Hi Busby, what kind of files are opening automatically now that didn't used to, and what operating system are you running?

Here's a guess:

Firefox 26 enabled native playback for MP3s on Windows XP for the first time. If that matches your system and problem file type, see this post for how to switch it off: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/que.../980491#answer-512221.

Hi jscher2000, thanks for the reply.

Your almost there:

Your right in that the files are .mp3, but I'm actually running Windows 7, but I tried your suggestion anyway. Sadly it makes no difference because the files still play in the native HTML5 player.

This has only happened since Firefox upgraded this morning, and it happens on 2 seperate computers.

I really hope this can be resolved.

Hi Busby, on Windows 7, it's a different preference. See: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/que.../980763#answer-512970.

Many thanks again..

Its still playing in my browser but now its a different plain white player..

Hi Busby, could you right-click the player and see whether the context menu refers to a particular plugin (e.g., Flash, QuickTime, etc.)?

It says 'about Quicktime player'

Sorry to put you to this trouble..

Hi Busby, I haven't looked at it for a while, but the stand-alone QuickTime player (you start it from outside Firefox, either from a desktop icon or the Start menu) had an extensive preferences dialog indicating which media it would play. You might be able to change the settings so QuickTime doesn't play whatever kind of media it's playing.

If you don't need QuickTime, you also could try disabling it on Firefox's Add-ons page. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. Then try settings QuickTime to "Never Activate".

OK, that seems to have worked on the computer running Windows 7, and I have also installed the downloads window extension which [almost] takes me back to where I was before the update.

The other computer was actually a server running Windows 2003 server and on that one I have installed the downloads window extension and switched media.directshow.enabled, so again, I'm [almost] back to where I was before.

Many thanks for your help!

Why it's always the same story with every application, program, game I use?

The developers of those change something and I don't like the new, I like the old, they keep the thing I've loved and what made me start using/playing the app/game in first place, and then all of a sudden THEY REMOVE the CORE function the program/game had from it's beggining.

I'm tired of this, i'm tired of tecnology getting "false" improvements, why is this new DOWNLOAD manager better than the old one? I've always used the old one and never had any problems, I don't think you shouldn't try to improve your software, but I just think you should respect someone who has been using it for so long and love the way it was from the beggining, so YES, i'm disappointed at you Mozilla...

This is ridiculous!

Hi Tribes11, starting in Firefox 20, the downloads list moved to an icon on the toolbar which contained an integrated (tiny) progress bar and provided direct access to your active and recent downloads without a pop-up window. The interface designers do not seem to like pop-up windows.

To get a similar pop-up dialog back, try this extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/downloads-window/

Thanks for the link, it solves the problem partially, after all it's an addon, and it consumes more memory than pure experience, I would rather have the support natively, but I think that should do.

However I'm still mad at Mozilla, this isn't right with old customers, lack of respect.

"The interface designers do not seem to like pop-up windows. "

There are things not to like about pop-up windows. But not all popups are equally problematic. To call the download window a "popup" is like calling a dialog box or an error message a popup: these are all integral parts of the application. Downloading is one of the most important things a browser does. Giving you access to a list of dl's, and fast easy access to where they are located -- which is especialy important if they are not all being dumped into the same folder, which is likely for more experienced users -- is of supreme importance. Having that window open -- not "popup," but open, as expected -- upon completion, and being able to have it be a relatively small and resizeable window, is a good thing.

The way it works now is, the so-called "popup" download window has in fact been replaced by cutesy flying arrow icons -- that indeed DO pop up in your field of vision -- and that require a precise positioning mouse to open a window that is probably (due to other functions the same window serves) much larger than it needs to be..

The only way this can be justified is in reference to some design principle, eg, no "popups," that is being followed without respect to context and how the window is actually used. It's formulaic design, and speaks to a design team that lacks confidence in their own judgement, but with an attitude that they know better than actual users.

Better than folding the DL window into the Library would have been to expose the right-click options and position them under the size/location/date line for each download, to make them easier to get to without a right click (and which would have shown those options to those who never even knew they were there, hiding behind a right-click.)

Would be so much better if the devs addressed some of the many minor but cumulatively significant flaws that litter the FF work space, rather than looking for trivial "improvements" to features that are working more than well enough.

Tribes speaks like I continue to do every year. (And also has the name of a game series I grew up with!)

I've rarely ever seen anything improve for the better after a change; it's always been a negative experience because for some reason developers or publishers (or even pressure from investors) think that a big program update needs to completely overhaul the UI in order to seem 'new' or 'up to date', with the common trend nowadays being to use the phrase 'modern look'. Sorry, but making things look like a smartphone app isn't 'modernizing' the look; it's just alienating old and power users. It's for this reason alone that I still continue to use Vista over 7 when support ended for it years ago. (Instead of releasing SP3, they decided to run away from the bad rep and do some minor core improvements to the Vista kernel, overhaul the UI and release it as a brand new operating system, to rampant, ignorant fanfare.)

I stayed on Firefox 3.6 until they forced v12 on us (which I preemptively upgraded to) and spent over a week trying to get things back to how they used to be, which involved numerous addons and stylish scripts. Despite that, you could never get back old things like the addon manager (which, funnily enough, was simplistic popup window like the old download manager). Nearly every single release after that changed something, for the worse, and caused me to either remain on the version until I couldn't stand it anymore, or hunt for yet another addon or stylish script to change things back. And again, sometimes there was no resolution and I just had to deal with it.

Australis is coming (was supposed to be v25; what, lots of people didn't like it?), and that will be the true end of Firefox for me. There will be no real difference from Chrome and I wouldn't be surprised if people start referring to it as ChromeFox from then on.

As I've said earlier, switch to Palemoon. It still retains the old download manager and a bunch of legacy features or advanced options for power users. It's based on the ESR I think, but a lot more power user friendly. Once I stop being lazy and modify the exe's icon I'll be using it from then on; 64bit at that.

@DAOWAce

I wasn't aware of this Australis UI overhaul. Thanks to you I've searched further into it, and as far as I've seen, it will break my favorites the way I use them (picture included for reference) and probably the way tabs are oriented (I like them on bottom)...

So, yet again, another useless upgrade that will compromise my usability...

Thinking seriously about going back to Firefox 25.0 and risking not getting the future security updates but at least with my usability untouched.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/downloads-window/

and all others addon can't tell you a corrupt file. You can try by unplug your LAN cable.

Only v25 can tell you incomplete file.

Pale Moon is a very good solution.

But i suggest to wait until it is 100% clear that a switch to an Australis Codebase with restoring deleted customizability options from "Mozilla Chrome" is possible.

Australis is under heavy progress and it is for sure not really clear how much can be restored. But it seems at least the download manager and the add-on Bar will stay with Pale Moon.

But that does not change the fact that old toolkit ui related add-ons will still be broken in Pale Moon in the future.

But Pale Moon and Cyberfox could really be a good alternative instead of Mozillas own cheap clone of Chrome.

And if not, i recommend Seamonkey :)

To lapetite66:

You started this thread on Dec 11th with the question, Why doesn't Firefox 26.0 doesn't show my downloads anymore!!!! and you wrote, In the last version of firefox 25.0.1 still showed the download window when using downloadhelper, now in version 26.0 I no longer see the download box.

I see from your answer here in another person's thread that, back in April 2013 when Firefox 20 first came out and changed the download manager behavior, you set the preference browser.download.useToolkitUI to true in about:config to restore the old downloads window.

You never responded to any of the replies you were given, which point out that the preference you changed no longer works in Firefox 26 and Firefox manages downloads the way it's described in the article, Where to find and manage downloaded files in Firefox. If you want to change that behavior you'll need to install an add-on, such as the Downloads Window extension.

To lapetite66 and others reading this thread:

If your question or comment is why did Firefox change the download manager behavior back in Firefox 20 and then remove the workaround to restore the old behavior in Firefox 26, or if you have other comments about Firefox changes: The people who answer questions here, for the most part, are other Firefox users volunteering their time (like me), not Mozilla employees or Firefox developers. If you want to leave feedback for Firefox developers, you can go to the Firefox Help menu and select Submit Feedback... or use this link. (You'll need to be on the latest version of Firefox to submit feedback). Your feedback is collected at http://input.mozilla.org/, where a team of people read it and gather data about the most common issues.

To others reading this thread: If you hare having problems downloading files, managing downloads, or other issues, please ask a new question since this thread is for helping lapetite66. See Mozilla Support rules and guidelines: ...For support requests, do not re-use existing threads started by others, even if they are seemingly on the same subject.

Thanks AliceWyman, that extension is just the ticket. A downloads window again, that opens when it should and closes when it's done.

What annoys me about the download library feature is there is no way to open the window when a download starts.

I like a window so I can easily keep track of downloads. The tiny arrow isn't enough. I have to click it, then Show All Downloads to get the same thing the old style window did automatically.

There's now also no way to clear the list automatically. I don't need previous downloads piling up. I download everything to a single folder. I know where it'll be.

Also forcing it's use in the library is overkill. I don't need to see my History or Bookmarks when I'm downloading something. This makes the window overly cluttered.

Not that Mozilla listens to it's users any more, they also removed the very useful "Text Reflow" feature in Firefox Mobile claiming it doesn't work as they wanted. Fair enough. The solution? Just remove it entirely :-|

These preferences don't seem to do anything any more, why are they even in Firefox? -

browser.download.useToolkitUI browser.download.panel.shown browser.download.panel.firstSessionCompleted: What does this do? browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete browser.download.manager.retention: The downloads list doesn't get cleared!

AliceWyman << You'll need to be on the latest version of Firefox to submit feedback >>

Is that true? I can maybe see how that would be a good policy for getting support.

But to require being on the latest version, especially with such a rapid dev cycle, has to seriously skew their sense of how they're doing, along with the details of user satisfaction and dissatisfaction, making it difficult for users to have much impact over time on development.

If, as seems reasonable to assume, people are more motivated to leave negative than positive feedback, this "latest version for feedback" policy gives FF's developers an easy justification for dismissing criticism as just inflexible users having issues simply because things changed, and denies the devs a more broad and cumulative perspective on what users actually think.

Firefox is showing all the signs of a software product where the devs mostly use the the product in the course of development, while testing to see that the latest changes "work" at a technical level, but don't get enough enough experience actually using the stuff in the real world.