having the ESR on today, April 1st and was told it was up to date. Now I'll have to see if v 37 was pulled.

By the way, the ESR was updated to v 31.6.

[Wolfeymole]

I'm still on v36.0.4 and I don't intend to update it until I get the FF popup.

[Corrine]

There is definitely something wrong with their update mechanism.  I haven't used Firefox in so long, I decided I should get the update.  Launched Firefox and the desktop computer (but not the laptop) got the Windows Security Alert about the Windows Firewall exception for public networks.  Denied and then checked for updates.  Supposedly 36.0.1 is up to date on both computers.  Not hardly.  Aside from 37.0, the last version update was to 36.0.3.

[satrow]

There is definitely something wrong with their update mechanism.

^ Agreed!

In-place upgrade failed for me yesterday, it downloaded and restarted FF but no good. Manual update worked fine.

Not sure I'll have any time today to work through the Mozilla quagmire to find out what's happening.

[Corrine]

I'm not certain it is worth attempting to work through the Mozilla quagmire.  The manual update doesn't even work on two machines here.

[satrow]

The manual update doesn't even work on two machines here.

That must be via the stub installer? Have you tried using the full fat installer?

[Corrine]

No, I haven't tried the full fat installer.  I went the usual route Firefox > Help > About Firefox and there was no "Check for Updates" option.  However, I just got home, read your reply and checked again.  This time I was offered 36.0.4. 

[satrow]

A buggy Mozilla Maintenance Service/server response could fit the bill here? https://wiki.mozilla.org/Windows_Service_Silent_Update

Applying an application update from Firefox's perspective

    On Firefox (or any other Mozilla application that uses the service) startup, Firefox detects an update is ready to be applied
    Whether or not the service should be used, Firefox executes updater.exe unelevated.
    Firefox shuts itself down.
    updater.exe unelevated checks to see if the service should be used, and if so tries to start the service with the appropriate command line parameters.
    If the service can't be started, is disabled, or does not exist, Firefox will execute updater.exe as it used to without the service.
    If the service was used, updater.exe unelevated waits for the service to be stopped, which indicates the update is done.
    Once done updater.exe unelevated will run the callback application and the post update process.

I don't have it active here, I set it to Disabled normally but it does seem to revert to Manual after each update/alt. install.

[Corrine]

I don't have the Mozilla Maintenance Service installed and have always had the option "Check for updates but let me choose whether to install them" selected.  It seems rather strange that the same thing happened on three systems (Windows 7 laptop, dual boot desktop with Windows 7 and Windows 10).

[winchester73]

My 8.1 system downloaded and installed on the first attempt  :blink:

[Corrine]

I'm not going to worry about it since I use Pale Moon all the time and it is up to date.  The only reason I checked was because of plodr's experience.