Updating Firefox

You can configure Firefox to check automatically for updates to the application, search engines, and any installed add-ons. This chapter describes how to configure Firefox for automatic updates and how to check for updates manually if desired.

Checking for updates automatically

By default, Firefox is configured to check for updates automatically.

1. When an update is available, the Software Update dialog is automatically displayed. To begin updating your software, click OK. The new versions of any selected updates are downloaded and installed.
2. When the install process is complete, you must restart Firefox. To close Firefox and re-open it, click Restart Firefox Now.
   

Checking for updates manually

You can check for updates at any time.

1. Click Help, and then click Check for Updates.
2. If updates are available, click Download & Install Now to begin the process.
   
   
   If no updates are available, click Finish to close the window.
3. When the install process is complete, you must restart Firefox. To close Firefox and re-open it, click Restart Firefox Now.
   
   
   
   After Firefox restarts, you will be running the latest version.

Configuring update options

By default, Firefox is configured to check for updates automatically. While we strongly recommend that you keep the automatic updates active since the updates of Firefox usually include important security fixes, you can still disable automatic updating if you want to.

1. On the Firefox menu bar, select Tools > Options.
2. Click the Advanced icon.
3. Click the Update tab. The auto-update options are displayed.
   
   
   
   
4. Update options:
   • Automatically check updates for updates to: Select the component types for which you want Firefox to check for updates. Firefox can check for updates for the Firefox application, any installed add-ons, and search engines.
     • To disable automatic checking for updates, deselect all three options.
   • When updates to Firefox are found: Choose how you want Firefox to manage any updates it finds.
     • Ask me what I want to do: Firefox lets you choose if you want to download and install the update. If you do not choose to do so, you can download it at a later time.
     • Automatically download and install the update: Firefox automatically downloads and installs updates. If you want to be prompted if the downloads will disable any installed add-ons, select that option.
   • To review the history of updates that have been downloaded and installed, click Show Update History.
5. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

Updating Firefox on Linux (Ubuntu)

If you're using the version of Firefox that ships with Linux, you cannot use the the update steps above. Instead, you should use Ubuntu's Update Manager which can be found under System > Administration > Update Manager. After updating, simply restart Firefox. It may take a few days for updates to Firefox from Mozilla to show up on Ubuntu's update channel.