Netscape 7---ahhh...need help

Browser re-installs itself everytime I open it

[OntheEdge]

Help! I'm desperate, I don't know what to do, or where to go. I spent hours checking Netscape, I tried to contact them, nothing!
Everytime I open Netscape 7, it congratulates me for installing it and all my data and settings are gone. The first time it happened I lost all my downloaded POP mail.
Can anybody tell me why it keeps doing this. I had a bit of spyware which I uninstalled before it happened (about 2 days before).
Pllllleeease help, or I'll be forced to keep using the other software, forever.

[slawski]

Hi OntheEdge.

Did you remove the spyware manually, or with one of the spyware programs that are out?

[OntheEdge]

I used ad-aware.
I just finished uninstalling Nestcape (using win uninstall software option) and redownloaded...reinstalled, The new version is still doing the same thing!
Could this be a WinXP conflict?
OMG, I'm ready to scream....1-1/2 hours on dialup to redownload the thing.

[gph]

Try uninstalling then see if any files or folders are still on your hard drive. If so, delete them then reinstall

[OntheEdge]

Done, but still no luck....HOWEVER....They last time I restarted , I did something a little different.
Usually I go in and set my preferances, block pop-ups, remove AOL/Netscape and all their partner's exclusion list, remove their email start page, reset the home page....stuff like that. (But I never change cookies default settings).
So far, this morning she fired up ok. Have to wait and see, now, it could still turn around and ditch me tomorrow.

[benihana]

im having a similar problem on w2k.
everytime i start ns7 it wants to create a user profile and register before i can use the prog. its getting very tedious and would be interested to hear if anyone has manged to fix this porblem.
ta

[weesnich]

I have read that you can prevent NN from asking to be activated by editing
\Netscape\Netscape 6\defaults\pref\all-ns.js
and change the following entry there from
pref("browser.registration.enable", true);
to
pref("browser.registration.enable", false);
I dont know whether this solves your problem. Make a backup of the file first ;-)

You might consider to try Mozilla (NN is today only a variant of Mozilla), which comes without all this adware and other annoyances.

[choster]

I had a similar problem with Mozilla on Win2K in a Novell environment. The problem was that Mozilla was installed with a different user profile (i.e. Windows/Novell login) from the one I was using. My username didn't have sufficient permissions to overwrite the administrator permissions so the profiles directory would be purged whenever I logged out. Modifying the profiles to give mine the ability to write to the correct folder solved the problem.

[OntheEdge]

Modifying the profiles to give mine the ability to write to the correct folder solved the problem.

Choster, Can you tell how you did that?
By the way, I'm using Nestcape 7, does that js edit apply to only 6?
And , if it matters, my computer has never had any other version installed, however I do have the DMOZ editor browser which is of course,mozilla.

[OntheEdge]

OK, so I'm trying the js true changed to false, lets see how well that works.

Java experts! I notice this comment and command line; could that be the problem?

// the amount of time (in seconds) that must elapse
// before we think your mozilla profile is defunct
// and you'd benefit from re-migrating from 4.x
// see bug #137886 for more details
//
// if -1, we never think your profile is defunct
// and users will never see the remigrate UI.

// note 6 months == 180 days == 180 * 24 * 60 * 60 == 15552000
pref("profile.seconds_until_defunct", 15552000);

[jdMorgan]

If you have both Netscape and Mozilla, you may need to set up different profiles for each in order to avoid this problem. I notice that if I use either one, but not both, then I don't have a problem. If I got from one to the other, then the second one I start will want to go to the "new user" web page and all that.

It is because these two browsers are sharing configuration data. The option to specify the location of this user data seems to have been removed.

In order to avoid the long download, use the custom install option, and tell it to save the install files. Copy them to a safe place before uninstalling or removing the browser, though!

Jim

[OntheEdge]

I just have Netscape, and though I have the DMOZ editor browser, I rarely use it and never at the same time. Also, everything worked fine for about a month before this all happened.
I tried the JS true to false and it did not help.
As for profiles, of any kind, there is only one on my computer.
I run in default profile for XP, and I was wondering if that may also be the problem.
This really bites, because up until this happened, I was really happy with Netscape 7.
I guess that I have no choice but to put up with the bimbo selling a web cam and use Opera. (It's too inferior to pay for, specially when they only offer upgrades, not fixes)
The problem with these browsers isn't in programming, its in support/customer service.

[OntheEdge]

Ok, so now I've uninstalled, Netscape 7, manually removed extra files (but first I saved the entire profile that contains all the missing email to my documents folder), then I set up identities, (I was using only default before for XP),redownloaded NN7 AGAIN and STILL it ditches my POP and IMAP accounts and redirects me to the "welcome" page. AHHHHHH!
I think it's time to give up through NN in the trash bin were it belongs.

[OntheEdge]

Well, after one heck of a lot of reading and searching I determined the strangest thing. I have no profile manager.
There is nothing in the Netscape directory, the "link" to it from start>programs> shows netscape.exe -profile manager. However if I use that all it does is open netscape and load their home page.
Anybody have any idea how three times in a row I can possibly lose that component? That would explain my program wishing to reset all the time.

[jdMorgan]

OntheEdge,

Was Profile Manager deselected in the Custom Install options page? If you didn't use it already, try selecting the custom install option, too. I've been following this thread with interest; it does sound like something that would drive me mad!

Jim

[OntheEdge]

Ah, nice to see you understand my pain! ;)
I had installed by using full, the first two time and custom the third, I included all options.
Can it be installed after the fact? Or do I have to reinstall again?

[OntheEdge]

Ok, here is exactly what is installed, Ive looked through the setup options under custom, and I see no referance to Profile manager at all. Strange, and yes I downloaded right from browser central.

Setup Type:
Full

Selected Components:
Navigator (Required)
Sun Java 2
Mail & Instant Messaging (Required)
Quality Feedback Agent
Spell Checker (Required)
AOL ART Extensions (Required)
Macromedia Flash Player
Viewpoint Media Player
Winamp
HP Printer Identifier Plugin
Classic Skin (Required)

CUSTOM
Selected Components:
Navigator (Required)
Sun Java 2
Mail & Instant Messaging (Required)
Quality Feedback Agent
Spell Checker (Required)
AOL ART Extensions (Required)
Macromedia Flash Player
Viewpoint Media Player
Winamp
HP Printer Identifier Plugin
Classic Skin (Required)
Canadian region pack (Required)
Destination Directory:
C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape

[jdMorgan]

As far as I can tell from a look through my registry, the profile manager is built into the browser. profile.dll exists in the C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape702\components folder on my machine, but that's just the dynamically-linked part.

Do you have any old versions of Netscape installed? How about ANY version of Mozilla? It is possible that a corrupt version of these might interfere with the Profile Manager in NN7.02.

I'm gonna dig around in here a bit more, but just some ideas.

Jim

[OntheEdge]

No previous versions of Netscape, but I did have that DMOZ editor browser which I assume was mozilla. But I deleted them a while ago.
One thing I came across in my search for the truth (I know its out there)....XP has been known to think it needs to re-install office 2000 everytime it runs. Maybe that is a cause.
Also, profile.dll is in my directory. same place as yours

[jdMorgan]

I think if this happened to me, I would copy my bookmarks off to a different directory, then uninstall all Netscape, Mozilla, and Phoenix browsers, then hunt down and remove all related registry entries, run Microsoft's Regclean (this may be a Win98-only thing), restart the machine and run disk cleanup, and then re-install. A major search and destroy mission as it were...

Really, really, strange...

Jim

[OntheEdge]

Did everything but the regclean, but if it didn't load the profile manager the first three times......
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
WAAAAAAA!

I've lost my mind. Will continue my quest tomorrow