the-edmeister's Firefox webpages
the-edmeister's
comments and rants about Firefox in 2006
the stuff 'they' never tell you about in the Help files
and as an added bonus, my rants about various Firefox issues
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No more unpleasant surprises for 'noobs' with seeing the user Profile dialog box for the very first time and not knowing what to do - this new warning box is displayed when a user attempts to start Firefox when a Profile is 'hung'!
Now when you see the Profile Manager dialog box, you have purposely run the ProfileManager command! The eleven month period of developer 'denial' has ended! (Eleven months was the 'run' of Firefox 1.0.x versions. 'Denial' being the fact that Firefox has a Profile and that a Firefox Profile doesn't always close completely even though the user thinks he has closed Firefox!)
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When upgrading to a new version do a Custom installation to a uniquely named Program Files folder to allow use of an existing installation while becoming familiar with the new version. There is no reason to not be able to have 2 concurrent installations of the Firefox program; just keep in mind that to have them operate independently of each other you will need to create a new Profile specifically for the new installation.
You will also have to either launch each installation/Profile with the Profile Manager dialog box or have the desktop icon's for each have the specific matching Profile in the shortcuts' Target: box. ( Instructions are on another page of this website. )
I recommend creating the folder before you start installing Firefox.
I use the date and version number of the Firefox version I am installing as the folder name - like this: C:\Program Files\Internet Browsers\1.5-2005-11-11\
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Do not ever create a new Profile in the My Documents folder! (That is the first location that a Windows OS defaults to when you want create a new Profile in other than the default location.) Due to sysadmin desires, Firefox does not create a new folder for the individual files that make up a Profile - they are dumped directly into whatever directory the new Profile is pointed to.
{i.e., 'ordinary' logic is pimped by the wants of corporate sysadmins}
If you ever go to delete a Profile (thru the Profile Manager dialog box) that was installed directly in the My Documents folder, you may unhappily discover that Firefox not only deleted your Profile files, but has deleted every other file in the My Documents folder! Damn the developers for this aberant behavior! Double-damn them for bending 'us' over for the sysadmins!!
IMHO, if you do want your new Profile in other than the default location, create a folder for the new Profile in the exact location you want before you create the new Profile. Make sure that when you do create the new Profile, that do have the correct folder selected in the Windows Explorer interface. The safest 'choice' is to just accept the default location, unless you have very specific reasons for having it elsewhere.
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Firefox's Profile Manager - related to # 2 - above,
but I made this separate because of comment #3 below and my thoughts/rants about the lack of documentation about Profiles in Firefox's Help files and the dismissive 'official' attitude about same.
Bugzilla Bug #302087
Inadequate warning before Profile Manager deletes non-Mozilla files
Comment #3 by one the lead developers on 07-25-2005:
"The profile manager is not meant for normal people, or even advanced normal people... only for developers who know what they're doing."
Why no mention of Firefox having a user Profile in the Help Contents that come within the browser? I wish I could poll the 100 Million plus users who downloaded Firefox 1.0 versions over the course of eleven months, to see how many of them unexpectedly saw the Profile Manager dialog box when all they wanted to do was to use Firefox as intended! If only 1% saw it, you're talking about over 1 million users who didn't know that what they were seeing was an integral part of the program, and had no idea how to deal with it properly, like opening the Task Manager and ending the errant firefox.exe process before proceeding. IMO, its' not if a user will see the Profile Manager dilaog box, but when they will see it, and how will they react!
What did they do when they saw that box for the first time? Did they just click at 'stuff' until the dialog box went away? How did they react when they realized that they 'lost' their bookmarks if their click created a new Profile? How many users went to the MozillaZine forums to get help with "lost bookmarks"? How many just quit using Firefox?
What about W2K and WinXP users who use these OS's as they are designed to be used, with separate Logon User Accounts for each individual who shares a PC? Why is there no mention of Profiles in the topic "Help for Internet Explorer Users"? Why is there no Help topic for setting up a Firefox Profile for a Logon User without Adminstrative rights?
- Firefox 1.5 versions - naming a new Profile in the Profile Manager dialog box.
I recommend not having a space in the Profile name, use an underscore or hyphen instead; in my experience with earlier versions of Firefox, some files in the Profile folder didn't 'like' a space in the Profile name. When naming Profiles I usually use the date that I created the Profile - like 12-31-05 or 01-01-06_T.
Whatever you decide to name your Profile will be added as a suffix to the eight digit alpha/numeric 'security name' prefix that Firefox randomly generates. You will only see the name you used in the Profile Manager dialog box, but the Profile name in your Profiles folder will have the 'security name' as the prefix and the name you used as the suffix of the complete Profile name. As far as how long of a Profile name (suffix) that Firefox will accept, I don't know the upper limit. I have one Profile in 1.5 that has a 16 character suffix, I had one other that was 22 characters in length.
As an example, I decide to create a new Profile and name it eds_new_profile.
The full name of the Profile might end up being something like this -
9fCli098.eds_new_profile.
The prefix of 9fCli098 was randomly generated by Firefox and the name you entered was added as a suffix.
Unlike the 1.0 versions of Firefox, 1.5 requires an 8 digit alpha/numeric suffix as an integral part of the Profile name. If you attempt to remove the 8 digit suffix, or use less than 8 digits, Firefox will 'correct your oversight' and randomly generate a 'proper' 8 digit 'security' suffix. Note that Firefox 1.5 does not absolutely require an official 8 digit security name as the Profile name prefix to run; if you are working with an existing Profile in the Windows Explorer you can rename an existing Profile suffix to anything that contains exactly 8 alpha/numeric characters! Just remember to make a similar change in the profiles.ini Path statement and in the ..\Local Settings\...\Profiles\ files, so that everything matches the renamed Profile.
not complete - there are a lot more rants to come!
Now when you see the Profile Manager dialog box, you have purposely run the ProfileManager command! The eleven month period of developer 'denial' has ended! (Eleven months was the 'run' of Firefox 1.0.x versions. 'Denial' being the fact that Firefox has a Profile and that a Firefox Profile doesn't always close completely even though the user thinks he has closed Firefox!)
You will also have to either launch each installation/Profile with the Profile Manager dialog box or have the desktop icon's for each have the specific matching Profile in the shortcuts' Target: box. ( Instructions are on another page of this website. )
I recommend creating the folder before you start installing Firefox.
I use the date and version number of the Firefox version I am installing as the folder name - like this: C:\Program Files\Internet Browsers\1.5-2005-11-11\
{i.e., 'ordinary' logic is pimped by the wants of corporate sysadmins}
If you ever go to delete a Profile (thru the Profile Manager dialog box) that was installed directly in the My Documents folder, you may unhappily discover that Firefox not only deleted your Profile files, but has deleted every other file in the My Documents folder! Damn the developers for this aberant behavior! Double-damn them for bending 'us' over for the sysadmins!!
IMHO, if you do want your new Profile in other than the default location, create a folder for the new Profile in the exact location you want before you create the new Profile. Make sure that when you do create the new Profile, that do have the correct folder selected in the Windows Explorer interface. The safest 'choice' is to just accept the default location, unless you have very specific reasons for having it elsewhere.
Bugzilla Bug #302087
Inadequate warning before Profile Manager deletes non-Mozilla files
Comment #3 by one the lead developers on 07-25-2005:
"The profile manager is not meant for normal people, or even advanced normal people... only for developers who know what they're doing."
Why no mention of Firefox having a user Profile in the Help Contents that come within the browser? I wish I could poll the 100 Million plus users who downloaded Firefox 1.0 versions over the course of eleven months, to see how many of them unexpectedly saw the Profile Manager dialog box when all they wanted to do was to use Firefox as intended! If only 1% saw it, you're talking about over 1 million users who didn't know that what they were seeing was an integral part of the program, and had no idea how to deal with it properly, like opening the Task Manager and ending the errant firefox.exe process before proceeding. IMO, its' not if a user will see the Profile Manager dilaog box, but when they will see it, and how will they react!
What did they do when they saw that box for the first time? Did they just click at 'stuff' until the dialog box went away? How did they react when they realized that they 'lost' their bookmarks if their click created a new Profile? How many users went to the MozillaZine forums to get help with "lost bookmarks"? How many just quit using Firefox?
What about W2K and WinXP users who use these OS's as they are designed to be used, with separate Logon User Accounts for each individual who shares a PC? Why is there no mention of Profiles in the topic "Help for Internet Explorer Users"? Why is there no Help topic for setting up a Firefox Profile for a Logon User without Adminstrative rights?
I recommend not having a space in the Profile name, use an underscore or hyphen instead; in my experience with earlier versions of Firefox, some files in the Profile folder didn't 'like' a space in the Profile name. When naming Profiles I usually use the date that I created the Profile - like 12-31-05 or 01-01-06_T.
Whatever you decide to name your Profile will be added as a suffix to the eight digit alpha/numeric 'security name' prefix that Firefox randomly generates. You will only see the name you used in the Profile Manager dialog box, but the Profile name in your Profiles folder will have the 'security name' as the prefix and the name you used as the suffix of the complete Profile name. As far as how long of a Profile name (suffix) that Firefox will accept, I don't know the upper limit. I have one Profile in 1.5 that has a 16 character suffix, I had one other that was 22 characters in length.
As an example, I decide to create a new Profile and name it eds_new_profile.
The full name of the Profile might end up being something like this -
9fCli098.eds_new_profile.
The prefix of 9fCli098 was randomly generated by Firefox and the name you entered was added as a suffix.
Unlike the 1.0 versions of Firefox, 1.5 requires an 8 digit alpha/numeric suffix as an integral part of the Profile name. If you attempt to remove the 8 digit suffix, or use less than 8 digits, Firefox will 'correct your oversight' and randomly generate a 'proper' 8 digit 'security' suffix. Note that Firefox 1.5 does not absolutely require an official 8 digit security name as the Profile name prefix to run; if you are working with an existing Profile in the Windows Explorer you can rename an existing Profile suffix to anything that contains exactly 8 alpha/numeric characters! Just remember to make a similar change in the profiles.ini Path statement and in the ..\Local Settings\...\Profiles\ files, so that everything matches the renamed Profile.
