Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

security update failed

  • 1 reply
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

olivasayana
olivasayana
more options

periodically, i get this message in a popup window. since i never see a lock icon when entering personal data, i am concerned i do not have a secure connection. i have downloaded the latest firefox twice. "something is preventing firefox from updating securely. please make sure you have the latest version of firefox from www.firefox.com"

periodically, i get this message in a popup window. since i never see a lock icon when entering personal data, i am concerned i do not have a secure connection. i have downloaded the latest firefox twice. '''"something is preventing firefox from updating securely. please make sure you have the latest version of firefox from www.firefox.com"'''

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

This issue can be caused by the presence of leftover files in the Firefox program folder (defaults\pref) like a file firefox.js that overrides the update URL with a wrong link.

See my post here and do a clean reinstall and be sure to remove the Firefox program folder.

In Firefox 4 you no longer have the Status bar that showed the padlock in previous Firefox versions.
The padlock only shows that there is a secure connection and doesn't guarantee that you are connected to the right server.
So you might still be connected to the wrong server if you make a typo in the URL and someone has claimed that mistyped URL.
The functionality of the padlock has been replaced by the How do I tell if my connection to a website is secure? on the left end of the location bar.

See also:

You can use this extension to get a padlock on the location bar.