Firefox Just Died!

[Chandler]

I tried to launch Mozilla Firefox and it does nothing.  It creates 50% CPU for about 5 seconds and then 0% and no window appears.  I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling to no avail.

[Nestor]

could it be a corrupt install file?

(BTW, where do I get a copy?)

[Chandler]

Get it from:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Believe me, once you've tried it you'll NEVER want to go back to Internet Explorer.

I've sorted it out, my profile had got corrupted by an extension, not sure which one yet though.

[Neon]

FYI, profile corruption seems to be the most common cause of Firefox malfunction. It's probably because so many changes are made during the beta stage, prior to the 1.0 release. Extension and theme writers sometimes have a difficult time keeping up with changes.

[Chandler]

I didn't realise that the profile was stored in Documents and Settings, until I looked at the Firefox site; I thought that I had lost all my bookmarks etc when I removed the Firefox program files directory (but fortunately hadn't).

[Neon]

Yep, it would be a pain to upgrade the program files if they stored user data there.

I moved my profile to another disk partition. It takes a little configuration work, but it works better for me for backup purposes - all important files and user data are on one partition, apart from stuff that can be reinstalled.

[trav]

I prefer Mozilla, i tried FireFox and it didnt have some of the features that Mozilla had, Compser, for example, or mabye it did have that and i didnt know?

[Chandler]

Correct.  Firefox is just a browser, but that's all I was looking for since I use MS Outlook 2002 for e-mail.  Firefox does have a companion e-mail program called Thunderbird, which is very nice however (but they're not tightly integrated like the Mozilla Suite).

[Nestor]

I'm on the site right now, which ver should I grab?

Mozilla 1.6

FireFox 0.8

[Chandler]

Firefox 0.8

[Chandler]

BTW in case Ace reads this, I want him to be made aware that:

I do not promote the killing, intentional or otherwise, of firefoxes (otherwise known as red PANDAs).  Any reference to a dead firefox is merely coincidental and does not signify my willingness to participate in a panda hunt.

Chandler 28/05/2004

Chandler; guilty of Firefoxslaughter

[Chandler]

I've got another small problem.  In the right-click menu there is an option called "Web search for ....." (where you can highlight a word a search for it).  This isn't working for me now.

[Neon]

It works for me. Perhaps FF requires itself be set as the default browser?

[Chandler]

I think it was related to the corrupt settings in the Application Data folder.  I moved pluginreg.dat and registry.dat and it's working correctly now.  It automatically regenerated the files, and put in everything like Realplayer, Java etc (but I guess not the thing which caused errors before)

I have realised that I'm hooked on Firefox now though - trying to do stuff in Internet Explorer felt so awkward despite having used that browser non-stop since 1999.  I also solved my Windows XP Home moving/disappearing toolbars bug.... it was related to the Google Toolbar I had installed for Internet Explorer.  The Mozilla one has no such problem.  :)

I found some configs which let Firefox operate totally as a single-window browser, and even the Favourites in the Start Menu open up a new tab in Firefox (rather than replacing the current page).  For anyone interested, read the Mozilla Firefox FAQ page for other cool tips.

[iansl]

Yeah. Firefox rocks. I wish 0.9 was out. But they're getting it ready, and it's going to be a lot smaller to download, which is really nice. As for Internet Explorer, I only use it when I absolutely have to, such as when I have to do Windows Update. Firefox has some rough edges, but it's a breath of fresh air compared with Internet Explorer. And the Charmel theme looks mac-polished. I like it.

I wish a standalone composer was better made. I use Firefox for my browser, Thunderbird for my email and Composer to edit my HTML files that I have to do about once a week for my troop site, troop351.com.

If you want internet, email, html editing and all integrated, then get Mozilla. 1.7RC2 is fine, as it is a release candidate which means it could if it wanted to be mozilla 1.7. If you don't want the whole bundle, get firefox.