Cannot disable auto update

[hhoyt2]

I am currently battling problems with 52.1.1 and as a result am running 45.8.0, the last release stable here. I have disabled auto updates in Tools>Options>Update, but Thunderbird still auto-updates every day.

In the 'About Thunderbird' splash screen it says "You are currently on the release channel." Doers this mean despite the setting in Options it will auto update, and if so how do I disable this?

Thank you, it is getting tiresome re-installing every morning.

Howard Hoyt

[WaltS48]

I think you will Auto Update if you use Help > About Thunderbird to check the version.

You should use Help > Troubleshooting Information for that.

[hhoyt2]

Thanks for the comment Walt,
Unfortunately the update occurs before I check the version..I get operational problems, which is why I end up checking the version...which has inevitably been updated without my intervention.

[L.A.R. Grizzly]

Thanks for the comment Walt,
Unfortunately the update occurs before I check the version..I get operational problems, which is why I end up checking the version...which has inevitably been updated without my intervention.

Uninstall the Mozilla Maintenance Service in Windows and delete:

maintenanceservice.exe

maintenanceservice_installer.exe

from the TB program directory.

[hhoyt2]

Thanks for sharing the knowledge, all!

[hhoyt2]

Well, deleting those maintenanceserver files did not stop the auto-updating, and 52.1.1 is still buggy here. It takes up to a minute or more to load a relatively small list-serve email digest. 45.8.0 does it in under a second.

Any other ideas from the group brain to keep TB from auto-updating?

Thank you for any and all ideas!

[hhoyt2]

OK, hold up a bit, I had not uninstalled the maintenanceservice after installing 45.8.0. I just did that and I'll check back if it didn't work.

[hhoyt2]

OK, with all vestiges of TB and TB maintenanceserver deleted and uninstalled from Program Manager, I reinstalled 45.8.0 yesterday. When I turned the PC on today, 52.1.1 was reinstalled in its place as well as the maintenanceserver.

I keep on thinking it has something to do with the stated "You are on the release channel" in Help>About, which I checked this AM, but did not yesterday.

Any new ideas on how to stay at 45.8.0? Help!

[hhoyt2]

OK, here's a good one: I uninstalled 52.1.1, deleted the maintenanceserver files, installed 45.8.0, and when I booted TB it took a bit longer to come up than normal...and when it did, 52.1.1 had been installed. HELP! This new release is s l o w on this machine!

[wsmwk]

AIUI the maintenance service only provides for silent update, and so removing it does not prevent updates.

> This new release is s l o w on this machine!

As for your slowness reported here and in http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=3029044 ....

We don't have verified bugs reports about slowness in version 52, with 1/3 of the users updated. So I'd say there is like only one reason for you to see slowness, and that is something in your environment.

[L.A.R. Grizzly]

OK, here's a good one: I uninstalled 52.1.1, deleted the maintenanceserver files, installed 45.8.0, and when I booted TB it took a bit longer to come up than normal...and when it did, 52.1.1 had been installed. HELP! This new release is s l o w on this machine!

When you uninstall 52.1.1, make sure you delete the cache folder in AppData/Local. This is where pending updates reside. Maybe a pending update is waiting and installs when you install the older version.

[hhoyt2]

The environment is unchanged between the installs of the 45.8.0 TB and the 52.1.1 TB. The slowness to load emails is due to some difference between the two releases interacting with a pretty bare-bones Win7 SP1 Ultimate with Kaspersky r17.0.611e AV. The machine is an i7 3960X 3.3GHz CPU w/32GB RAM and the boot drive is a PCI-e SSD so it is not a slow PC. If there is any other info you need to help diagnose TB 52.1.1 I'd be glad to provide it.

If we cannot get 52.1.1 to run properly here, how do I keep TB from updating away from 45.8.0? That is my main problem right now. Each day and sometimes multiple times during the day I have to uninstall TB 52.1.1 and reinstall 45.8.0 in order to get any performance. The situation is untenable.

I appreciate any and all suggestions.

[Bozz]

If you can't figure out what's going on with 52.1.1, when you reinstall 45.8.0 before you run it, go to your installation Programs folder>defaults>prefs folder. Open channel-prefs.js and remove Release from the pref line. That should keep TB from updating. Mine has auto-updated a couple of times in the past but after removing the update channel, it hasn't updated since. Just remember if you decide to use the TB updater you need to restore the pref before doing so. I always download the installer and unpack it to a clean folder when I update.

Looks like this after change...

pref("app.update.channel", "");

[hhoyt2]

Thanks Bozz, I'll try that.

A note on the issues with 52.1.1: when clicking on an email either in the <INBOX> or just <NEXT> it will sometimes fail to show the email contents, but instead has a portion of bitmap from the menu part of the interface in the email window. Also, it will load some emails really slow, and has locked up once when doing so.

Cheers!

[hhoyt2]

Bozz, Where is the Installation Programs folder? It looks like a Reg path? Found the .js...