Firefox users all over the world have been struggling with a strange problem – all of sudden Firefox browser has disabled all the installed active add-ons. You cannot enable them – only options displayed are remove or find a replacement. You cannot even install new extensions from the Mozilla’s add-on repository.
Mozilla is aware of this problem and has provided a temporary relief or workaround for this fiasco. In order to use this temporary relief you have to follow these simple steps:
- Launch Firefox browser, type about:preferences#privacy in the address bar and press Enter.
- Find the section Firefox Data Collection and Use.
- Place checkmark in all the options under this section specially the first two – Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla, and Allow Firefox to install and run studies.
- That’s it. Now all you have to do is wait. In next one or two hours, Mozilla will automatically download some studies to be run in your Firefox browser. You can verify by visiting about:studies in Firefox. You should be able to see the hotfix update 1548973. Once this study is installed, all the installed add-ons will be auto-enabled and you can continue using Firefox as usual. You may have to close and re-launch Firefox browser.
- After add-ons have become enabled again, you may disable the Studies option (step 3 above) if you want.
This workaround is not for long term use and some users may not want to enable data collection options of Mozilla Firefox. But you can disable these studies options once the add-ons have become enabled. According to Mozilla, the problem exists on their end and they will fix this problem soon. This hotfix is meant for the Firefox browser for the Desktop computers and supports Firefox release, beta and nightly channels.
For more information about this hotfix, you can read Mozilla blog at https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/.
You’d think that the developers would have discovered this during regression testing. I don’t think this was a bug at all; it smells more like an intentional ‘security’ measure gone berserk. I won’t allow any software to dictate its behavior in this manner and will now join the mass exodus bidding farewell to Firefox. Enough is enough.
You are right. In the midst of very tough competition from Chrome, mistakes like this will definitely cost Firefox dearly.
Last time this happens to me w/ Firefox. It’s happened before because the developers ARE STUPID PROGRAMMERS who don;t know how the real world works
SWITCHING TO CHROME
They have ALSO disabled their community support sign-ins to avoid more blowback for their IDIOTIC WORK HABITS
*UCK you programmers