New Firefox: Yay or Nay?

[onime_no_kai]

Ok, so, I got the new Firefox 3.5 today. Of course I clicked download about two seconds before it occurred to me to wonder if the new version would be compatible with the Neo toolbar...which, of course, it isn't. :crying: Hopefully it won't take Neo another half a year or more to update the toolbar -- I despise IE and refuse to use it, but with all these scams and stuff going on I don't want to resort to Tarla links on the boards. I was going to just go back and redownload the old version for now, but ran into a slight snag -- this appears to be all but impossible. Everything I tried as far as Mozilla's site itself and search engines just redirected me to the new version; I've had trouble trying to get old versions through other sites before (my computer hates them and they don't work) so I didn't mess with it. I even tried a system restore (which failed, but that's a whole other issue; everything I can find pretty much says that System Restore has a distressing habit of becoming a piece of junk when you actually want to use it. o_O) Does anyone know of any other way that I can get the old version back and actually have it work?

 

Anyway, since it appears that I'm stuck with the new version whether I like it or not, I was wondering what the computer-knowledgeable people here think about it. Do you like this version? Is it a significant improvement over the old one? Just curious. :)

[thejoker1986]

I did that during there last update. I haven't been prompted for the update, but my friend warned me on Thursday that it had gotten rid of her Neopet toolbar and she couldn't get it to work again. I promised myself that I wouldn't download the new one right away again.

[ΩCCΩ]

*Headesk* I downloaded FF after using IE all my life and I found it very different and confusing, currently I have a problem with the Favorites thingy, I want to find a page in my favorites like in IE but it doesn't work.

 

Second thing is that at the begging when I opened FF for the first time, this dialog box came and it asked me if I wanted to save my history so I said yes but now whenever I close the FF and open it again I see that it didnt go back to the home page but it takes me to the last page that I visited.

 

Can anyone help me please :(.

[onime_no_kai]

*Headesk* I downloaded FF after using IE all my life and I found it very different and confusing, currently I have a problem with the Favorites thingy, I want to find a page in my favorites like in IE but it doesn't work.

 

Second thing is that at the begging when I opened FF for the first time, this dialog box came and it asked me if I wanted to save my history so I said yes but now whenever I close the FF and open it again I see that it didnt go back to the home page but it takes me to the last page that I visited.

 

Can anyone help me please :(.

 

Aww :( Don't worry, you'll get used to it (and while I'm currently super-annoyed with it because I can't get the old version back, I will still say that FF >>>> IE. ;))

 

As far as the favorites -- I apologize if I'm confused on what you need and am about to give an answer that was completely not what you were asking for. :P I usually just leave the bookmarks sidebar open so all I have to do is click on what I want. To do this, just go to View --> Sidebar --> Bookmarks. Some people find the sidebar annoying, but I like it, though I'd recommend shrinking it to the thinnest it gets to keep it out of the way. If you don't want to leave the sidebar open, then you can access your favorites by going to the "bookmarks" area on the menu.

 

About the history thing -- I've actually never had that, though if you're closing the browser with multiple tabs open it will ask you if you want to save them. I fiddled around a little and I think this might be what you want: go to Tools --> Options and make sure you have the "Main" tab up. The first thing should say "When Firefox starts: (dropdown menu)". "Show my home page" should be an option, so select that (and put in the URL of whatever you want to use as your home page in the box below), then hit "OK." Let me know if that works -- it sounds to me like that's what you need to do, but like I said I've never had your particular problem so I'm not completely sure. If it doesn't work I'll look around some more. ;)

 

As an extra side note: if you haven't already, I highly recommend installing the AdBlock add-on at the very least -- TDN has a very helpful and user-friendly guide on how to do this. :yes:

[FutureTXTurkey]

I too was surprised and a little dissappointed to find that the Neo-toolbar was once more incompatible. And on the whole I don't really see an marked

improvements in this version of fire fox. I had to install it though because my old version had gone all wiggity-wack and a reinstall was my only option.

 

I've only ever used firefox and IE and for my money Firefox is a million times better than IE. It does take a little getting use to, but smaller, faster, safer, and

more custom is about all I need in a web browser. I just wish TNT would quite favoring IE so much, switching browsers for the adver wheel gets real old.

[cobble-stone]

excuse me if i ask but what is the neopets toolbar? do you have to download it or something or buy it?

[Strategos]

The Neopets toolbar is a free plugin for Internet Explorer and Firefox. It is available at http://toolbar.neopets.com/

 

As to Firefox 3.5, I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard that it's a bit easier to use than Firefox 3, but it's not that much different from Firefox 3.

[Guest Severus Snape]

Firefox does indeed work with the Neopets toolbar, but not by default in version 3.5.1. You need to do some workarounds, like when it wasn't compatible with 3.0.

 

Let's start. I'm assuming you already have 3.5.1 installed and that the toolbar is NOT WORKING at the moment. If you DON'T have 3.5.1 installed yet, DO NOT remove your Neopets toolbar, simply upgrade to 3.5.1 and then come back to these instructions. This is EXTREMELY important, or it won't work.

 

1- Open Firefox 3 and type in about:config in the address bar. Click 'I'll be careful, I promise!'.

 

2- A whole load of funny strings should appear, don't touch them! Just right click and select New > Boolean. Enter this in the preference name: extensions.checkCompatibility and choose false for its value. Do the same thing, but this time enter extensions.checkUpdateSecurity and set it to false. You should have something like the below (I filtered).

 

 

Yes, I know this is old, but the result is still the same.

 

RESTART YOUR BROWSER. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.

 

Open your browser again, and voilá, you should have something similar to this:

 

 

This will work for any extensions that aren't compatible with 3.5. I can't vouch for the behavior of these, but the Neopets toolbar will work 100% AFAIK.

 

Happy browsing!

[onime_no_kai]

Firefox does indeed work with the Neopets toolbar, but not by default in version 3.5.1. You need to do some workarounds, like when it wasn't compatible with 3.0.

 

...

 

This will work for any extensions that aren't compatible with 3.5. I can't vouch for the behavior of these, but the Neopets toolbar will work 100% AFAIK.

 

Happy browsing!

 

YAY! I'd never seen that trick (and am far too failtastic at that kind of thing to have ever figured it out myself. :P) Thanks so much!!

 

P.S. Another YAY for your UN and icon ;) Snape is my favorite. :D

[ΩCCΩ]

Thanks onime_no_kai :D! Your instructions were really helpful.

 

 

PS: I loved your UN too, Poor Snape ....

[stephie23]

Maybe try and find someone who downloaded the last one, and had the download file put on their computer.

 

I made the mistake of updating my IE to the newest one and had nothing but problems. They tried to copy firefox, and it didnt work, all it would do was crash on me... so after quite a bit of trouble I managed to get the old one back! :) *phew*

 

even with the old one I have to use firefox to do the tarla toolbar ... the toolbar crashes my IE. :( *sigh*

[Lion]

o-o

Can someone help me?

My FF just died on me.

I've tried uninstalling the old version, and installing the new one, but that had no luck. :(

 

I want my FF again!

Chrome just doesn't replace FF.

[antiaircraft]

o-o

Can someone help me?

My FF just died on me.

I've tried uninstalling the old version, and installing the new one, but that had no luck. :(

 

I want my FF again!

Chrome just doesn't replace FF.

Could you describe the specific problem you're having so I can give you more tailored assistance? :P As of now, the only thing I can think of is a profile or extension problem, in which case you might want to try starting it in safe mode (Start > All Programs > Mozilla Firefox > Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode) in Windows).

 

As a Firefox contributor, I must withhold any opinions on Firefox 3.5 as they will most likely be inherently biased. xD But I can say that, apart from extension issues, there is absolutely no reason not to update from Firefox 3.0. The update will bring improvements in several UI areas, but the real boosts are behind-the-scenes, in terms of speed, responsiveness, and support for new web technologies.

 

However, if you do feel the need to downgrade Firefox, check out the official page for legacy versions. I must warn you: downgrading is not a thoroughly tested procedure, and you could end up with some corrupted profile data.

[Lion]

Okay, AA.

 

I start up FF, right? Then, it loads the homepage fine, but when you click on anything, it becomes un-responsive. x)

And I have tried it in Safe Mode - no luck. :(

[antiaircraft]

Okay, so what kind of click event did you trigger? Did you click a link, open a menu, select some text...?

[Lion]

Well, normally, I would click the Bookmarks menu. :yes:

Once or twice I clicked a link on iGoogle to change the theme/gadgets. (iGoogle is my homepage, in case you were wondering)

[Sapphy the Swamp Witch]

Well I think 3.5 is definitely an improvement - the plus sign thing for the tabs is very convenient, and it is noticeably faster. :yes: So yay for me. xD

[antiaircraft]

Well, normally, I would click the Bookmarks menu. :yes:

Once or twice I clicked a link on iGoogle to change the theme/gadgets. (iGoogle is my homepage, in case you were wondering)

Are you running Spybot S&D by any chance? It's been known to cause symptoms similar to yours. :yes:

 

But for serious troubleshooting, check out this comprehensive article. ;)

[Lion]

Are you running Spybot S&D by any chance? It's been known to cause symptoms similar to yours. :yes:

 

But for serious troubleshooting, check out this comprehensive article. ;)

 

Hey! Guess what? I disabled Spybot and FF is working!

Thanks AA! You rock. ;)

 

Now, I'm going to try what HBK said and make my Neopets toolbar work.

[antiaircraft]

You're welcome! :D But seriously, thank the awesome volunteer community behind Firefox QA and support (and all other aspects of Firefox). :yes:

[Briannac]

Nay because it dosen't support neopets toolbar.

[antiaircraft]

Nay because it dosen't support neopets toolbar.

If you bothered to read the topic, you'd notice that HBK actually posted a workaround to get the Neopets Toolbar running in Fx 3.5. ;)

[Sapphy the Swamp Witch]

Thanks so much for the work-around, HBK. :)

[jfarside612]

I registered just to say a HUGE THANK YOU!! This works for the FF 3.5.2 also!!!! I now have my toolbar back :D

[Viridian]

Oh I'm glad someone revived this topic or I wouldn't have a toolbar on mine anymore. Thanks for the workaround!

 

Question though, is all security for new addons turned off now? I'm not sure when I'll add a new one to it and who knows whether its nice or vicious..