Force Extensions to Work in Firefox 3 Beta

The Beta version of Firefox 3 is already out and it has a whole bunch of new and improved features for you to play with. However, as of now, most Firefox extensions have not been updated by their developers. This means you cannot take your favorite add-ons for a spin in the Beta version.

I was checking out Lifehacker and a user called Bugmenot21 has posted a way to use your old extensions in Firefox 3. Now, I’m not a fan of this method since I prefer to wait till the developers themselves release compatible versions. Still, if you’re interested, you can give this a shot. I’m not guaranteeing anything though.

• Open Firefox and type ‘about:config’ (without the quotation marks) in the address bar.
• Right-click anywhere in the window and select New > Boolean. A box named new boolean value will open. Type extensions.checkUpdateSecurity in the preference field. Click OK. Set its value to False.
• Similarly, create another new boolean value entry. This time, type extensions.checkCompatability. Like earlier, set the value to False.

That’s it. Now, all your extensions that were previously incompatible or did not secure updates should work in the Beta version. Be warned though that this is not a foolproof solution to the problem. Don’t be surprised if one or more of your extensions stats behaving strangely.

Do you know of any other ways to get extensions working in Firefox 3? Or would you prefer to wait till it becomes stable?

Update: Mozilla recently changed the way extension compatibility works in Firefox. Recent versions of the browser automatically assume that extensions are compatible provided they meet certain requirements. What this means is that it is usually no longer necessary to modify this preference or any other preference for that matter unless you try to make an old extension compatible with the browser. Note that forcing compatible won't make incompatible add-ons compatible again.

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