topic Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates in Discussions

stop firefox constantly checking for updates

DRS — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 23:43:18 GMT

Why does Firefox constantly or continuously check for updates. It freezes the program. How can you stop this. It has got out of hand. It is a good way to make you switch to other browsers.

Why should the users of the program have to sort it out and not the program developers or is because they don't care.

I am using Firefox 112.0 on Windows 11

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

Benjamin-L — Thu, 25 May 2023 09:13:57 GMT

I have the same problem, its really annoying. Working with firefox is just not possible right now.

I'm on version 113.0.2 and use win10.

I already tried a fresh installation of firefox and tried to setup some of the about:config configurations regarding update search. But no use....

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

NPD — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 02:12:17 GMT

I have the same problem. Even when I change windows or tabs it does another check for updates. Very disruptive to my workflow. Might return to Safari until it gets fixed.

Using Firefox 114.0.1 on MacOS Monterey.

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

prescott66 — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 09:04:24 GMT

i cured the auto-update issue on mine manually.....in the toolbar, hit help, then hit "about"....a small box loads....auto update box is check-marked....remove the checkmark and exit

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

prescott66 — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 09:05:42 GMT

i cured the auto-update issue on mine manually.....in the toolbar, hit help, then hit "about"....a small box loads....auto update box is check-marked....remove the check-mark and exit

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

smayya — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 10:55:16 GMT

We have seen similar problem caused by certain anti-virus software. Can you share the anti-virus software you are using?

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

J1mW — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 09:36:15 GMT

I have no "about" in the Help section?! This issue is horrendous, agree with others, workflow is impossible! Firefox 115.5 / Mac OSX 10.13.6. Surely there is a solution for this nightmare?!

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

Agentvirtuel — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:44:05 GMT

Hello

Take a look
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/forced-restart/m-p/48809/highlight/true#M17509

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

rminer57 — Sat, 17 May 2025 01:25:54 GMT

Same issue here. Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I'm running FF version 115.23.0 esr 64 bit and started having this problem in the last month or so. The browser randomly stops being able to connect to the internet (chrome works fine) and any link I try to reach will endlessly be in wait mode. All webpages on all tabs become unresponsive. Looking at the settings when it does this, I see that "checking for updates" is forever in wait mode. Closing the browser does not work because in task manager, the firefox.exe tasks remain. If I try to kill them, all but one can be stopped, thus the browser cannot be restarted. You know the error message I think. Rebooting is the only solution.

Being a retired embedded software developer myself, I have two suggestions. First, there should be a button in the settings to disable automatic updates completely. There used to be, now its gone and I only see:

Allow Firefox to
Automatically install updates (recommended)
When Firefox is not running
Check for updates but let you choose to install them

BUT NO DISABLE UPDATES. Please add it back. I don't see the checkbox prescott66 mentioned above. Obviously something is interfering with the updates task but it may be impossible for the user to resolve it so a way to disable auto updates and let us do it manually, is needed please.

My second suggestion is about the inability to kill the last firefox.exe from task manager. Mozilla offers all kinds of suggestions like disable add-ons, go into troubleshooting mode, or kill firefox in the task manager and restart it. But the problem is more basic and is with YOUR APP so asking us to find and remove some conflicting extension is not a solution nor does it work in my case. Fix your code! Talk to your developers because obviously this behavior means someone has added an endless polling loop that waits for a response message from your update server and if no message appears, it never times out and it blocks the OS scheduler from having control over the task. A very bad rookie developer mistake that requires immediate investigation and resolution. Try using a timeout, wait and retry mechanism without using a blocking task. I don't mean to be disrespectful to the FF devs or to offend, but I have to call this out because the apparent design (have not seen the code, am guessing...) appears to be problematic.

Chrome works perfectly for me but I really don't want to switch because I love the UI design of Firefox and hate Chrome's UI. But this is almost not usable. I've had to restart my PC 4 times in the last 5 hours to get firefox working again.

FYI, I have a subscription to Norton 360 running in the BG and while I agree the AV "could" block Firefox from its update server, nevertheless, FF SHOULD NEVER freeze or especially have its task be non-deletable. If I figure out how to temporarily disable Norton for a day, I'll experiment and post the results here. But since I don't know the URL or IP of the FF update server, I cannot add it to any exclusion list in Norton anyway.

Windows 7 Ultimate, x64. Intel Core i7 CPU, 4 cores at 3.33Ghz. 24 Gb memory. Memory and CPU load is very low when this occurs, under 15% usage for mem and cpu.

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

Agentvirtuel — Sat, 17 May 2025 05:13:03 GMT

Hello

Firefox release notes
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/releases
Since the release of Firefox 63 https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/63.0/releasenotes

The option to Never check for updates was removed from about:preferences. You can use the DisableAppUpdate enterprise policy as a substitute.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1509058
By way of illustration https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/fonts-formatting-and-the-never-ending-updating/m-p/95117/highlight/true#M37113 i did the update to solve my problem Bug 1961710.

As far as i'm concerned my update software App is voluntarily deactivated, that's my strategy.
https://support.kaspersky.com/help/Kaspersky/Win21.20/fr-FR/127694.htm
https://support.kaspersky.com/help/Kaspersky/Win21.20/fr-FR/127466.htm
https://support.kaspersky.com/help/Kaspersky/Win21.20/en-US/127694.htm
https://support.kaspersky.com/help/Kaspersky/Win21.20/en-US/127466.htm

Update Firefox to the latest release https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-release, that's my strategy.

Re: stop firefox constantly checking for updates

StevieB — Mon, 19 May 2025 10:49:03 GMT

Actually. How about we find out why FF has so many updates to begin with, this program updates more than anything I have ever owned, and I still maintain this thing has some form of memory leak.

Lastly, why so many instances of FF open when you just fire up ONE single Google page? My worst count was seventeen, that's 17 instances of FF running at the same time.

I have posted about this before, and with detailed screenshots of the memory and CPU drain this takes.

I'm on the verge of dropping FF like a bad habit, unless they get their stuff together.