InformAction Forums

Ive just solved, albeit a little cheat. I have another machine on which things work OK. I deleted the Mozilla directory in 'Application Data' (saving my bookmarks first) and replaced it with the directory copied from my other machine. So, what does this say about the problem in general. Hoe can people who only have one machine get a new Application Data Mozilla directory?

dtimpe *at* gmail.com wrote:I've done a clean install of FX. Installed NS with no other add-ons and the bar at the bottom of the page will not appear. Launch a second instance of FX, load the same webpage, and the bar appears.

Thanks for your detailed post.
That is some bad juju going on indeed.
Just to be clear, when you write that you launch a second instance, do you mean you open a second window - or that you open an entirely separate process - one that shows as a separate process in Task Manager?

There was an update to the .NET framework pushed through Win Update a couple of weeks ago, as well as a few other Win and Fx changes, so the field is muddy and more precise troubleshooting details will be needed.
Will you help us here?

A couple of things to try:
When the status bar doesn't appear, are there any messages in Tools|Error Console?
Create a clean new profile, install NS as the only extension and open in safe mode http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Saf ... ode_window and see what results you get with the various options that apply to our problem (ie disable extensions).

I'm not a power user and others will I'm sure have other ideas too.
Hope you can hang in and help us.

Grumpy Old Lady wrote:Create a clean new profile, install NS as the only extension

That should fix the problem. I think that's effectively what worked for Simbo.

Whew. :-)

Grumpy Old Lady wrote:

dtimpe *at* gmail.com wrote:I've done a clean install of FX. Installed NS with no other add-ons and the bar at the bottom of the page will not appear. Launch a second instance of FX, load the same webpage, and the bar appears.

Thanks for your detailed post.
That is some bad juju going on indeed.
Just to be clear, when you write that you launch a second instance, do you mean you open a second window - or that you open an entirely separate process - one that shows as a separate process in Task Manager?

There was an update to the .NET framework pushed through Win Update a couple of weeks ago, as well as a few other Win and Fx changes, so the field is muddy and more precise troubleshooting details will be needed.
Will you help us here?

A couple of things to try:
When the status bar doesn't appear, are there any messages in Tools|Error Console?
Create a clean new profile, install NS as the only extension and open in safe mode http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Saf ... ode_window and see what results you get with the various options that apply to our problem (ie disable extensions).

I'm not a power user and others will I'm sure have other ideas too.
Hope you can hang in and help us.

I'm happy to help in any way I can. I've enjoyed NoScript for quite some time and would like to continue enjoying it. I don't have much time to trouble shoot to my help will probably trickle in slowly a few times a day. I'm a "power" windows user and have reasonably computer knowledge but you may have to spell things out a little bit for me.

When I launch the second instance it is two windows of FX. Only one process shows in Task Manager. The NS bar is visible in the second instance only. This is being done on a clean profile with NS as the only extension.

I'll follow the link you provided and report back later.

Just for reference. I'm running Windows XP Tablet, updated within a week or so, FX 3.5.1 and NS 1.9.7.

dtimpe *at* gmail.com wrote:I don't have much time to trouble shoot to my help will probably trickle in slowly a few times a day. I'm a "power" windows user and have reasonably computer knowledge but you may have to spell things out a little bit for me.

hey, you will wipe the floor with me I think. I'm an old mac refugee who's had to learn XP to be a home admin ;-)
Anyway, I don't think we will need much Win work for this - just a confirmation that you definitely wiped your entire old Fx directories when you did a reinstall, http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_ ... On_Windows and maybe a peek in registry if it ever gets that far, which we have to hope it doesn't :-)

When I launch the second instance it is two windows of FX. Only one process shows in Task Manager. The NS bar is visible in the second instance only. This is being done on a clean profile with NS as the only extension.

Good. I was worried there that a second Fx process might be part of the problem ( I didn't clarify that with the OP in this thread and I think that extended their woes longer than necessary).
And a second and consequent tabs in the first Fx window? All with no NS taskbar and no NS icon?

I'll follow the link you provided and report back later.

No rush, as long as you can manage with opening a second window to get a NS session going, the bug chase will run at whatever pace you like.
I am in Australia, so I apologise in return for any delay in keeping up with you :-)

The other thing that you should also do before doing anything else is to install the latest development version of NS - see the first link in my sig. It contains cumulative bug fixes that Giorgio saves up before pushing out an official update, and it is the working version for this kind of bug hunting. He works very fast and so you should always check the link for a new version at each session you are doing the bug hunt

For your system details, each post in the forum has your Fx UA string echoed at the end to help with troubleshooting. It appears that your UA agrees with your own report. This is good, eliminates any uncertainty there :-)

I found another computer with Firefox with NoScript running OK. I copied the Mozilla directory in Application in that computer's Documents & Setting and pasted it into my machine. It worked. My Firefox is back to what I wanted.

Simbo wrote:I found another computer with Firefox with NoScript running OK. I copied the Mozilla directory in Application in that computer's Documents & Setting and pasted it into my machine. It worked. My Firefox is back to what I wanted.

Good result :-)

This article on uninstalling Fx, with tips on how to preserve your settings and bookmarks, might be of interest for the next time you come up against having to reinstall the browser.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_ ... On_Windows
Unlike the IE browser in Win systems, Fx is absolutely stand-alone with zero hooks into obscure system files, so to reinstall is a predictable and also a tweakable operation. Lifting an already installed directory from another machine has more potential for confusing problems arising down the track, than a fresh install of the latest release, after saving bookmarks and vital settings from your own system's user directory.