Odd Problem With Firefox...

Phoenixx

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Ever since i installed 3.5 i have the problem that im constantly getting the message "Firefox is not set as your standard browser". I must have checked that "Make Firefox the default browser" box at least ten dozen times by now but still the message keeps popping up. Ten times a day are not at all uncommon, merely depending on how often i open and close FF.

The funny thing is that the message pops up totally randomly. Sometimes i only need to start FF, close it right thereafter and reopen it, and bam, the message pops up again. Other times i can open and close FF several times and the message does not pop up. Sometimes it even lasts over a restart. But sooner or later it will pop up again.

I really dont know what to try anymore because i have done everything humanly possible. I have checked the box again and again, everytime the message popped up. I have also set FF as the default app in Vistas Standard Progs thingy AND in Program Access & Computer Standards. Then i have checked all the file associations and made sure that everything IS associated with FF, and last but not least i even went into IEs and Operas setup to make sure that they do not try to become the default browser.

In short everything checks out, yet the box keeps popping up anyway. Does anyone else have that problem (or heard of it) and do you know how to fix that? Version im using is 3.5.1, latest available. Google is not very helpful due to the lack of suited keywords. With keywords like 'Standard Browser' you get gazillions of hits,...
 
I don't know if this is gonna help, but it's worth a shot, go to about:config, then find "browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser" then set it to false
 
just goofing around here, kevin-- haven't tried 3.5.1 yet. maybe this?

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Setting+Firefox+as+the+default+browser+does+not+work

Thanks, but the option thats covered there is one of the things that i have already tried:

I have also set FF as the default app in Vistas Standard Progs thingy AND in Program Access & Computer Standards.

If only it were that easy,...that message annoys the living hell out of me,...
 
I don't know if this is gonna help, but it's worth a shot, go to about:config, then find "browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser" then set it to false

Thanks, but i want FF to check whether it is the default browser.

What i need is a fix that will make FF stop loosing its default status again and again,...
 
OK, try to set the value to true then :)
 
Mystery solved.

What was the culprit?

Windows of course.



Heres what happened:


I have two shortcuts to FF, one in the QuickLaunch and one on my Sysmetrix. Which one i use to open FF solely depends on chance, therefore i use both of them several times a day.

Now pretty much by accident i just noticed that the message will not pop up when i start FF with the same shortcut that i used when i last answered the 'Do you want FF to be default' message. In other words when i use the Sysmetrix one, and answer Yes to 'Do you want FF to be default' then the message will not pop up unless i use the QuickLaunch shortcut and vice-versa.

The cause for this odd behaviour? Simple. Internally, Vista uses the english paths for everything, translating it into the users language (german in my case) on-the-fly in real time. This is most noticable when i install a program, where the default path shown in the installer is always C:\Program Files rather than C:\Programme. What ultimately caused the problem was that the QuickLaunch shortcut pointed to the english folder name (Program Files) whereas the Sysmetrix shortcut pointed to the german folder name (Programme). This was because i created that Sysmetrix on XP, which didnt have this on-the-fly translating crap yet. Though in actuality one and the same folder, to Vista it must be making some kind of difference anyway whether the english or the translated folder description is being used. Apparently it uses some hidden folder to store the settings of apps that have the translated folder name specified as the working dir, otherwise i wouldnt have had this problem. I will investigate this further and post again as soon as i figured it all out,...
 
BTW, the reason why this started with 3.5 is easily explained too.

Originally, the QuickLaunch shortcut pointed to the german folder name too because im using the same QuickLaunch links that i already used on XP.

The installer of 3.5 then silently 'updated' the shortcut in the QuickLaunch with a new one, hence it would now point to the english folder name instead.

From that moment Sysmetrix and QuickLaunch shortcuts didnt match anymore, and bam, theres your problem with an almost undetectable cause.


Great, isnt it?

Whoever invented this on-the-fly translation shit should be tarred and feathered,...
 
congrats, and good call... you don't see many people tarred & feathered these days.
 
I just stopped using Firefox completely. Since 3.0, it's been slower, and is constantly crashing now. A lot of people are starting to get this judging from the complaints I have been reading, in fact, I can't even post here in anything but IE, if I use Firefox, it crashes soon as I submit a link.

Maybe a change in Windows caused it, but from reading other forums, some have been getting the crashes more and more lately with each new version, like me. I was getting 10-15 crashes a day on various websites, so I gave up since there is no solution so far.
 
The initial version of FF3 was way slower than the at-the-time latest FF2, thats right, and it was one reason why i went back to 2 for another couple of months. (Thread where we talked about this must be here somewhere.)

But this changed with one of the update releases. I dont remember which one exactly, but from that version on there was no difference between 2 and 3 anymore. Pages then built up equally fast on both of them, so changing to 3 finally made sense. I used it ever since and never had a reason to complain.

FF3.5 seems to be suffering from the same issue FF3 had at first, though. At first i didnt notice it, but eventually i realized that pages are loading a great deal slower again, exactly like it was with initial FF3. They fixed that rather quick though, so this time i decided to keep the latest version and just wait and see. One update has already passed though, (latest is 3.5.1), and the speed is still as slow. Not exactly a good sign, but like with FF3 it is probably just a matter of time until they get it right,...
 
Mystery solved.

What was the culprit?

Windows of course.

Heres what happened:

I have two shortcuts to FF, one in the QuickLaunch and one on my Sysmetrix. Which one i use to open FF solely depends on chance, therefore i use both of them several times a day.

Now pretty much by accident i just noticed that the message will not pop up when i start FF with the same shortcut that i used when i last answered the 'Do you want FF to be default' message. In other words when i use the Sysmetrix one, and answer Yes to 'Do you want FF to be default' then the message will not pop up unless i use the QuickLaunch shortcut and vice-versa.

The cause for this odd behaviour? Simple. Internally, Vista uses the english paths for everything, translating it into the users language (german in my case) on-the-fly in real time. This is most noticable when i install a program, where the default path shown in the installer is always C:\Program Files rather than C:\Programme. What ultimately caused the problem was that the QuickLaunch shortcut pointed to the english folder name (Program Files) whereas the Sysmetrix shortcut pointed to the german folder name (Programme). This was because i created that Sysmetrix on XP, which didnt have this on-the-fly translating crap yet. Though in actuality one and the same folder, to Vista it must be making some kind of difference anyway whether the english or the translated folder description is being used. Apparently it uses some hidden folder to store the settings of apps that have the translated folder name specified as the working dir, otherwise i wouldnt have had this problem. I will investigate this further and post again as soon as i figured it all out,...

Ok, your discovery here has helped me partially figure out a mystery. I was having exactly the same problem with Chrome, and now I know that the reason is sometimes I start it with my quick launch icon and sometimes I start it with the internet fast access key on my keyboard. Sounds like the same issue, but the resolution isn't the same - I don't have the German vs English battle going on, and all of my shortcuts actually point to the same place: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"

So thanks, now even though I don't know how to solve the issue, at least I know what's going on finally. And to think I almost didn't read this thread because I don't use Firefox (often).
 
It will only work correctly if you have 16 shortcuts in 32 different working directories with 4 different icons... I thought everyone knew that.
 
It will only work correctly if you have 16 shortcuts in 32 different working directories with 4 different icons... I thought everyone knew that.
Dont joke about this - with Windows you never know so that might indeed be the solution!

I was having exactly the same problem with Chrome...
It doesnt surprise me in the least that even US users have problems with this crap. Because internally the paths are still the exact same as they were under XP and earlier too, meaning its not just the translation thing that is going on here. Apparently they just slapped a wrapper around the whole thing to make it look like the paths were changed. But thats all merely optical mumbo jumbo - technically the folders still have the same names as they always had.

To see what i mean simply set Explorer to show both hidden files and protected system files. When i do this, all the old folders with their old names appear in the form of links. (Which only the system has access to.) On my PC they even still have their proper german names, exactly like they were on XP. Although in most cases a copy with the english description is present as well. Purpose of this? Cant fathom. And since everything is processed on-the-fly in real time (at least as far as Explorer is concerned) it is pretty difficult to say exactly what is going on, especially on a non-english system where the on-the-fly translation obscures everything even more. At any rate it is quite a mess - a happy mixture of english and german XP-style folder names with a wrapper slapped around to make it look like it is not like it was on XP anymore. Definitely another strike of genius, which once again makes you wonder whether Microsoft really only hires people who excel in the 'find real wierd solutions that make absolutely no sense whatsoever' test,...:roll:

BTW, with Total Commander the situation is similar, yet different. For example; while Explorer shows the Users folder in translated form (Benutzer) TC shows is as 'Users'. It also shows a lot of doubles (e.g. Documents / Dokumente | Favorites / Favoriten | Application Data / Anwendungsdaten) but that is probably because it simply shows what is really there. But all folders that dont actually have a german double are being shown with their original english names (like the above mentioned Users) which leads me to believe that the on-the-fly translation only works with Explorer but not with 3rd party apps.

I will investigate this further too,...if i find something of relevance i will post it here,...
 
RE

Well, I have been experiencing this problem for quite a while now, it’s really annoying. It happens when I spend a lot of time in firefox without restarting it… I also have the delicious add-on, and restarting fixes the bug, but soon after, it messes up again…
 
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Yeah, a couple years back I ditched FF because of memory bloat issues, and moved over to Chrome. Sometime later, after I got all settled in, I understand that FF underwent a rebuild in order to address issues like that.

That was after I'd previously switched to FF from... whatever it was I using in previous years. After I'd previously switched from something else.

Obviously the universe is just out to torment me. Which begs the question-- is it too late to toss my computer out the window, and go all John Plant? (the Australian "primitive technology" guy)

I swear, man...
 
Well I guess it another reason not to buy into the Google lie..do no harm.

DuckDuckGo the better option...

Let's try this attachment gig again...nope totally broken here now doesn't seem to work at all I'll try a reboot maybe it's my end?

* attachments deleted
 
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Oh well, really it worked that time though it stated 0% uploaded and no reboot?

mmmm....really seems to be somekind of one off, after reboot I tried again to correct the original post no go, though no problem adding a second attachment to the prior post...Eh?
 
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Thanks for the information, I have a VPN but have it disabled most of the time, also use DuckDuckGo and StartPage for searching.

Looks like I need to troubleshoot the attachment problems StevOz, we just changed PHP versions and I know they were working fine before that.
I don't see any of your recent attachments in this thread but they do appear in the attachments browser and are listed as Unassociated, meaning they uploaded but weren't assigned to a post.

Testing a jpg image:
 

Attachments

  • pinball_reflect.jpg
    pinball_reflect.jpg
    353.4 KB · Views: 116
Thanks for the information, I have a VPN but have it disabled most of the time, also use DuckDuckGo and StartPage for searching.

Looks like I need to troubleshoot the attachment problems StevOz, we just changed PHP versions and I know they were working fine before that.
I don't see any of your recent attachments in this thread but they do appear in the attachments browser and are listed as Unassociated, meaning they uploaded but weren't assigned to a post.

Testing a jpg image:
DuckDuckGo always gets down and doesn't give 100% coverage. Based on the important aspects, we have selected the following VPN providers that we believe are the best VPNs for windows and android at the moment:
 
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