Cross-Browser Testing - Turning off browser auto-updates

Cross-Browser Testing – Turning off browser auto-updates

For effective cross-browser testing, it can be useful to have a variety of different versions of different browsers on different platforms.

In general, its very awkward (or impossible) to have different versions of the same browser on the same machine. Therefore, a way around this is to have different versions of browsers on each of your test systems / virtuals.

An example setup could be:

Windows 7 – IE9, Chrome 22, Firefox 16, Safari 5
Windows 8 – IE10, Chrome 23, Firefox 15, Safari 5
Mac OSX – Safari 6, Chrome 20, Firefox 14

This gives you access to a wide range of browser versions across a wide range of platforms.

One problem that will arise is that some of the browsers will auto-update themselves, if you don’t turn that feature off. In this situation, you could easily end up with all systems having the latest version of Chrome or Firefox.

Here’s a guide to turning off browser auto-updates on Mac OSX and Windows platforms. In some cases, this isn’t really relevant (IE and Safari) but in other cases very necessary (Chrome and Firefox)

Plan A – Turning off Browser Auto-Updates

Firefox
A simple Preferences / Options change.
On Mac – Preferences/Advanced/Update – then set to ‘Never check for Updates’
On Windows – Options/Advanced/Update – same option as on Mac

Chrome
Chrome has been designed to auto-update and make it very awkward for the user to not allow this or turn it off. There are some possibilities however, which may or may not work for you, depending on your setup.
On Mac

http://support.google.com/installer/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=go&answer=147176

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20100406184528139

On Windows

http://dev.chromium.org/administrators/turning-off-auto-updates

This works via the Windows Registry – I can confirm this worked for me, on Windows 7.

Safari

Safari updates are part of Apple’s Software Updates – so you have control of when updates occur.

Internet Explorer (IE)

IE tends to be tied to a certain platform (IE10 on Windows 8, IE9 on Windows 7, IE8 on Windows XP etc) and even when new versions are released, its usually under the user’s control whether to update or not.

Plan B – Install an old version of the Browser

The alternative to turning off updates is to just delete the browser which has been auto-updated and install the old version again.

The site oldapps.com is excellent for finding old versions of browsers and other software. For Windows users, the URL is www.oldapps.com and for Mac users, the URL is mac.oldapps.com
This site will come in very handy in tracking down particular versions of browsers and other software, when testing compatibility or trying to reproduce reported problems and issues with a particular browser version.

Pat has been absolutely incredible at testing each of our projects he works on. He’s very professional, organised and diligent. I look forward to using him again in the future.

Oliver Thurtle, Director of Technology, Drum

Pat came to Composed to respond to our (increasingly urgent) need of QA on mobile and web and I can testify he more than fulfilled the task. On the Android side, his very structured approach (first exploratory testing, then focus on defining test plans for a variety of scopes) and his clear knowledge of the latest mobile technologies have quickly paid off. He was involved directly with the developers (including myself) and this very dynamic relationship enabled us to annihilate bugs swiftly and efficiently.

David Ferrand, Android Developer, Composed

Pat Walsh fixed my site within hours of my contacting him – his WordPress website fix service clearly works!

Douglas Green, Douglas Software

Pat Walsh provided Kingston Valdes with a professional and personable service that was excellent value. The site was built and tested quickly, we are delighted with the results, and we have already had positive feedback from some of our clients. If you’re thinking of building a new site or adapting an existing one, I’d certainly recommend speaking with Pat about it.

Kathy Valdes, Kingston Valdes

Couldn’t recommend Pat highly enough. He goes beyond what you’d expect of a QA tester, commenting more broadly on user experience and even design. He’s quick, efficient and thorough – couldn’t ask for any more.

Rob Calvert, Director, Click

Pat performs comprehensive website testing for us, across all the main browsers and platforms, including mobile devices. His flexible approach to testing and clear feedback enable us to have confidence that the business end of our website is still working smoothly after system updates and changes.

Steve Liu, Manager, Wicked Lasers

Pat is an excellent one-stop-shop for testing Apps and Websites. He is a self-starter who just knows what needs to be done and gets on with it, and is responsive to requests for any specific testing requirements. He provides test plans and reports as a matter of course and was a pleasure to work with. I will definitely be working with Pat again if the opportunity arises.

Andrew Birley, PM, Storythings

We’ve worked with Pat Walsh on a number of very different projects, from interactive video projects to mobile apps. His work is very thorough and has quickly become an essential and important phase of all the production work we do at Storythings. He’s thorough, diligent, and a pleasure to work with.

Matt Locke, Director, Storythings

We hired Pat to help with QA of a music streaming app. We needed someone with that magic “6th sense” of where the bugs are lurking; the ones which developers tend to miss. Pat more than fulfilled this need, with highly methodical approach and a great eye for detail.

Subsequently Pat has provided QA services for a personal app project of mine, finding a significant issue which had been lurking for some time.

Pat is a real asset to any team – highly competent technically but also easy going and a great guy to work with. Highly recommended!

Andrew Ebling, Head of App Development, Composed

Cross-Browser Testing – Turning off browser auto-updates