SpywareBlaster 4.0 not detecting SeaMonkey

Discussion in 'SpywareBlaster & Other Forum' started by g_e_l, Mar 9, 2008.

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  1. g_e_l

    g_e_l Registered Member

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    This USED to work in 3.5.1. But when I upgraded to 4.0 (disable all protection then uninstall old and clean install new in different directory) the SeaMonkey account refuses to be detected. I can enable the IE protection and Restricted Sites protection but not Mozilla/Firefox, it claims this is not installed but it is (and has been my default browser for several years now).

    I saw the FAQ item about the too-big registry.dat but that doesn't seem to fit as the file is only 1610 bytes, no mega-anything in size. Plus the previous version of SWB did just fine on the exact same file.

    Running Win98SE, SeaMonkey 1.1.8, not sure what else is relevant.

    If this can't be fixed for 4.0, is there any way to get even any manual updates for 3.5.1 so I can reinstall that? Otherwise things are looking pretty hosed....
     
  2. g_e_l

    g_e_l Registered Member

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    hello, a week with no replies? Surely I can't be the only SeaMonkey user out here? I see other folks have similar posts for Netscape and Mozilla, even some for certain versions of Firefox also (though that may have profiles in different places for the newer releases)....
     
  3. thanatos_theos

    thanatos_theos Registered Member

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    Try installing it in "C:\Program Files".

    thanatos
     
  4. g_e_l

    g_e_l Registered Member

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    Tried that. Also tried the default location (C:\Program Files\SpywareBlaster), also my preferred location (F:\More Program Files\SpywareBlaster\sb4.0). Makes no difference, it just doesn't work.

    I've gone back to 3.5.1, trying it in several locations - C:\Program Files\SpywareBlaster, C:\Program Files\SpywareBlaster\sb3.5.1, F:\More Program Files\SpywareBlaster, F:\More Program Files\SpywareBlaster\sb3.5.1 . Makes no difference, they all work properly.
     
  5. thanatos_theos

    thanatos_theos Registered Member

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    Install both SeaMonkey (has new version) and SpywareBlaster in "C:\Program Files". Since SM also uses the gecko engine like FF maybe this thread will be of help.

    thanatos
     
  6. EvanD

    EvanD Registered Member

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    I'm using Win 98SE and Seamonkey 1.1.9. When I updated from 3.5.1 to 4.0, Firefox detection was lost. I came across the following: https://www.javacoolsoftware.com/support/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=39&nav=0,4,14
    and it fixed the problem. Now 4.0 doesn't detect Firefox but it adds Seamonkey and detects it. After "registry.dat" is renamed, the Seamonkey Profile Manager recreates the file. To keep your old profile, you have to use the old name and use Profile Manager to place it in the "..\Mozilla\Profiles" folder. (For Win 98 it is: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles . For other Windows O/Ss, profiles can be found at: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Folder)
    Newer Firefox versions use "profile.ini" instead of "registry.dat" so this fix won't work.
     
  7. g_e_l

    g_e_l Registered Member

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    Tried that too. Still doesn't work. Besides, shouldn't the install package suggest a WORKING location for a default install?

    The stuff about profiles.ini looks like the source of the problem. SeaMonkey does use the gecko engine, but neither it nor its predecessors Mozilla nor Netscape (at least up through NS7, I haven't tried NS8 or later) uses profiles.ini. That won't happen until at least SM2.0 which is not released, there is not even a schedule for it yet, so it makes no sense for detection to be based EXCLUSIVELY on a file that does not exist until a release that has not yet been scheduled. Even for Firefox it doesn't make sense as older releases used registry.dat, not profiles.ini - it is only the latest releases of Firefox that use it. Like I said in my original post, SB3.5.1 used to do this right (checking multiple locations/files) but it broke in 4.0.

    Thanks, but that is the same KB article I came across from the original post. My registry.dat is only 1610 bytes, no mega-anything in size, and the previous version worked just fine so it can't be too big.... was yours much bigger than mine, to have been lost that way?

    That is exactly where it has been all along, no custom locations or anything. I really don't want to risk losing decades' worth of email by renaming it on top of itself - Seamonkey documentation warns against re-using existing profile names for exactly this reason and states that data loss may occur if a profile is renamed to an already existing name.

    Yes, I think that is part of the problem. I have never had Firefox installed, so no profiles.ini has ever existed. Are you using both SM & FF? If so I'd guess SB4.0 is detecting the FF copy of the profile after it got migrated and ignoring the older SM profile, and the registry.dat may be a red herring.
     
  8. EvanD

    EvanD Registered Member

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  9. g_e_l

    g_e_l Registered Member

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    Well, I made backups of everything (good thing I did!) and tried this. Profile Manager came up and presented me with 2 existing profile names of old profiles, along with the choice to create new ones, rename or delete existing ones. I notice upon starting the wizard creates a small registry.dat file (but this later turned out to be worse than useless as it does not point to any valid profiles).

    First I tried creating a new one. Sure, I could take the suggested default name "Default user" but then could not make the directory spec point to the old profile - or I could change that name to "default" and try to provide the path. However once I selected the existing directory, the wizard insists on appending another extra "default" onto the end of the path. If I select just the Profiles directory, it tells me there is already an existing profile with that name and to choose another, making the forward button greyed out so I cannot proceed further with the name and path that I wanted. There is simply no way to create a new profile with the existing name and path. I do not understand how you could possibly have done exactly as you say - are you sure you did not just accept the suggested name which is actually different than the old one and just not notice the mismatch? Or did you let it create a new subdirectory within the existing profile, probably equivalent to starting from scratch, but then losing the xxxxxxxx.slt name and the old data? Either way, it doesn't make sense.

    So I closed the wizard, tried SB4.0, it still doesn't detect the profile. Tried to restart SeaMonkey but get only the profile wizard again, apparently the new registry.dat does not point to any profiles. Close the wizard, delete the bad registry.dat and try again. This time I select the old profile name "default" which is the one with my old email. There is a popup telling me "The profile you selected was created with a previous version of Netscape and must be copied and converted before you can use it with SeaMonkey. Your original Netscape profile will not be altered. Do you want to copy and convert this profile?".... (a query I have not seen since migrating out of NS4.7 into the really old versions of Mozilla, when I did the conversion ages ago and have long since deleted those old Netscape profile directories so how could it have found stuff that no longer exists?... maybe that is why this does not work?) I click Yes, the dialog box closes and I am left with the Profile Wizard on the screen waiting for SeaMonkey to open, but then nothing happens, no disk activity, just absolutely nothing. Eventually I clicked Exit on the wizard, then tried to restart SeaMonkey but get the wizard again. SB4.0 still can't detect the new registry.dat, and none of the SeaMonkey versions I have can read it either, all just bring me back to the wizard. I also tried using them to create a new profile or "convert" the existing one but they give the same results.

    This is not entirely true. The wizard popped up with names of profiles leftover from NS4.7 days so it must have squirreled away some pointers in some other place. Which were no longer valid as the directories they must have pointed to are long gone, but pointers remain. Too bad they do not point to any current profile locations.

    Yes, this will make the Profile Wizard start, you can tell it the old name and the Profile folder for the path, and it will find the old one. But you can NOT get it to USE the old data for creating a new profile!

    Good thing I had backups. Had to delete the new registry.dat, put back my old small one, it is the only way SeaMonkey can be started at all with my existing profile since the profile wizard will not use the new registry.dat.

    Any which way I try I get the same results: SB3.5.1 detects SeaMonkey profiles but calls them FF. SB4.0 does not detect anything, says FF is not installed (correct, I have SeaMonkey instead, but different from 3.5.1) and completely ignores SeaMonkey. There is no fourth line, not even to say that "SeaMonkey is not installed" (incorrect in my case, but would at least be consistent with claiming to support SeaMonkey).
     
  10. javacool

    javacool BrightFort Moderator

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    Hi,

    I haven't been able to reproduce the problem you're describing yet.

    To clarify a few things:

    SpywareBlaster 4.0 uses registry.dat to detect/locate Seamonkey profiles. All other supported Gecko-based browsers (Firefox, Netscape, Flock) are detected via the appropriate profiles.ini file (as they have all been updated to use the new file format).

    For Seamonkey, Netscape, and Flock, SpywareBlaster only adds a line to the main protection display if they are detected. (i.e. You'll only see "Seamonkey: Protection Enabled/Disabled" and the appropriate option screens if Seamonkey profiles are in fact detected by SB.)

    SpywareBlaster 4.0 does tighten the code that handles loading and reading the registry.dat files, to prevent some past instances in which invalid/corrupt files were causing problems. Although this did not conflict with detecting Seamonkey in any of our tests, it is possible that there is something in particular about the registry.dat file on your system that the new version doesn't like.

    Could you please send the registry.dat file that allows Seamonkey to properly detect your profile, but that SB 4.0 can't seem to read, to bugreports@javacoolsoftware.com ? It might help track down the particular cause faster. (In your e-mail, please reference this thread and the username you use on these forums.) It would also be helpful if you could provide the full path to both the registry.dat file and your Seamonkey profile. (Any information provided will be kept strictly confidential, and only used to assist in reproducing the problem.)

    Best regards and thanks,

    -Javacool
     
  11. g_e_l

    g_e_l Registered Member

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    Hi Javacool,

    Thanks for the reply. I have emailed the file you asked for. Let me know if anything else would help.
     
  12. g_e_l

    g_e_l Registered Member

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    Okay, I installed the new 4.1 version on 2 systems. On my W2K system it detects SeaMonkey properly, but on my W98 laptop it continues to have the same old problem, SeaMonkey is still ignored.
     
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