A lot of people are complaining that Firefox has become bloated with its third version and they would very well like to go back to Firefox 2. Though we, the folks at DailyGyan, do not share the same opinion, we would still like to help you by showing how to downgrade from FF3 to FF2.

Related: Ultimate guide on how to get old versions of software.

Before beginning your downgrade, we would like to warn you that the extensions you have installed in FF3 will no longer work in Firefox 2, in most cases. But go ahead, see which all are not working and be ready to reinstall the ones that are not compatible.
OK, let's start. Here is what you should do:

  1. Create a back up of your profile directory
    See this link to find where your profile directory is. Then create a copy of this directory in some convenient location. Read the link for more information.

  2. Download Firefox 2
    This can be a bit daunting. That's because the Firefox site no longer gives you a link to download Firefox 2. The site talks about nothing but Firefox 3.
    Or is it? Get Firefox 2 from http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0.0.14/win32/en-US/. Linux users, you are smart enough to guess where Linux version would be, right?

  3. Uninstall Firefox 3
    You can uninstall FF3 using the Control Panel -> Add/Remove programs or by running the [Firefox Installation Directory]\uninstall\helper.exe
    Select not to remove your profile information.
    Linux/Ubuntu users you need to run sudo apt-get purge firefox-3.0

  4. Install Firefox 2
    Though most of your addons will be rendered un-usable, you can still have your bookmarks and passwords list saved. Ensure that the old bookmarks.html and key3.db files are still in the profile directory. Rename signons3.txt to signons2.txt.
    Now, install Firefox 2, and if all went correct you will have your bookmarks and saved passwords intact in your Firefox 2. Now it's time to reinstall all addons that Firefox have marked as not-compatible.
    Ubuntu users need to run sudo apt-get install firefox-2 to install Firefox 2. For other distributions, download the tar file from the above said Mozilla Releases site and untar it to a suitable location.
Do you know any easier method to get this done? Did you find any stumbling blocks? Share with us in the comments.