Firefox's updates are not uninstalling previous Firefox's...

[Metallica_Band]

Hey tehre...OK...so I got me some new ATI drivers that I need to install...so I go to Add/Remove Progz and I see that there are multiple Firefox's...I see Firefox 1.0, 1.01, and 1.02...is it alright to uninstall the two older ones??? wtf is going on here??? Check your Add/Remove to see if you got it too...
THANX
C'YA

 

[Terpfen]

When installing a new version of Firefox, you're supposed to remove the older version first. This is a known screwup with Firefox's installer, but the Mozilla guys aren't too worried about fixing it yet. Either way, installing over your current version of Firefox is a bad thing(TM) right now.

Remove all 3, reinstall 1.0.2, and you'll be set. You won't lose your settings, since those aren't removed by the uninstaller.

 

[Stellar]

It's called an overlay install and it's perfectly safe. I've updated 3 of my daily use machines between home and work from 0.9-1.0-1.0.1-1.0.2 and I haven't had a single issue with any of them, including the extensions I use (Ad-Block, Forecast Firefox, Disable Targets for Downloads) and the theme I use (Gnome FX-blue).

In fact if you try to uninstall the previous version and then the current version you'll see that the previous version is no longer registered because the files have been overwritten with new versions.

The only "problem" with this method is the erroneous Add/Remove program entry that is leftover in the Control Panel and that is because of the way Windows XP registers programs there.

 

[Metallica_Band]

Ok...thanx..just checking...

 

[Terpfen]

It's called an overlay install and it's perfectly safe.

Not quite. Overwriting a previous install is thought to be the primary cause of profile corruption, plus a few other annoying bugs. Chances are it won't hurt anything, but since it takes literally a few seconds to uninstall your old version, there's really no excuse not to.

 

[mosin]

Not quite. Overwriting a previous install is thought to be the primary cause of profile corruption, plus a few other annoying bugs. Chances are it won't hurt anything, but since it takes literally a few seconds to uninstall your old version, there's really no excuse not to.

I agree. I have been known to overwrite old versions, but once my profile was screwed up, so I stopped that practice. Aside from the profile issues, I have seen some other operational issues as well. These were corrected by overwriting the install again, but I have come to believe that this is an undesirable practice. Uninstall first.