Firefox question
 

I usually use Firefox. Recently, it downloaded a security update, and I allowed it to install. Now, Firefox refuses to recognise my DNS or other numerical information and thus access the internet.

Mozilla and IE still work fine.

I forgot to make a go back point so that isn't an option.

Anyone know how to make Firefox behave again? Or do I have to go the hard route and find a copy of the older version and install that?

Brian

Try to remove the firefox preferences / settings folder. Not sure where it resides on Windows or Mac. Probably a better idea is to make a copy of it before deleting so you don't lose all your bookmarks and stuff.

Didn't work but it did require me to reinstall Firefox, which ALSO didn't work. I guess I have to migrate to Linux a little early...I bet Firefox works THERE!

Brian

Strange. Usually if the pref folder is gone it automagically makes a new one. At least it does in Linux, but being Firefox is cross platform the behavior really shouldn't be any different.

It could be Windows Firewall blocking Firefox? Maybe check your settings!

Sorry, Windows firewall was deactivated immediately upon purchase of the computer.

I'm SO ready for Linux!

I, for one, would be willing to answer any questions about Linux you may have. I don't know everything but there are plenty of support forums around too. Linux has come a long way. It's not perfect but way farther along than when I started playing with it in 1998.

Re-installing Firefox doesn't work unless you uninstall the prior version then mop up with cCleaner (google it)first.

Firefox leaves a lot of residual that a re-install won't touch. That is actually by design although it does confuse everybody.

Forget Firefox.

No.

yeah, 'fraid not... been using firefox for a few years now, not changing anytime soon.. and the thing that cracks me up is that the new explorer (7) looks soooo much like firefox that.. well.. hee hee.. I suppose imitation is the most sincere form of flattery..

oh, and the weather add-on... drool drool (now I don't have to drive the g/f nuts with having the weather channel on all the damn time in the background, so I thank firefox and the mozilla corporation for saving my relationship!)

I am interested in switching to FireFox. My fear is that it is going to not be compatable with XP or some of my other programs. Is this unfounded? What programs, specifically, will not work with FF? What are the limitations of using it over IE?

Firefox is compatible with just about everything these days. It used to be that 10% of websites would trip it up, and then 5%; these days it's less than 1%. So it has outgrown its reputation.

Firefox limitations over IE:
- It takes some people 1 second longer to load.

IE limitations over FF:
- Less secure
- Longer development cycle
- Less standard
- Less control over browsing experience
- Tight integration to a single company that does not have your best interests as top priority
- Won't run on Mac, Linux
- Fewer extensions
- No download management
- No spell-check built-in
- No Caret navigation

IE has a pretty full featured MAC/Apple browser. But its still IE and five steps behind FF.

I thought the Mac version stopped at IE5.

It did. It's full-featured for about 1998 and several browsers --- most notably Firefox, Safari and Camino --- have leapfrogged it.

Some pages do not render as you would expect under FF compared to IE, thanks to IE's broken HTML and CSS rendering. (developers had to code around these bugs)

More fun: they might still render "correctly" under IE6, but the bugs were fixed in IE7, forcing developers to correct their code. My company actively blocks IE7 because of this and still has plenty of catching up to do.

The problem seems to have solved itself. Else some update since has fixed the problem on their end. I haven't done anything since the reinstall.

I hate when this happens.

OK. I figured out the problem. It wasn't Firefox at all, but Zone Alarm.

It seems there is a bug in version 3 that corrupted the database. When I checked WHICH Firefox was permitted to run, it was v 1.8.x.x

The new version doesn't come up at all. Trying to delete the .RDB files was impossible so I uninstalled and reinstalled the firewall. I found the references I needed to track the problem down at the Mozilla website. Helpful place, that. I must visit there more often!

I think I mentioned in another thread that up until a year (or less) ago Amazon did not like Firefox at all, with me having to hit the reload button multiple times to get a page to load (and yes I did wait more than a few seconds).

Im very happy with it, and now that the laptop has Linux, I can have the same browser on both.