Firefox issues

[SilentFyre]

Bleh. I've come to the people who I really hope can assist with this.

My computer failed last month and I had to reinstall everything, includiing firefox. After about a week and an update, it started messing up on me. Whenever I try to save any sort of file, it errors out and closes all my windows. Now I love this browser and I dont want to have to switch, but having to copy past links into internet explorer so I can save a simple image is getting old.

Any help would be fantastic.

[Xepher]

Completely uninstall firefox, then reinstall it from www.mozilla.com See if that helps.

[SilentFyre]

That is the second time I did it, and it still gives me the same issue. I uninstalled, deleted the folder from program files and then reinstalled the latest version after rebooting. I can't seem to figure this out.

[Xepher]

Do you have any extra toolbars installed? GoogleDesktop maybe? If not (or at least not that you know about) check your computer for spyware. A lot of spyware apps install themselves as browser add-ons and can cause errors like that.

[SilentFyre]

I ran AdAware on my computer and it cleaned off what I had, and I still get the error. My addons folder doesn't have anything in it, and no toolbars that shouldn't be there are on my list.

[SilentFyre]

Nevermind. I bothered a friend long enough in AIM to get him to point me to the right folder I had to delete. Something got corrupted within the user folder and the only way to fix it was deleting the folder and getting it to refresh itself.

Which another friend had told me to do, but his run command couldn't do that job. : /

[Databits]

Damn, if I had been here this weekend I coulda helped with this. But for future reference, Firefox stores it's configuration stuff in a folder within:
/Documents and Settings/user name/Application Data/Mozilla/Firefox.

Note: The Application Data folder is a system hidden folder in windows. I usually find it much simpler to unhide everything. To do this, go to (in the file menu) Tools -> Folder Options then click the View tab and select Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). Then click the Ok button and you're all set!

The problem is, like many windows apps, the firefox uninstall does not remove the information in this folder. The firefox install also doesn't seem to check for this folder to see if it exists. Thus information in it can sometimes cause problems with new installs if the configuration information within it is incorrect for that version.

[SilentFyre]

Data thats exactly what the other person told me, except just told me to delete that file. Thanks for the information on showing all the hidden files. I am going to enable it now and remember what use this all is.

I figured you would know something about it because you link firefox in your signature. I love firefox and don't ever plan on giving it up.

[Databits]

Actually, I do independant web development contracting, so I use a variety of browsers. As much as I hate doing it, I've gotta make sure things work in even Internet Explorer because there are many people out there who either don't care enough or are too lazy to download Firefox and use it instead.

Even though Firefox is probably the best browser to this date... it does have its flaws. One of them was pointed out in this thread. Another is printing. Firefox still has issues with formatting pages for printing. Oddly, many non-microsoft applications seem to have issues with printing for some reason.

What makes me sad is that Netscape is mozilla at the core as well, but has a LOT of differences. Why must people make web development so difficult? Actually, that's probably where I spend the most of my time in web development... making sure it displays correctly across all the common browsers people will most likely be using to view the page.


Anyhow... basically, what deleting that folder does is forces firefox to recreate the default config files. The down side is that you lose all your bookmarks, history, and addons in the process. I actually ran into the same issue, but I managed to preserve my bookmarks at the very least. Addon's are just a process of remembering which ones you had and getting the updated versions. Although I can't say I like getting the Java plugin, that's usually the worst one out of them all.

[Xepher]

Ah... why I love linux. Delete everything in the config for firefox? "rm -r .firefox"

Need to reinstall from scratch? "emerge firefox"

Need sun's java runtime installed? "emerge sun-jre"

[SilentFyre]

Haha Xepher makes it seem so easy.

Yes, they all do have their differences. One of the main problems I have with internet explorer is that it doesn't block popups for nothing. Also, I get my happy and easy tabbed browing by just middle clicking a link in firefox.

Generally when I print something, which is almost never these days, I save it to my computer before printing it out. I don't have the money to afford to print whole web pages. It would absolutely kill my ink supply.

I used to check to make sure my site worked in all browsers, but I stopped after a while. I'm going to have to do a recheck soon to see if it works at 800x600, 1024x768 and in ie at the very least. Ah my laziness shall never know its bounds.

[Databits]

Except I play with Debian core, so it's more of "apt-get" for me.

Sadly, even as nice as Linux is getting, it still isn't friendly enough for the average consumer and will never make it as a good gaming platform till things get a little more streamlined. One of the greatest strengths, and arguably, weaknesses of Linux is its variety.

Sorry to say, but I'd agree with the larger gaming companies who just don't even bother writing things for Linux. Simply because I wouldn't want to maintiain multiple releases of something due to suddle differences in the multiple flavors of Linux that are being used. It's just not worth it from a business standpoint. Let them continue to run on their emulators and be happy for all I care.

[Xepher]

Believe me, I know linux isn't cut out for a mainstream desktop. That's one of the things I like about it. If they dumbed it down enough for joe-user, it wouldn't be what I liked anymore. Same way I'm glad that science fiction is a sort of outcast genre. The average would-be writer has very little chance of making it in mainstream fiction. But I actually know people who get published in sci-fi magazines.

Actually, I found it quite amusing senior year of college. I had a prof for creative writing, and for about a week or so, he gave talks about how to get started as a writer, how the industry works, etc. Basically the whole thing was "don't get your hopes up, it's almost impossible to break-in to teh industry." One of my favorite things was how he was explaining how "No publisher of any fiction periodical pays by the word anymore" and how that concept was obsoleted 20 years ago, etc. I tried to point out that every single magazine I'd want to get published in still paid by the word. He basically told me I was mistaken. I told him the highest-paying publisher in science fiction (scifiction.com) still pays by the word and he pretty much told me that wasn't a real publication, nevermind the fact that they publish new material from some of the most famous sci-fi authors around. So I pointed out that Analog, Asimov's, and F&SF pay by word too. He said he hadn't heard of those, and so therefore they must be some sort of fan-fiction magazines, because no real publication paid by the word anymore. "Issac Asimov's magazine is a cheap fan publicaiton?" I asked, shocked. "Oh, that Asimov? He has a magazine?"

It kinda irked me at the time, but as I said before, I realize I'm glad. Having hopes of publishing a science fiction book are actually reasonable. It's still a small community, and it's still in run by people that actually LIKE writing!