Immunization

[Zététix]

I guess there's actually a real problem with freewares running with Microsoft Windows OS.
More precisions :

1) A few weeks ago, a Microsoft update caused some incompatibility with ZoneAlarm firewall : No web browser could run after that.
Zonelabs reported the problem in user's newsletter... I had 3 days of , restoring my system at the point before the Windows update, so I can return on the Web... to find solutions...

2) Same problem to update Firefox : I loaded Firefox 3... and had many many problems afterthat (could'nt find my bookmarks and Google favorites and so on...). So I went back to Firefox 2.0.0.16 !!!

So, I've been spending a lot of time and energy with these issues (on FAQs, help or tutorial sites and forums, including this one...), trying to get rid of many "bizarre" problems and learn a little more about the inner microsoft system...

I've noticed that many many people had the same problems...
I never had such problems before two months ago...

I'm not an informatic specialist at all and I do not know anything about registry, processes, profiles and so on...

I guess I have to go on holidays for a while now!!!

My opinion is that Microsoft company has a very very offensive politics for hegemony of its system and affiliates, (and, for example, sell worlwide its Vista OS, with IE or msn...), and is leading a war against "freeware communities" and people fighting for privacy rights and freedom...
(Hu... I'm not sure my English is understandable)

[blues]

Yes I had kind of a real BLUES breakdown!!!

what breakdown is that?
maybe you should let out your frustration in the tavern instead.

[Greyfox]

Sorry for the delay in response time.

I'm running an update of Firefox 2, not a clean download. I looked for the file "permissions.sqlite" but it was not there. I tried deleting just the "hostperm.1" file and following the instructions after that and ended up with about 6000 unprotected and about 5000 protected. The unprotected files were all of Firefox cookies, images, installations and popups.

I restored the hostperm.1 file, so everything is the same as it was when I began this thread. There are now 54558 unprotected files and 64903 protected files.

Emerald,
When one starts with an XP-HOME SP3 system that has never had Firefox (any version) installed, but does have the Spybot 1.6.0.30 or 31 installed, and Firefox 3.0.1 is then installed from the Admin account (default standard recommended installation) the following is observed.

At the end of the installation and after an initial open of the FF3 browser, the permissions.sqlite file is found at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\fnwb3fgn.default and it is 2k.

A Spybot immunise can then be made and works correctly, resulting in the permissions.sqlite file increasing to 931kB.

If one deletes this permissions.sqlite, and then runs Spybot and an immunise, the immunise will not work on the Firefox items, however it will cause another permissions.sqlite file to be generated - its size is 0k.

If one deletes this permissions.sqlite file, then runs the Firefox browser, it will generate a new permissions.sqlite file, this time 2k, the same size as the original, and one can then immunise correctly in Spybot.

At no stage is a hostperm.1 file generated, because the hosperm.1 file is relative to Firefox 2, not Firefox 3.

I believe the solution to your problem is to uninstall Firefox 3 completely, and to remove any files or folders it may leave orphaned. In particular if there is any Mozilla folders in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\ then delete them.

If you don't already have Spybot current version 1.6.0.30 or 31 installed, uninstall the Spybot version you do have completely. Then download and install the current version.

Once this has been done, re-install Firefox 3. Check the location of the permissions.sqlite file and it should be as given above. If for some reason its size is 0k, you could try priming it by manually adding a couple of sites that cookies should be accepted from. (Open Firefox, Click on Tools, then Options, then Privace, then under Cookies click on Exceptions and type in a couple of Web site addresses and for each click on Allow. then click on close, then OK. Shut browser, check that permissions.sqlite is now larger than 0K, then Immunise.

I hope this helps.

[Zététix]

what breakdown is that?
maybe you should let out your frustration in the tavern instead.

Hu hu hu! This is a very constructive remark!

("Blues" was only an answer to Greyfox' saying "Zététix, blues", and perhaps kind of "apologize"...)

Aren't YOU frustrated not to be able to give good advice, as Greyfox does?

[blues]

Aren't YOU frustrated not to be able to give good advice, as Greyfox does?

i dont care. i am not surprised if this posts gets deleted, and i couldnt care less.

[ME_2&]

.. for this particular.

… In particular if there is any Mozilla folders in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\ then delete them.

Possibly a further 'small point' caveat for those who may also have SeaMonkey in addition .. do not delete the %appdata% Mozilla directory as it contains both Firefox and SeaMonkey profiles (the SeaMonkey branch is identified by the *.slt dir in the path, the FF one is a subdir from Mozilla named Firefox of all things ).

If you delete your profile, be prepared to re-do all your personal settings, passwords, bookmarks and addons that were installed to the profile location (the usual method since the profile is generally left alone when FF is uninstalled from the app dir .. people have been known to become irate when they need to re-do the whole deal or they did not back up all that info).

On a side note, I found a nice page relating to Mozilla and Netscape(old) as well as SeaMonkey's profile location and details of the files therein here at Holger Metzger's pages. The Firefox and Thunderbird info may not be terribly recent (my FF profile dirs have had a .default 'suffix' for awhile, now .. if any - portable app style FFs are another case entirely). The world is a wide and varied place

[leeme]

How can after deleating SeaMonkey and then running immunize can SB still try and immunize something that is no longer there?