A Tale of Two Firefoxes

After having to download the Maxthon 3.4.5.1000 installer & running it manually on my Win 7 x64 to upgrade (due to internal Maxthon upgrader malfunction) I decided to check the Control Panel (Programs) to check that Maxthon didn't try & sneak any anti-malware programs/toolbars that it has been known to do from time to time.

I discovered that two Firefox programs were present: 15.0 & 15.0.1!

I decided to uninstall the older version (15.0), also checking the box so that it would erase my settings. This may have been a mistake as it uninstalled both Firefoxes!

I then spent an hour reinstalling & customising Firefox.

It is the same on my notebook (Vista x86) as you can see in the thumbnail. I am about to uninstall 15.0 while keeping my profile ...

EDIT: It's a good job I kept my profile this time as it uninstalled both again!

 

It's a known bug.

 

OK thanks for the info Doc. Fx 15.01 seems to have a few bugs from what I can gather.

 

Yep, all programs have flaws ... probably because the humans that created them aren't perfect either.

 

Yes, but I sometimes have the feeling that Mozilla are rushing things a bit trying to out-compete Chrome. Firefox isn't going to disappear in a year, or even overnight, as some pundits are predicting. It will always have a huge user base.

 

For future references:

FEBE Firefox Extension<--Developer

Old Tutorial but still applies
How To Backup and Restore Your Firefox Profile Using FEBE

I have restored a Profile in minutes...

 

Thanks for the info. I will definitely have a look at FEBE. To be honest, I'd only just made a fresh install of Firefox on my desktop, so it was more of an inconvenience to reinstall, than an outright disaster, as I had only done it a couple of days earlier. Plus, I tend to use Opera (x64) on my desktop PC more than Fx these days, so it wasn't really my main browser.

 

Not clear. What uninstalled both times?
As for me, I missed 15.0, so, I went, directly to 15.0.1. Although, I find it annoying to see so many version updates of Firefox, I don't believe that there is a race to keep up with Chrome. 15.0.1 was a minor fix. As for uninstalling two versions, at once, it is an error from the developers, but the profile has, never, been affected , for me. I believe that there is a box to remove the profile, but, I have never been bothering with it.

 

On my desktop I ininstalled 15.0 from the Control Panel & for some reason checked the profile removal option. Possibly because in a fit of absent mindedness I was thinking about the clean install I had made a few days earlier. I expected 15.0 to be uninstalled & 15.0.1 to remain. On my notebook (see OP thumbnail) I did the same thing, except this time keeping my profile. When Fx 15.0 uninstalled so did 15.0.1! Luckily all I needed to do was download Fx (15.0.1 again) & my profile was intact.

There is a running joke about waiting for .0.1 Fx upgrades, usually SeaMonkey follows.

No? Then why is Firefox starting to resemble Chrome & why the (unnecessary IMO) Chrome-style six week upgrade cycle?

They always are! LOL

As I stated in my original post, I, rather stupidly, checked the 'remove profile' bit on my desktop.