PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => Windows PCs & Software: Help, News & Discussion => Topic started by: thegallery on December 04, 2009, 16:08
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I don't regularly use firefox, but that's for three reasons.
1. Every time I fire it up, for years, through multiple versions, I get: "The update could not be installed. Please make sure there are no other copies of Firefox running on your computer, and then restart Firefox to try again." I have various plugins, some of which are active, some aren't. I have no idea what the problem is. When I first saw it, maybe two years ago, Firefox wouldn't start at all. Now it always starts, but not without that message first.
2. Downloading programs. I'm soo lazy that over the next I've never looked into this. But every time I download it puts my file into a download manager of some kind. I hate that. I just want it to save to my desktop or other location I pick, not automatically sit in some folder. Plus when I do go to download that folder is full of 80 other things I downloaded before. How do I just change everything to download to my choice of location the same way IE does? I.E. Save As ????
3. The number one reason I use I.E. is because of a instant search functionality called Searchy which is configurable at this site: http://searchy.protecus.de/en/ For I.E. users this is amazing,and you can quickly create custom search strings to any site you want. For example, from the address bar, if I want to look up "amazing" in the dictionary I just type "dic amazing". The search string is customizable. I'm sure Firefox has an extention that will do this but I want to make sure it's done from the address bar (not the search bar), and that the search string is customizable. I have so many I've used for many years in IE that I'd want to configure firefox the same way.
So it's these three issues that really stop me from using Firefox the most. Other than that it's clean and great for web development with all it's extra tools, but until I resolve these three issues I'm sticking with IE.
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2) Go to tools > options > main. Set drive and folder there or, which you seem to prefer, 'always ask'.
1) Uninstall Firefox, then go to C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Mozilla, and delete everything in that folder, then re-install FF, that should unclog things for you.
3) There may be an addon you can get to do this, if you can resolve 1 & 2 to your satisfaction.
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There are other good browsers.
Why not give Google chrome (http://www.google.co.uk/chrome) a try?
It auto updates to the latest version without you even noticing, has loads of innovative features and is a very quick browser.
I haven't looked back :thumbs: ;D
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He's behind you... ;D
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He's behind you... ;D
But far from in-front ;)
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;D
Oh no he isn't...
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Now I know why Rik has 8000 posts! ;D
Wizard! Guess what, the first two worked like a charm. Ah the download thing was so simple...!!!!! and the 3rd, well for some reason all my IE searchys from that website are automatically working in firefox? !! :thumbs:
Plus, you can right click on any search dialog box on any page and say "add a keyword for this search"
Chrome looks slick and I have it. I wonder if it can have the same search functionality? Also, I use Roboform, which works great with Firefox and IE, but I don't think ti works with Chrome.
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Phew. ;D
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Chrome looks slick and I have it. I wonder if it can have the same search functionality? Also, I use Roboform, which works great with Firefox and IE, but I don't think ti works with Chrome.
Chrome would probably have a better search functionality
Here you go... http://www.roboformchrome.com/ (http://www.roboformchrome.com/)
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thanks all. chrome still has limitations, but my immediate problem is I can't import my IE bookmarks to firefox. I've tired importing from IE and importing the html file, but nothing happens at all, no message, no bookmarks; nothing.
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Didn't FF ask if you wanted to import during installation?
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It certainly should have. I assume you've tried, in Firefox, File > Import, then select Internet Explorer? You should then get another dialogue box with the options as to what to import. If you import Favourites, they will appear in the Firefox Bookmarks list as 'From Internet Explorer', but you can move them out of that folder, into the main list, if you want to.
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sorry for the delayed response. Nothing was showing only because I had 10 years of book marks and it was slowly loading them all with no indicator. Long story short I ended up importing them like 5 times!
I'm now able to switch to FF as it is pretty much running with all the features I needed (roboform, instant custom address bar search, etc..), but there is a reason I haven't made the full jump that I can't remember at the moment? It could be just the organization of the links bar which just imported alphabetically rather than the order which I use. But there was something else.... anyway I'll use it exclusively for a bit and see what I notice.
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Windows Updates? If you install them manually, you'd probably still need IE for that. No harm in having Firefox as your default browser, and just use IE if needed. If there's anything you want to know about Firefox, just ask. :)
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OK, found my first problem:
Opening up a new tab: In IE I always open up a new tab to my default homepage. It's kind of like my dashboard where I go to the various sites I want. think of it as a glorified links bar. But when I hit the new tab on Firefox it opens to a blank page. I have to then hit the 'home page" button. I can't find a setting to make it automatically open to the home page?
Next, (not FF exclusive): I would like to open say 5 separate browser windows in five locations on my dual monitor setup, all with one click, each opening up a certain page and each in a certain location. Is there any program that will do that? I wouldn't mind including Outlook and a couple other programs with this functionality.
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OK, found my first problem:
Opening up a new tab: In IE I always open up a new tab to my default homepage. It's kind of like my dashboard where I go to the various sites I want. think of it as a glorified links bar. But when I hit the new tab on Firefox it opens to a blank page. I have to then hit the 'home page" button. I can't find a setting to make it automatically open to the home page?
I think this may help you with that, TG:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/777
Next, (not FF exclusive): I would like to open say 5 separate browser windows in five locations on my dual monitor setup, all with one click, each opening up a certain page and each in a certain location. Is there any program that will do that? I wouldn't mind including Outlook and a couple other programs with this functionality.
Not sure about being able to open other programs, but if it helps at all, you can set Firefox to open previous windows and tabs on start up (see screenshot below). I think you would need a separate program to open multiple application windows, and I don't know of one, but will keep an eye out for something for you.
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The first one worked great. ;D Opening the pages in multiple tabs, though handy, is not what I'm after.
Check the attachment out. I'm using a program called Snippage which posts portions of web pages to your desktop. I ride MTB all the time so weather info is vital. In this monitor I have floating on the desktop a two Weather.com snips, (hourly and 10day), then weather.gov's full US radar loop, (animated and focused into my area), and finally a google search bar. All these are snip from full pages and they can all be scheduled to refresh at varying intervals. It's great to just see the info I'm after, and no ads!
Unfortunately though Snippage only seems to work with IE.I have a couple of snips of a forum and chat I use too but if I'm signed in in FF I'm not signed in in IE, and those snips don't work. I have not checked on the latest version of snippage though. If it could work with firefox that would be great.
I'm sure there is a program that arranges work space for windows that could do something similar. By the way, I also use GridMove, which is an awesome way of arrange windows into prearranged layouts. However they are not memorized for opening programs...into the same layout... I'll have another post about that at some point.
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I see what you mean, it looks a little bit like widgets in Vista. I've never used the program myself, but according to what seems to be implied in the link below, essentially, Snippage is just a bare-bone browser, therefore, it shouldn't be dependant on any other browser, and following that logic, should also work with Firefox. :dunno:
http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/12/turn-any-part-of-website-into-desktop.html
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revisiting here:
Alas firefox was once again continuing to give me the "unable to install update" and won't start. If I click it again it does start. Meanwhile, with all my extensions and add-ons, there is no way to remove them.
so I uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox to the latest version (new tab button included I see!). Anyway, I didn't want to 'remove' my customizations because I didn't want to lose the bookmark order I was finally had working. So I take a look and now tons of my extensions are coming up with exclamation marks. (see attached). That is fine really, because I really don't need all of these but a couple. But is there is no way to get rid of them either? Same goes for plug-ins, I can disable them but not remove them?
And, as another can of worms, I find the same problem in the latest IE. I have so much going on there for all these years I think some of the extensions or add-ons are causing problems. i'd like just to begin again and clear them all out, but I tried that once before and when I'd removed the wrong java console or something pages didn't render right and no pop-ups appeared to tell me to download the particular extension or active X control. So I'm hesitant for sure to renew IE. in previously versions you could just click to remove all plug-ins and when you needed something again, like Shockwave, it would tell you and you'd load it.... aahhh the good ole days :dunno:
It's getting frustrating in general with my whole system. It's in it's 4th year and now matter how much I try to clean it or run all the spyware programs or defrag, etc.. it's starting to be sluggish, and I'm continually having a problem with Explorer itself freezing and needing to restart and I can't trace the problem. (I'm running the Windows 7 RC1) Alas I'm in a bind! really I should wipe the HD and start again, but I'm extremely reluctant to do that because it will take me a week to get back to speed, and I still have to use FrontPage! for some old sites for which I can't find the code so I don't know how I'd ever reinstall it...
Anyway, this was originally about firefox but as you can see it quickly expanded!
BTY, chrome won't work for me until Roboform can run on it. Someone developed a different version of some kind to allow Roboform but it was new and had a bunch of issues...
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If you highlight the extensions you don't need, is there not an Uninstall option, TG? If not, then it might be easier to start a new Firefox profile. All of the info you need on Profiles can be found here:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles
and here:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Manage+profiles
I know Roboform has been updated to version 6.9.98, which should be compatible with the latest Firefox.
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I don't want to ruin your entire day, TG, but this news (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/02/windows_7_rc_auto_shutdowns/) doesn't look particularly encouraging if you're running Win7 RC. :o
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Simon if I kill those profiles will I have to start again completely, bookmarks and all?
Rodders, Yes I know. Another issue I have to deal with! Alas I was hoping it was the old days and I could get one operating system licensed for two PCs, my desktop and laptop. But they don't allow that anymore. I heard that I could totally revamp my 5+year old tablet PC with Windows 7 and it actually will run smoother. But there is no way I'm purchasing two different OSs.
Which leads me to my next delemna. My current PC is over 3 years OLD. It's nice, but with having to purchase Windows 7 and with all the other problems I'm having I thought I should look into picking up a new PC. Plus, I'd actually like a laptop for travel.
I'm pleased with the speed of my the computer: Intel (R)Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz 2.40 GHz. 3GB usable ram. But I'm wondering, as it's three years later, can I get the same power in one of these cheap laptops? Or have I got to spend some real money to match performance? I was looking at some laptops today and frankly there are so many new chips out that I have no idea what kind of performance each has...
If I can get a cheaper laptop that will match my old machine's power I may just get it as it’ll solve a few problem. I can get a ‘clean’ system, get a copy of Windows 7, and be portable. I can go back to XP on the old machine, still run FrontPage when necessary, and turn the old machine into a dedicated video conferencing and communication system with SKYPE, that I've wanted to do for a while. It will also force me to probably dump office and outlook and after 10+ years more the bulk of my computing online. I use Drupal for websites now and can most of the configuring from any PC. With online photo editors and other cloud computing options I may not have to purchase suites of new software for the new PC.
My neighbor actually picked this laptop for just $500 and I was kind of impressed with how capable it was. But I’ve no idea how to compare, for example this T4300 chip to what I have now … http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Pentium%26%23174%3B+Processor+-+Piano+Black/9545138.p?id=1218122580087&skuId=9545138
And my roommate just got this one tonight: http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/satellite/T100/T135-S1310
With a SU4100 processor. Again, no idea how these compare. Very frustrating with all these confusing processors!
Any thoughts!! Thanks!
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I think you need to decide what you want to do, but, in answer to your first question, as long as you don't delete the old profile first, you can import bookmarks, etc, from it, into the new one, as it details in the links I gave.
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thanks Simon. Yeah, sorry I tend to think out-loud ;D
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No problem, we just need to know what we are trying to help with. ;D
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Hi, Simon I am having a problem with Firefox on my PC ,If I close Firefox it will not open again & I have to reinstall it to get it to work! any ideas?.......Jim
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Is it the latest version, Jim? If you've tried uninstalling and reinstalling it, then again, the next option might be to create a new profile, as in the links above. You should be able to import all of your bookmarkf and other data into the new profile, by following the instructions in the links.