Problems with Add-ons and Firefox 3.0 portable

I had installed a 2.x Firefox version at my usb-stick. This worked fine. Last week Firefox 3.0 was released. I installed it on my desktop pc and on my notebook. Now today I want to install it as portable version on my usb-stick.

So I download the portable-version and installed it on my usb-stick (overwrite the old one). It is ok to just overwrite the old installation with a new one – at least for a upgrade within the same version e.g. 2.0.0.13 to 2.0.0.14 – because the settings and extensions will not be overwritten. i do it before for upgrades from the 2.x version. The built in Firefox Update Manager does not work for the portable version, because it will download the standalone version via automatic download. So you better deactivate the built-in update for the Firefox core: tools > settings > advanced > update > unset the first “Firefox” box to do not automatically check or download for Firefox core updates.

The problem now I had was, after installing the new portable Mozilla Firefox version 3.0 on my usb-stick, many of my installed add-ons does not work, were deactivated or does not work with version 3.0.
Those add-ons who does not work with Firefox 3 will be deactivated automatically and this is normal, because not for this version developed add-ons can show unexpected behaviour. I try to activate them in the Add-ons menu and try to update them, but this does not work. I restart Firefox three or four times.

Because this does not work, I want to reinstall all needed add-ons working with Ffox 3. I click on deinstall (context menu in the add-ons window) and mark all problematic-add-ons to deinstall. Restart Ffox again and now all was fine. The add-ons who does not work fine before now were properly activated and worked. I deinstalled those who are incompatible with Ffox 3 (like backword or switch proxy) restart Ffox again and installed some new ones.

So if you have the same problems with installed Extensions on portable Firefox 2.x after installing new version 3.0 you can try this way!
A good add-on working with Ffox 3.0 as alternate for the old SwitchProxy is the new Multiproxy Switch (MPS). Because the extension is experimental you have to sign up to download it. But you can use BugMeNot (as add-on or online) to login and download it. On the online version you have to type in the URL (maybe: www.mozilla.com) and use one of the user/password pair to login on the page. If the login works fine, press the “yes” button (or if not the “no” button on bugmenot.com).

Have fun with this and Firefox portable for modern mobility and user friendly browsing and security.

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