Mozilla Maintenance Service and Windows XP

[tbdkqjyjkyk]

after updating to v12 I was disappointed to discover a new thing called Mozilla Maintenance Service found its way to my computer without permission. (looks like it is the norm nowadays like AdobeFlashPlayerUpdateSvc service)
anyways, from what I understand this new service is to bypass User Account Control (UAC) a feature introduced with Windows Vista and above.
but what's the point of having it in XP ?

[LIMPET235]

Hi,
Here's the low down on it.
> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/what-mozilla-maintenance-service
As for XP?
There's a short note & Wiki link on the page.

[efox99]

after updating to v12 I was disappointed to discover a new thing called Mozilla Maintenance Service found its way to my computer without permission. (looks like it is the norm nowadays like AdobeFlashPlayerUpdateSvc service)
anyways, from what I understand this new service is to bypass User Account Control (UAC) a feature introduced with Windows Vista and above.
but what's the point of having it in XP ?

The point is so it can update to Firefox 13 automatically when it's released. It's a tiny little program, can't hurt a fly. Hell to me it's not even there.

[Omega X]

Its also set to "Manual" on Windows so that it doesn't start when Windows starts and only runs when Firefox needs it, which means it never runs unless an update is starting.

[tbdkqjyjkyk]

Hi,
Here's the low down on it.
> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/what-mozilla-maintenance-service
As for XP?
There's a short note & Wiki link on the page.

thanks for the info but still I'm not sure what is the use having it sitting there in Windows XP. (without user's consent)

I've been getting updates automatically without any problem so far (using XP and 7). surely I'm not the only one who just doesn't like it when things get installed without asking. I was hoping Mozilla would be a little nicer to their users than Adobe for example. anyway I'll just add it to CCleaner's delete list and forget about it.

[Omega X]

You agreed to let Firefox update itself automatically, that was the consent. This is a part of the update process now and will keep coming back until you disable automatic updates and do them manually.

[Gingerbread Man]

anyway I'll just add it to CCleaner's delete list and forget about it.

The article clearly states the Maintenance Service has its own entry in Control Panel Add/Remove Programs and can be uninstalled separately from Firefox.

You can also turn off the feature in Options > Advanced > Update, and set the service status to Disabled in the list of Windows services.

This is a part of the update process now and will keep coming back until you disable automatic updates and do them manually.

Then what's the point of the installer option to not install the maintenance service, or the fact that it can be uninstalled separately from Firefox?

[Night Wing]

Although I'm using Windows 7 on my two computers, I use Firefox as my backup browser on each. I didn't update to FF 12 using my normal "check for update" via Help and About Firefox because I'm no fan of silent update. This time I uninstalled Firefox 11 and downloaded Firefox 12 via the installer and did a custom install where I unchecked the Maintenance Service so it's not on either of my two computers. Then I went into Options, Advanced, Update and made sure "Never check for updates" was still checked. I don't give consent and/or trust software blindly.

When FF 13 is released on June 5th, I'll check to see if Mozilla again tries to load the Maintenance Service and if so, I'll block it again via the installer. If Mozilla doesn't have the option anymore to block it and tries to force silent update like Google Chrome does, I'll just keep using FF 12 as my backup browser.

As for the security argument, this is why I have a good antivirus program on my computer and a good firewall with HIPPS. BTW, I manually update my antivirus and firewall and I also don't let Microsoft automatically put their updates for Windows on my computers. I check first to see what MS is trying to install and then I pick and choose to what gets installed.

[Omega X]

This is a part of the update process now and will keep coming back until you disable automatic updates and do them manually.

Then what's the point of the installer option to not install the maintenance service, or the fact that it can be uninstalled separately from Firefox?

That's what I was getting at. The point is giving users the option to opt out of the maintenance service in the short term. Unchecking "Use a Background Serivce to do updates" in the Update Tab should also keep it in check for now (I forgot about that option). Most people won't even notice because it never runs unless there's an actual update in progress.

In the long term, they plan to have it maintain Firefox installations like invoking the system to do a defrag on the files to keep Firefox snappy or fixing profile corruption for example.