torbrowser 5.5.4 updates itself without permission

version : torbrowser-install-5.5.4_en-US.exe md5=b9526c169b5b80ac18b97aafd32404d4

I set radiobutton Tools - Options - Advanced - Update - Never check for updates (not recommended: security risk).

But browser in few minutes inform me that new update downloaded and applies it next start. I have temporary set read-only attribute on "I:\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Browser\Caches\firefox", but I don't want to do such things.

Trac:
Username: Ilya_SpongeBob

added component::applications/tor browser owner::tbb-team priority::medium reporter::Ilya_SpongeBob resolution::wontfix severity::normal status::closed type::defect ui? labels

How to block updates downloads and checking ? If I disconnect LAN cable Tor Browser doesn't start.

What other activities of doubtful necessity Browser does? How to turn off them?

I pay much money for every byte, so please turn off all not necessary activities in next release.

Trac:
Username: Ilya_SpongeBob

Trac:
Component: - Select a component to Applications/Tor Browser
Keywords: N/A deleted, ui? added
Priority: Very High to Medium
Severity: Critical to Normal
Owner: N/A to tbb-team

I don't know what that UI is supposed to do in Tor Browser, but there's a way to accomplish this by directly changing some preference(s).

If you think you know what you're doing, read the release announcement for Tor Browser 5.0.

I've read release announcement "Tor Browser 5.0 is released" https://blog.torproject.org/category/tags/tbb?page=3 . According it I installed clean browser from box ( https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/5.5.4/torbrowser-install-5.5.4_en-US.exe ) , started, opened about:config page and changed app.update.auto = false. But update was downloaded and successfully applied next start. Useless advice.

Trac:
Username: Ilya_SpongeBob

Setting app.update.enabled = false will disable update checks and prevent future downloads (and choosing the "Never Check for Updates" radio button will also set that pref to false). But, unfortunately, if Tor Browser has already started to download an update when you switch that pref to false, the download will not be stopped.

As far as I know, Firefox (and therefore Tor Browser) does not provide a way to stop an update that has already started. A workaround would be to exit the browser, find the UpdatesInfo directory, and remove the active-update.xml file as well as the updates directory.

The best way to avoid this situation is to install the current stable version of Tor Browser (which will not need to update itself) and then set app.update.enabled = false. Note that generally it is not safe to use an old version of Tor Browser since nearly all of our releases include important security fixes.

When I don't start browser after instalation and create file "I:\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Browser\profile.default\prefs.js" manually and writedown line

user_pref("app.update.auto", false);

it looks like updates are not downloaded anymore, but annoying nag appears every 5 minutes, that update is available.

In 'Tools - Options - Advanced - Update' I see "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to install them" radiobutton switched on.

Trac:
Username: Ilya_SpongeBob

Replying to Ilya_SpongeBob:

... it looks like updates are not downloaded anymore, but annoying nag appears every 5 minutes, that update is available.

Setting app.update.auto to false does not disable the checks.
You need to set app.update.enabled to false.

...

Experts suggested in addition to add to "I:\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Browser\profile.default\prefs.js"

user_pref("app.update.enabled", false);

and in file "..\Browser\defaults\pref\channel-prefs.js" pref("app.update.channel", "release"); to replace by pref("app.update.channel", "no");

As I can see app.update.enabled disables nag.

Trac:
Username: Ilya_SpongeBob

Seems you find a workaround? Good. I don't think we plan working on this.

Trac:
Resolution: N/A to wontfix
Status: new to closed

closed

moved to tpo/applications/tor-browser#19014 (closed)