If you’re confused like us about “silent updates” and “background updates “of Firefox: are these both are same or different?Which future versions getting either or both? Here is an article for you to read to clear it.
Silent Updates for Firefox
Mozilla guy Bondy says Silent updates are a series of tasks and some of these tasks already landed in Firefox 10 like Add-ons default to compatible. Mozilla to use Maintenance Service on Windows for Firefox 12 that negates UAC prompt and installs updates silently. Firefox 13 or Firefox 14 will use the “background updates”.
Background updates and silent updates are not the same, they are different
Background update is a task that makes the Silent updates better, in fact, it’s the component of Silent updates project.
“In Firefox 12, updates will be silent, but they will still be applied at startup. Meaning when there is an update, it will take slightly longer to startup.”
“In Firefox 13 (or possibly Firefox 14), updates will be applied in the background while Firefox is running. Meaning when there is an update, it will take about the same amount of time to startup as normal”
User has control over Firefox silent Updates
The user has more control over the updates and Mozilla Maintenance service as he can configure the update options to
- Automatically install updates
- Check for updates, but let me choose where to install them
- Never check for updates
- Use a background service (here it is Mozilla Maintenance service) to install updates
More on Mozilla Maintenance service
Mozilla Maintenance service is optional, it can be installed only once by Firefox 12 and can be uninstalled from Control panel by the user. But once it is uninstalled- this background service will never be installed by Firefox via update again. This service takes less disk space and only appears in the task manager during the update. It doesn’t affect the performance of your machine and Firefox.
Read: How to Opt-out/Disable/Uninstall Mozilla Maintenance Service?
Firefox 12 installs Mozilla Maintenance service but Firefox 13 will use it
Maintenance service will be installed with Firefox 12 on the user’s machine, but users will not experience the benefits of this service until the first update after Firefox 12, that could be Firefox 13.
Source: Brianbondy blog
Would someone suggest to Firefox to put a linked-in “?” at the end of the question of whether we want to use a background service. And, then have an articulate and reasoned explanation, as above, it might save a few ???’s.
Walter