Websites say that Firefox is outdated or incompatible even though it's the latest version

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  • Revision id: 21575
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  • Creator: AliceWyman
  • Comment: edit to last revision on resetting general.useragent preferences
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Some websites or add-ons require that you use a specific browser and version, and cause the following problems:

  • Websites will not work correctly or will report that your browser is outdated, unsupported, or incompatible, or will suggest that you upgrade your browser.
  • You are not able to install extensions or themes from Addons.Mozilla.org because it incorrectly detects that you are using a different browser or an older Firefox version.

Websites think that Firefox is outdated when you have the latest version

Some websites incorrectly see the latest version of Firefox as version 1 instead of 10 and will think that your browser is outdated, incompatible, or not supported. We are working with websites to get them to fix this. In the meantime, you may just be able to ignore the message but you should report the problem website:

  1. At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button, go over to the Help menu (For Windows XP: click the Help menu) and select Submit Feedback....At the top of the Firefox window, click the Help menu and select Submit Feedback....On the menu bar, click the Help menu and select Submit Feedback.... The Submit Your Feedback page will load in a new tab.
  2. Click on "Firefox Made Me Sad".
  3. On the Firefox Made Me Sad page that comes up, briefly describe the problem with the website, check the box, and enter the URL.
  4. Click the Submit Feedback button.

Workaround for broken websites

You may be able to restore functionality by temporarily disguising Firefox as another browser. To do that, you can install the User Agent Switcher extension:

  1. Go to the User Agent Switcher add-on page.
  2. Click the green Add to Firefox button and install the add-on.
  3. Click Restart Now.

When Firefox restarts, you can disguise your Firefox user agent so that websites think you are using Firefox 9.0.1, as follows:

  1. For Windows 7 and Vista, press the Alt key to bring up the old-style menu bar at the top of the Firefox window.
  2. Go to the Tools menu, down to Default User Agent and then select Edit User Agents....
    user agent switcher
  3. In the User Agent Switcher options window, click New and select New User Agent...
  4. In the User Agent window, add a description (for example, Firefox 9), change the last number of the user agent from 10.0 to 9.0.1 and then click OK.
    user agent switcher 3
  5. Next, go back to the Tools menu, down to Default User Agent and this time select the new user agent that you just created.
    user agent switcher 4
  6. Finally, reload the page and it should work normally.
Note: User Agent Switcher will automatically restore the Default User Agent when you next close and restart Firefox. You will need to reselect the new Firefox 9 user agent, each time you restart Firefox and visit the problematic website.

Other causes

Note: Some websites or add-ons may be legitimately incompatible with your version of Firefox.

If the website or add-on is compatible with your installed version of Firefox, the cause of the problem may be in your Firefox "User Agent" string, that identifies your browser type to websites.

This problem can occur after installing the Megaupload Toolbar extension or Creative ZENCast plugin and then updating Firefox. You can remedy this problem by resetting your user agent in your Firefox preference settings.

To reset your user agent:

  1. Type about:config in the address bar and press EnterReturn.
    A warning page may appear. Click Accept the Risk and Continue to go to the about:config page.
  2. Search for useragent by typing it into the Filter field.
  3. Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on each of these preferences, if they exist, and select Reset from the context menu.
  • general.useragent.extra.firefox
  • general.useragent.extra.productName - where productName can be the name of some third party software (e.g. microsoftdotnet).
  • general.useragent.locale
  • general.useragent.override
  • general.useragent.security

reset_ua1.png

After resetting your user agent, you may need to clear you cookies and cache:

  1. Click the menu button Fx89menuButton to open the menu panel.
  2. Click History and select Clear Recent History…
  3. In the Time Range to clear: drop-down, select Everything.
  4. Below the drop-down menu, select both Cookies and Cache. Make sure other items you want to keep are not selected.
  5. Click OKClear Now.

If resetting the above preferences does not work, see: