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There is an easy way to open your profiles. Click on “Run”. Type: Firefox.exe -p
Please observe the space after the e in exe

-p is probably the short version of –profilemanager

Most commands after a ‘–‘ are just easier to remember commands for a ‘-‘. For example -h is the same as –help

The Home Page for this site is in Italian, and their English page is barely readable, but otherwise, this looks like a good extension. However, the latest Firefox version this site references is 3.5. I worry about compatibility with Firefox 3.6. And the extension is written up as if it relates only to Linux. I like to stick with extensions from the Firefox official download pages, to avoid possible incompatibilities. I’ve been burned too many times by out of date extensions from outside sources.

The Firefox FEBE Extension backup solution has worked for me quite well through several Firefox upgrades, and it is kept current by its authors. I like the ability to back up only the Profile elements I want to back up, and to restore only whatever I need at the time, item by item if necessary. This helps a lot when an extension breaks or something else very specific goes awry (which is unfortunately not too infrequent in my experience with Firefox updates ). And then there are those times when someone convinces me to mess with the “about:config” File…

FEBE documentation (at the authors’ Home Page) is thorough and up to date, their site includes tutorials, and their English is quite readable. And the Extension is definitely for Windows. The current FEBE version is up to date through the current developer alpha of Firefox 3.7, so their 3.6 version is stable and it works just fine.

This also appears to be excellent software though it may be a bit much for some. Also, I didn’t see anything about having multiple profiles with it, which is the main reason I use the profilemanager function. If I ever get another computer online I’ll have to remember this addon. Since I use one computer the built in profile manager is still more than sufficient for me, plus I don’t actually sync my Ubuntu and Windows Firefox accounts, only my Thunderbird accounts which share a folder. Considering the amount of email I get it wouldn’t make sense to use a backup program like this one for it. In Windows I use profile manager organization and compatibility.

I really wouldn’t advise messing with about: config unless you know exactly what you’re doing. I used to know of a site that actually listed all the functions and gave recommendations for them but, then I found FasterFox could give me an easier reference. (For instance I have a large hard drive and usually poor internet so I use infinite cache (value: -1). Originally I found out about it from that site but, now I just enter the value into Fasterfox.)

Finally, While I don’t synchronize my profiles between OSes I do synchronize my bookmarks and for that I’m currently using XMarks. It seems a bit over the edge for what I’m looking for but, the only other plugin I found to do the job didn’t have as secure of a privacy policy. I wonder, does anyone know which file in the profile folder contains the bookmarks (I’m guessing it’s probably obvious enough but, I’d like to hear from someone with experience)? If I knew the file (assuming it’s one file that’s only for bookmarks) then I should then be able to use XMarks to synchronize my bookmarks then delete the file in the Ubuntu profile folder and replace it with a symbolic link to the my main Windows Firefox profile folder.

Since I may have been a little confusing my profile setup is as follows:

Windows:
Main Bookmarks Synchronized with Ubuntu
Work Completely Stand alone (Ubuntu isn’t fully compatible with the sites I use this for)
Everyone Else This is the profile I set up for the others in my family so as to keep my data separate (I keep a lot of links)
Ubuntu:
Main The only profile set up in Ubuntu, Although my bookmarks are synchronized with it and my family uses this profile I don’t keep nearly as many addons in this profile as I do my Windows Main.

Here is a ready built firefox extension that allows you to change profiles or load a second one as well

Profile Switcher

I found it while browsing for something else. Talk about serendipity!

Excellent. I personally won’t be using it since I just select at start up but, this is nice, especially for the less nerdy people.

You said you haven’t touched linux so I’d say go with Ubuntu. It’s technically a heavyweight but, I’ve run it off of an older machine with some success. The biggest problem I see is the 512MB internal memory. For any easy to use linux your going to need more than that. As David said you could install or even run linux off of a USB drive. If you have a decently powerful external hard drive you could try it that way and if you install to an external and it doesn’t work out that well you could just reformat and try again. Just be careful not to install grub to an external hard drive that’s not always connected because it will change the MBR (Master Boot Record) and could interfere, I’m not entirely sure though.

I’ve never played with Puppy linux but, I did try DSL once and I found it was far to limited for day to day activity. You might try DSL if you like to play with command lines though.

As far as preferring multiple user accounts over multiple profiles it really is a matter of purpose. For me I’m the primary user of my computer but, my sister and father will sometimes use my computer to access the internet. Since I don’t want them clicking the wrong things in my main profile such as some of my addons which are customized to log into my own online accounts it’s a nice way to give them access without wasting space on a whole other account. It’s also much faster than switching users and I can run things like my torrents in the background while they do what they want. I also have a work only profile which works with the horrible online homework system I have to use in my Calculus class.

I also wanted to mention something else I discovered. You can have multiple firefox profiles open at the same time by creating a shortcut (or you could use the command line each time) the form of (“directory/firefox.exe” -P ProfileName -no-remote). I’m currently running my work only profile at the same time as my primary profile. To try and make it easier for less experienced users go to your desktop, right click, select new, shortcut, enter the firefox command (on x86/32-bit OSes the default is “C:Program FilesMozilla Firefoxfirefox.exe”) then add -P, your profile name, -no-remote. For me the command looks like this: “C:Program FilesMozilla Firefoxfirefox.exe” -P Gregory -no-remote

Using the profile manager can also help with sharing mozilla profiles between linux and windows.

CCleaner shouldn’t delete you restore points
Glary Utilities might
Check your System restore settings to see what’s being backed up (if your backup is too large it will fail perhaps even if you allocate the space.)
Remember that System restore saves to another partition, make sure nothing is affecting that partition and that the restore partition is still there.
Check to see that the service is enabled (I’ve actually disabled restore points by accident before).
If you run a cleaner in both XP and 7 make sure that they don’t have access to each others files.

There’s probably more but, I’m drawing a blank so these are probably the most common.
Finally, If and when the problem is solved please do us all the favor of changing the title of the thread to include something like [SOLVED]. This isn’t mandatory but, it is common courtesy (I’m trying to get more people to do this so as to eliminate unnecessary post). In case you don’t to edit your title click to edit your OP (Opening Post) then click the full editor to see the option.

These should work on 64-bit versions as well since it’s all standardized and there’s nothing specific to program files (in 64-bit you have 2 program files folders whereas in 32-bit you only have 1).

As far as tweaks go I use the “Ultimate Windows Tweaker” which I believe was mentioned in the newsletter not all that long ago. Also the God mode is actually a GUID that from what I’ve learned is actually Sinofsky’s Backdoor. Sinofsky is a Microsoft programmer that I believe has actually released a few freebies that are pretty good. the WUID is anything.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} where anything can literally be just about anything. Someone who knew about GUID’s obviously decided to call it God mode probably just to show off or something. For those that don’t know you can use GUID’s by creating an empty folder and naming it as above mentioned. For a list of all the Control Panel GUIDs go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee330741%28VS.85%29.aspx I believe I actually posted something along these lines elsewhere on the site as well (Probably the same place I found out about “God Mode”.

EDIT: Mixed up terms. Changed post to say GUID not WUID

I tried to import a copy of your task and even reformatted it but, it seems I either made a mistake making my xml file or it just wasn’t compatible at all. The actual settings seem to have been similar to enough to my own. I’ll just have to keep messing with it.

I get the following run times:
13/02/2010, 17:00:00.87
17/02/2010, 16:00:00.66
18/02/2010, 17:00:00.77
19/02/2010, 16:00:00.65

My schedule is:
16:00, Wednesday, Friday
17:00, Thursday, Saturday

I’ve left it running for another week.

cheers, Paul

Sounds like it’s not doing it for you then. Mine actually says the wrong time/date as the next run time/date (and of course follows through with those wrong times). This tells me that it could be my particular edition or it could have been an error in my install. If I could get at least one person with Win7 Professional 32-bit to try this it could be my install. If it is my install then it is either an error from when I installed it, an error from when I downloaded it (MSDNAA or Developer AA), an error they released a patch for that I’ve simply not seen (I have looked), or an issue with the Student (one user only) copy.

Thanks for the help. I at least know now that it doesn’t appear to be doing it in your setup.

Just to be on the safe side could you post your exact settings in case it’s a matter of conditional effects and what program you are running (I’m trying to run a music file directly which was fine under the XP system. I’ve also tried opening VLC with the parameter for the music file.)

I recently found a way around the blocked ports. It’s an advanced Proxy program/service call Your Freedom (http://www.your-freedom.net/). The free version has a lot of limits on it but, considering my situation I don’t think I’ll exceed those limits. The program also gets passed some of the p2p blocks.

Not sure off hand but it wouldn’t surprise me. If you mention your OS it might help. I do know that you can edit your context menus with Glary Utilities, Advanced System Care, and a many others. None of those have the ability to add spaces though, only delete entries.

I really hate doing this and I’m not sure what the rules read off hand but, since I’m getting no replies I have to bump the post. I’d really appreciate if someone could test the bug and even if you don’t have the bug tell post it and your configuration. I need to know if there’s an issue with my copy/installation before I complain to Microsoft again (and get very angry at them for saying they’d do something and not).

I installed Comodo Firewall on my Windows 7 32-bit laptop about a month ago. The install went smoothly and I’ve had no problems since. Granted it’s a PIA for a few days as Comodo keeps popping up to ask if it’s OK for various programs and services to access the internet, but that goes eventually goes away if you let it remember the permissions. The only time I see the popup now is if I am actually doing something that would cause that type of access, such as installing a new program. In this case, I know what is causing the access.

I don’t really like a firewall that just lurks in the background and doesn’t let you know that it is actually doing it’s job, if it is at all. That’s sort of like believing a politician when he or she says, “Trust me.” I tried Security Essentials with the Windows Firewall before I installed Comodo but, knowing Microsoft’s reputation for “feature poor” utilities (e.g. Windows Firewall), I didn’t feel comfortable with it. I’ll keep using Comodo.

I agree, as far as Microsoft reputation goes there aren’t all that many of there products I’d trust. I do use Win 7 of course and for easy compatibility and familiarity across systems I use MS-Office. I also have Streets and Trips which I got for free through ACM. As far as Comodo goes it does use a few more resources than some of the others I’ve found but, I’ve never had a virus with it that I didn’t allow through myself. (Do have to take risk sometimes and try a new program here and there).

To be honest when you mentioned liking to know if your firewall’s doing it’s job or not I immediately thought of an assistant principle at my old high school who never bothered telling me he dealt with a pretty big issue and looked at me funny when I asked if he had done anything. I don’t think he liked me much either…

I found this. You have to scroll down a ways to get to what may be an actual answer and not just MS regurgitation. It does indeed involve registry modification. Yiu already know to back up your registry first. I hope it helps. I do not seem to have the problem so I have not tried the solution.

His problem was slightly different than mine but I’m going to try something I adopted from there. I just changed all my power settings to the way I want them and made sure they stuck then I backed the settings by exporting “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPowerPowerSettings” from the registry. Next time I notice the settings have changed I’ll back up the changed settings then try replacing them with the ones I just exported. As far as I can tell no functions actually change when my settings revert which means that this method should work for changing the settings back without having to go through all the options again.

I think the reversion problem has to do with updating certain drivers though I haven’t given it enough attention to say for certain. In any case I thank you for the article and I hope this solution works.

I have Win 7 Pro 32-bit and I use Comodo free. When I first switched to Win 7 it had some issues especially with updating but, now it works fine. Try d-loading the newest version and if necessary run the installer in Compatibility mode (the program will actually run in normal mode).