You are assuming a lot of facts not in evidence. Lets clear things up for others who may be confused or misled by some of these remarks
I can't imagine why you would have a "grudge" against Firefox ESR. For me, it's just a personal preference right now, until I feel I can customize Quantum in a manner that is acceptable for my purposes, and that time should be coming soon. I am happy to say that although Quantum will never be like what we have been accustomed to in the past, it is far more flexible that I believe we were all led to expect, thanks to the great guys who hung in there and continued to develop addons and tweaks to give Quantum a familiar look, feel, and function.Brummelchen wrote:out of curiosity - ESR ___never___ would update to another final nor beta.
ESR is perfectly fine and appropriate for use, and will be until the time when it is no longer given security updates.
ESR in and of itself is not a factor in the the problems I have presented here.
Wrong. My "profiles are in good working order. Respectfully, I don't believe you have read my posts carefully.Brummelchen wrote:you have a messed up profile - i guess you had tried out before the 57beta/58beta on your current (portable) profile instead using another one an stepped back to esr because you did not like quantum.
No. No. No.Brummelchen wrote: another guess that you are using some kind of stupid software updater - those programs can update without any hint and can cause that too. third option may that you have installed firefox as default browser beside a portable build - external programs calling links use the installed, not the portable build.
I don't consider myself a Firefox expert, but I've been using it for years and have learned a few things along the way from guys like "The Rube", so at this point I think it's necessary to clear things up for those that are less experienced with Firefox.
I repeat. I use a method introduced here, almost 4 years ago, by "the-edmeister", whereby a "portable" version of of Firefox is created by "extracting" the contents of the Firefox installer.
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=2821799
I have extracted versions of Firefox ESR, 58.0.2, and 59.0 RC 4.
By doing so (or by using a pre-made portable version of Firefox), the user can locate the contents of the the installer in a folder anywhere the user desires...in my case, a separate data partition, away from the operating system partition. I try keep the operating system light and clean, so any chance I get to use a "portable" version of anything, I do so.
I also use Macrium to create system images. The less you have installed on the OS, the less tweaks and program updates necessary to perform when restoring an image created in the past.
Another few thing that needs to be emphasized regarding this type of extracted portable scenario is that the Firefox install directories and profile directories are completely separate entities and may be placed virtually anywhere the user desires. The relationship of the browser and the profile is managed by use of the "Profile Manager" as in the following description by "The Rube"
I currently have 16 Firefox profiles, each with its' own purpose, and each suited to a particular version of Firefox.therube wrote:Use separate Profiles for different FF versions.
Add a -P switch to your desktop shortcuts to open the specific Profile associated with the specific FF version.
It seems there is another important misconception I need to point out:
The concept of the Firefox executable involuntarily and automatically updating itself was never proposed by me.
The "profile" is where all changes occur. No user action in the portable scenario could alter the install directory. It is the profile (in this type of situation it is always the one that was previously in use) that is being altered when the browser is launched by the external forces I originally mentioned. When this happens, Help>About Firefox in the launched browser will show Quantum stable as the version being used.
However, when the browser is closed, and the same profile is opened directly by the Firefox ESR shortcut with the -p switch (a.k.a. the profile manager), the browser appearance is clearly different and it is apparent it is Firefox ESR, which is confirmed again by checking Help>About Firefox.
It does happen, and not only to me. Like I said, you need to go back and re-read this thread. Not only my posts, but also posts by others far more knowledgeable than me.Brummelchen wrote:so you are recommend to tell more/all about your system but as i stated that never could happen from alone - never!
Since you don't use ESR, how can you come to that conclusion. Checking "Never check for updates" is standard operating procedure for me. No exceptions.Brummelchen wrote:firefox wont update from alone if you uncheck the proper update option:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ad ... ox-updates
Well, that's why I'm here, and the basis to my search for a solution.therube wrote:Your default browser is your default browser.if the browser is closed, windows/firefox remembers the last method used to open the browser
Windows knows what your default browser is.
If some action occurs that causes your browser to open, it will open your default browser.
That had no effecttherube wrote:Close all browsers, drop to a command prompt & type in:Whatever opens is your default browser.Code: Select all
C:/> START http://www.google.com
IMO, this is not about the "default" browser in the classic sense. Yes, the "default" browser, Firefox, is being opened (not Edge, IE, etc.), but not Firefox ESR, if that happens to be the "default" version.therube wrote:FF (by default) remembers your last opened Profile.
Say your default browser is FF 58, your last opened Profile was with FF 52 & its associated Profile, 52_Profile, & you have since closed all browsers.
But none of this applies with a portable Firefox and the use of the profile manager. The "default" browser should be the last version used. That's how it's always been in the past. However, with ESR, that clearly not the case. We've seen this type of behavior in the past, where Mozilla gets overzealous about version updates (not that I'm stating that's what happenin' now...jussst sayin' )
The tweaks you gave me helped a lot.
The worst possible scenario when it happens is that you have to restore a backup profile and update the addons. In reality, in my setup, this is no more than an annoyance, but often an inconvenient time wasting one that invariably happens when I'm in a hurry.
I'm grateful to find some answers, but I'd still like to know if it's possible to reverse whatever change occurred in the profile.