Firefox not detected

Discussion in 'SpywareBlaster & Other Forum' started by Martin.Leese, Jul 31, 2005.

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  1. Martin.Leese

    Martin.Leese Guest

    Hi,

    I am running Firefox 1.0.4 with SpywareBlaster 3.4 under
    Windows 95 (and Windows 95 is not supported).

    SpywareBlaster fails to detect my Firefox profile. This
    article:
    http://www.javacoolsoftware.info/kb/idx/9/073/article/

    suggested renaming my "registry.dat" file if it was
    several megabytes in size, and letting Firefox create a
    new file that would be much smaller.

    I found a "registry.dat" file in C:\\Windows\Mozilla\
    and, indeed, it is 13 MBytes in size. So I renamed it
    but, unfortunately, Firefox 1.0 and above doesn't use
    a "registry.dat" file, so it is not recreated. (The one I
    have seems to be left over from a previous Netscape
    installation.)

    Creating a zero length "registry.dat" file did not fool
    SpywareBlaster. How do I get SpywareBlaster to
    detect that Firefox is installed?

    Many thanks,
    Martin
     
  2. Martin.Leese

    Martin.Leese Guest

    Somebody over on alt.fan.mozilla suggested
    firing up Netscape to recreate the "registry.dat"
    file. So I did this, and a file was created that
    is only 20 kBytes in size. Yet still
    SpywareBlaster does not detect my Firefox
    installation.

    Can somebody please describe exactly the
    algorithm SpywareBlaster uses to detect Firefox.
    It appears to be broken.

    Many thanks,
    Martin
     
  3. javacool

    javacool BrightFort Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2002
    Posts:
    4,098
    Hi,

    Can you find exactly where your Firefox profile is located? :)

    Thanks,

    -Javacool
     
  4. Martin.Leese

    Martin.Leese Guest

    C:\WINDOWS\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini
     
  5. Bubba

    Bubba Updates Team

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2002
    Posts:
    11,271
    You mentioned C:\Windows\Mozilla in your earlier post and I was going to wait to ask a question until you came back to post that. Now that you have....are you sure it's not C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla ?

    One of the things Spywareblaster looks for in regards to Firefox being installed is the Mozilla folder....but....it is looking for it in C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla.

    Now that I see you are using Win95....I am almost positive that OS did not have an Application Data folder....but that was so long ago I could be mistaken :doubt:
     
  6. Martin.Leese

    Martin.Leese Guest

    I lied. It is the folder C:/WINDOWS/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/cn3oj6ao.default/
     
  7. Martin.Leese

    Martin.Leese Guest

    Yes, positive. I have no such folder.

    I have an "Application Data" folder. When I create
    and empty "Mozilla" folder there, SpywareBlaster
    still does not detect my Firefox installation.

    This problem does seem to be perculiar to Win95.
    Others over on alt.fan.mozilla report that SpywareBlaster
    detects Firefox OK for them.

    Thanks for your help.

    Regards,
    Martin
     
  8. semiclue

    semiclue Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2005
    Posts:
    20
    SOLVED! "Firefox not detected"

    I saw so many posts about this issue... I can't be the only one who thought of this...o_O? Meo_O? It definitely required the path data supplied above, then it worked like a charm: all I did was *copy* the Mozilla folder located in Windows/ TO the Windows/Application Data folder! Closed Spywareblaster, and when I re-opened it, viola!! Hope this gets seen and put in standard troubleshooting/tips areas. :)
     
  9. dmiranda

    dmiranda Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2004
    Posts:
    5
    Re: SOLVED! "Firefox not detected"

    I wonder if this could be somehow replicated with portable firefox. As of now, spywareblaster wont recognize it, even as I junctioned or copied the profile direcoty into the aaplication/Mozilla/Firefox folder
     
  10. semiclue

    semiclue Registered Member

    Joined:
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    Posts:
    20
    Worth a try! I don't know where the Mozilla folder containing Profiles locates itself when you install FireFox on a flash drive (or anything else about it, lol), but try searching for it... Make sure it's the right one because I'm sure there is more than one folder per installation called Mozilla... Then copy the whole folder into C:/Windows/Application Data. (Fun fact, it stopped working if I renamed the folder to remind myself it was a copy, had to leave the name as it was.)

    That is, if that is also where Spywareblaster expects it to be for portable Firefox. If it looks for it somewhere else for the portable version, maybe Bubba, that same poster, would know where...

    Let me know if it works, I'd be curious!
     
  11. dmiranda

    dmiranda Registered Member

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    5
    Tried it, to no avail. You can get Portablefirefox from portableapps.com/apps/internet/browsers/portable_firefox

    Can you give me a list of folders and files BEFORE you see the xyxysyy folder (confusing folder name) in which the default firefox installs?
     
  12. semiclue

    semiclue Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2005
    Posts:
    20
    Hmmm, I don't have that folder, although I do have a folder with a nonsense name followed by '.default.' Must either be particular to the portable version, or maybe file/folder names vary for various reasons. Anyway, to try to answer... I have Firefox on both a Win95 (issue I was posting about above) and an XP machine:

    On the XP, I see that the path that the 'Mozilla' folder in question here installs itself in is c:/Windows/Docs. & Settings./User (or your name, I guess?)/Application Data. And within that 'Mozilla' folder, there is one more folder, called 'Profiles,' and the registry.dat file. This entire 'Mozilla' folder is the one I suggest doing a Search for and copying from wherever it is on your system (if elsewhere) to the location above. I don't think you need to or should break it down further than that, going after more specific files or folders to copy... It seems the system may even need to read the exact folder name in this case, because on the Win95 machine at least, when I renamed it so I'd remember it was a copy, Spywareblaster stopped detecting it.

    On the 95 system, the applicable 'Mozilla' folder contains only another folder called Firefox. And for that OS, needed to be copied to c:/Windows/Application Data. But oops, nevermind -- if you're running Firefox from a flash drive I guess you couldn't be talking about a Win95 system here!

    If copying to the XP location above doesn't help, or your Mozilla folder is already there, maybe you could start a thread to ask where Spywareblaster looks for the portable version's Mozilla folder, just in case it is different... I imagine the exact contents of it could be a little different too, but I'd copy the whole folder regardless.

    ... since Spywareblaster's protection is just lines of text that go into the registry, rather than a program that runs, I wonder if the block data could somehow just be merged into the registry using a script of some kind.... But here I have no idea at all what I'm talking about, nevermind again! ;)
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2006
  13. semiclue

    semiclue Registered Member

    Joined:
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    ... and here's a longshot... Do you have Win 98, 98SE or ME by any chance? Came across this line when reading about an available updated Windows Installer download...

    "...Windows Installer is not only an installation program; it is also an extensible software management system. Windows Installer manages the installation, addition, and deletion of software components, monitors file resiliency, and maintains basic disaster recovery by way of rollbacks. Additionally, Windows Installer supports installing and running software from multiple sources, ..."

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=CEBBACD8-C094-4255-B702-DE3BB768148F
     
  14. semiclue

    semiclue Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2005
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    Re: Back to original victory claim... :(

    ... on the other hand, I just noticed that while Spywareblaster now says all protection for Firefox is enabled (which in that case is just bad cookie protection), in Firefox's cookie "Exceptions" area, there is NO list of blocked cookies. Whereas there is a long list in there on the XP and W98SE machines I have Firefox & Spywareblaster on. So unless it displays differently in W95 for some reason, maybe the machine is not in fact protected after all, even tho Spywareblaster sez it is....
     
  15. dmiranda

    dmiranda Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2004
    Posts:
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    ok, in windows xp you need to create

    yourprofile folder\application data\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini

    where profiles.ini has the following text:

    [General]
    StartWithLastProfile=1

    [Profile0]
    Name=Default
    IsRelative=0
    Path=yourpathtoportablefirefox\Firefox\profile
    Default=1
     
  16. semiclue

    semiclue Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2005
    Posts:
    20
    Doesn't it feel good to crank up Spywareblaster and see it protecting Fx? Of course, as mentioned above, it kinda doesn't look like mine is after all on the '95 machine. I'll mention this too -- it may again have something to do with W95, or with Fx version 1.5, or the combo. But in general many peop have always had a problem with too many backups of bookmarks (bookmarks.html) being created, can get into thousands...(might want to do a search just in case). I saw that I did have an existing multiple bookmarks file problem as it was, but once I made the extra folder it was sending copies to that one too, as well as many to the standard folder. And, different folders within them. Read about it at the Mozilla forums (the multiple bookmarks problem in general; didn't find anything specific to Spywareblaster, extra folders, etc.). There have been a couple of fixes people have come up with but none of them applied to me. Fortunately I was able to stop it by adding a couple of about:config entries (Fx's "hidden" advanced settings). If anyone comes across this and wants to know, I'll post them.
     
  17. dmiranda

    dmiranda Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2004
    Posts:
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    Hit us with those tricks!

    PS: for the record, I just mimicked your fix for xp
     
  18. semiclue

    semiclue Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2005
    Posts:
    20
    Hi there, ok, the entries I first read about on the mozillazine about:config explanation page that I added were:

    browser. bookmarks. file, and entered the exact path to the profiles folder where it looked like a single copy of bookmarks.html should be going (including making \bookmarks.html the last part of it). That did stop them from going into other near and far directories as well, but I began getting multiples at the destination I specified -- in *their own newly created, dated folders.*

    Then I also added

    browser. bookmarks. restore_default_bookmarks, and set it to "TRUE." Apparently the default is "False," even if this entry is not appearing in your about:config the function is being done (I posted about all this there). Like it sounds, this one permits Fx to restore your bookmarks from a backup if they are corrupted. Well, there is no reason to think mine were, whatsoever. But it seems the little guy just wanted to have that control over being able to do so, then it was confident enough to stop forcing several new bookmarks.html copies on me every time I started the browser.

    That may be stuff that just happened to help the generally common bookmarks prob on an older system, I don't know. From what I saw, the most common fix that helps others with this problem is related to the fact that some other program (Norton and another were named, but I guess several could do this) was setting their bookmarks file to "Read Only." Causing it to be unable to just backup or update itself. (Didn't apply to me, none of mine ever were Read Only, I checked. And don't have any program likely to be suspect.)

    This is the page that lists all possible about:config entries and their functions. Some will already be listed in your about:config, others are more hidden and you have to make them appear by manually adding them (right clicking in your about:config window).

    Edit: ok, seems there is a certain way that certain pages at mozillazine must be linked to. The link below didn't work when I just tried it after I posted. Even though it is still open in another tab and that is exactly what it says. So for now just go to the mozillazine forums and search out the about:config reference page. In your search results, I suggest choosing a match under Articles, not Page Text matches.

    http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2006
  19. hrdubwd

    hrdubwd Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2006
    Posts:
    2
    In XP Pro SP2, all Firefox cache etc moved off C: to Z:
    SWB 3.5.1 just installed, fails to see Firefox 1.5.0.1, although previously installed version no problem.
    I tried renaming ... Application Data/Mozilla/Firefox/Profile (back from /x Profile) to allow all temp activity on Z: in case I needed to revert. Changing name back has no effect on SWB.
    Last registry.dat only 335 bytes.
    Profiles.ini is in ...Mozilla/Firefox/ and was intact and accessible (used by Firefox to redirect to Z: ).

    So, last version of SWB definitely broken, suggestions above seem not to work or be relevant.

    Now what?
     
  20. hrdubwd

    hrdubwd Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2006
    Posts:
    2
    Re: Firefox not detected by SpywareBlaster 3.5.1

    I have finally worked out what is going on. I tried all the previous solutions, none work. SpywareBlaster 3.5.1 checks three places for files:
    C:\Documents and Settings\[name]\Application Data\Mozilla\registry.dat

    C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\[name]\APPLICATION DATA\MOZILLA\PROFILES\

    C:\Documents and Settings\[name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini

    One of these must lead to an appropriate profile.ini file.

    A problem comes in parsing the lines in profile.ini

    [Profile0]
    Name=default
    IsRelative=1
    Path=\xgx9jsi4.default

    (the directory is a random name)
    If IsRelative = 1 the full path must NOT be present. This leads to an impossible path in the file search. Consequently, the file hostperm.1 cannot be written.

    There are no registry values checked of any relevance. What is slightly silly is that something changed between versions to break this, and the message is completely unhelpful when you know full well that it is installed and it worked before. It is also disappointing that the authors of the work clearly do not monitor this list in any meaningful way, that there is no way to report problems (even if they do not want to talk to us), and do not see fit to provide any better clues as to what the program is expecting to find. It would have saved us all a lot of trouble. It has taken me most of this morning to solve this, with the aid of Filemon (http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html).

    Path redirection for Mozilla/Firefox cache is a good plan, but make sure that the paths are all consistent with the relative redirection setting.
     
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