Override Extension Compatibility

Yesterday, I described how the new version of FireFox didn’t exactly excite me as I discovered a number of the extensions I use on a daily basis were not compatible. Although the technique is not new, Justin Ryan who left a comment within the previous article highlighted a cool extension called Nightly Tester Tools.

According to the explanation by Justin, the majority of extension incompatibilities have nothing to do with the new code. I’ve gone ahead and installed the NTT extension. Once installed, you’ll see a new option on the Add Ons window called “Override Compatibility”. This will remove the bits and pieces of code from being checked for compatibility issues. Also, once you click on the override button, you’ll be greeted with a dialogue box warning you that using incompatible plugins may cause hangs, freezes, memory leaks and crashes which makes me question whether this is a safe procedure to perform or not.

I will admit though, all of the plugins which were labeled incompatible are now working just fine. I haven’t used FireFox 3 for an extended period of time so I can’t say whether or not this is a bad technique, but I’ll be sure to let you know if things go down hill.

If you have used this plugin or the aforementioned hack, please let us know how the performance of FireFox 3 has been since the change.