19 replies to this topic

[theclash]

A serious warning.

I've been using Firefox for over 4 years and like it a lot. Periodically it offers to update itself. I've always said yes. I was up to version 3.6 and this morning it gave me the option to move to the newly released version 4.0. "Sure," I figured. "Why not."

I'll tell you why. I clicked the upgrade button, and my computer chugged along. Thirty seconds later Firefox 4.0 was installed. Then I got a box telling me that it was checking the compatibility of my browser add-ons. Surprise! Three out of the four weren't compatible.

Assholes. It would have been nice to know that before I ran the upgrade. I had no strong urge to be the first on my block to run the new version. I would have waited until there were 4.0 compatible versions of my add-ons.

While 4.0 has been in beta testing for months and months it was just finalized yesterday. Mozilla is pushing it like mad. There's a link on their site which offers to let you install 3.6, the previous version. Surprise again! The only thing you can download is 4.0.

I had to go to a 3rd party site to download a previous version that works with my add-ons. It took around half an hour before I got things fixed.

If you're a Firefox user I suggest that you visit the websites of the publishers of each of your add-ons to see if they're compatible with 4.0 before you upgrade. Eventually they'll release compatible versions but there's no pressing need to upgrade before they do.

I think this will let your add-ons and extensions work with 4.0

Mr Tech

[Lex]

Thanks. According to their site the product does the following -

The primary goal of this extension is to provide the tools needed to install and manage extensions and themes locally. To do this the extension provides multi-extension installation support, hacking capabilities to the Extension/Theme manager windows, features to find and troubleshoot Extensions/Themes Build, GUID and Profile information.

Maybe I'm getting this wrong but it appears this is a tool that the publishers of the add-ons will use to make their products compatible. That's good.

I think I'll wait for them to use it.

[prasantrin]

Not exactly a Firefox problem, but I've been having a problem with address bar searches. I used to have google as the default address bar search, but when I installed my router, I stupidly checked a box that authorized the use of D-Link search (which is really Yahoo) address bar searches. I've tried to change it back to Google using the directions below:

Use Google Search with OpenDNS in Firefox Location Bar

Type about:config in the address bar and press enter. If you are on Firefox 3, click "I'll be careful, I promise!". Now type keyword.url in the Filter field and set the value as:

http://www.google.com/search?q=



If you want Firefox to do a "I am Feeling Lucky" style Google search, use this value for keyword.URL:

http://www.google.co...eeling Lucky&q=

Also make sure that the value of keyword.enabled is set to TRUE. That's it - now any query you type in the Firefox Address bar will go to Google, not OpenDNS guide.

and then I restart my browser. No luck. It's still using D-Link/Yahoo as the default address bar search. I double check the about:config stuff, and everything I've changed stays changed. It seems that the default search should be Google, but it's still D-Link/yahoo.

It's very very annoying. Even if I type in the wrong URL for a website, or if I click on a broken link, it's the D-Link/Yahoo search that will take over. I dislike Yahoo's search engine and don't want to see it. Ever.

Any ideas what I can do now?

[prasantrin]

I searched a little more and found this

I updated the firmware in my DLINK DIR-825 and had the same issue. It was a firmware setting. Shame on you DLink!

log into your Router:
Goto Setup/Internet On the bottom of the page click on the manual Internet Setup Button.

Uncheck the "Advanced DNS Service" box. Save settings and reboot. (Your done)

Here is the explanation on the Router:
Advanced DNS Service : Advanced DNS is a free security option that provides Anti-Phishing to protect your Internet connection from fraud and navigation improvements such as auto-correction of common URL typos.

So I went back and re-installed the router, this time unchecking the box for Advanced DNS Service. And now I'm fixed! I'm a little annoyed that D-Link was not forthright with the function of "Advanced DNS Service". Had I known that it was really a search hijacker, and that it was powered by Yahoo, I would never have checked the box in the first place.

[Rail Paul]

I searched a little more and found this

I updated the firmware in my DLINK DIR-825 and had the same issue. It was a firmware setting. Shame on you DLink!

log into your Router:
Goto Setup/Internet On the bottom of the page click on the manual Internet Setup Button.

Uncheck the "Advanced DNS Service" box. Save settings and reboot. (Your done)

Here is the explanation on the Router:
Advanced DNS Service : Advanced DNS is a free security option that provides Anti-Phishing to protect your Internet connection from fraud and navigation improvements such as auto-correction of common URL typos.

So I went back and re-installed the router, this time unchecking the box for Advanced DNS Service. And now I'm fixed! I'm a little annoyed that D-Link was not forthright with the function of "Advanced DNS Service". Had I known that it was really a search hijacker, and that it was powered by Yahoo, I would never have checked the box in the first place.

I had a similar experience last week. A Microsoft looking dialogue box popped up in Firefox to let me know that a Trojan had appeared been discovered. Click here to fix and reboot.

I was surprised that McAfee hadn't grabbed it. But, I was more surprised that there were two typos in the serious looking dialogue box.

McAfee's full bore cleaner did reveal a Trojan and a possible key logger, which I found interesting.