Newsletter Archives

• Debug your browser

  Posted on May 27, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It all started the other day when the social media website Twitter moved completely to its new domain, x.com.

  Before you shame me for using any sort of social media these days: I have very good reasons.

  One is that it’s still, hands down, the best way to determine whether a problem with a cloud service is your problem or the cloud’s problem. Microsoft still uses 𝕏 as a means to send out status alerts. Thus for many in IT, this continues to be a key way to remain aware of issues in technology.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.22.0, 2024-05-27).

  On Security Chrome, Edge, extensions, Fiddler, Firefox, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Web Browsers, X

• How to manage your browser cookies

  Posted on April 17, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  INTERNET

  

  By Lance Whitney

  Browser cookies can be helpful or harmful, depending on how and why they’re used in your browser. The key lies in taking control of them.

  You probably already know that Web browsers use cookies to save certain information. Over the years, cookies have developed a bad rep because many websites and advertisers use them to track your online activities for the purpose of sending you ads and other targeted content.

  But cookies can also help you by storing key details at websites that you frequently use. The trick here is knowing which cookies are good and which are bad, and how to manage them in general.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.16.0, 2023-04-17).

  Internet Android, Chrome, Cookies, Edge, Firefox, iOS, Newsletters, Privacy, Safari, Security, Web Browsers, Windows

• New format to Firefox annoying you?

  Posted on August 17, 2021 at 23:19 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  I’ve seen several people ask about this so I’ll showcase the workaround here from AskVG and thePlannerGuy:

  Planner guy said:

  Firefox 91 – You can still maintain the look and feel of the classic Firefox interface in Firefox 91 and do not have to resort to the ESR versions. I don’t pretend this is for the faint of heart, but I’m not a programmer at all and was able to make this work.

  First make a complete backup of your Firefox profile before attempting this. If it fails, you’ll want to restore this profile.

  Locate your profile folder
  Click the menu button, click Help and select More Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open. Under the Application Basics section next to Profile Folder, click Open Folder. Your profile folder will open.

   

  

  (Note this is just a sample from my computer – your profile name info will be different)

  Backing up your profile
  To back up your profile, first close Firefox if it is open and then copy the profile folder to another location. Locate your profile folder, as explained above. Close Firefox (if open): Click the Firefox menu and select Exit.     Go to one level above your profile’s folder, i.e. to %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ Right-click on your profile folder (e.g. xxxxxxxx.default), and select Copy. Right-click the backup location (e.g. a USB-stick or a blank CD-RW disc), and select Paste.

  

  Go up one folder and copy the folder to another location

  

  Just go to https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx where you can click on the link “Classic.”

  There you can download the “userchrome.css” file (or use the one I’ve uploaded to this posting – just change the file name to userchrome.css). Unfortunately, you can’t just download the file (why make it easy for us?). You’ll need to paint and copy the entire file to a text file on your computer — and name the file userchrome.css. If you replace the userchrome.css file in your Firefox profile with this one, you can restore the classic Firefox interface.  (Or you can download the stylesheet from the ASKvg site extract it to your computer and copy and paste as noted below)

  Note: This assumes that you have already set up this custom style sheet option before, if not, merely download the file from the ASKvg post linked here.  Unzip it and you’ll need it in the next step. Find your profile folder as shown above. Right mouse click on new and make a new folder called chrome if there isn’t one there already.

  

   Copy the userChrome.css under this folder

  

   Next you will need to you must go into about:config and set “toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets” to “true” to enable these customizations. If you don’t, Firefox will ignore your userChrome.css and userContent.css files.

  

  Click through the warning

  

  In the search box look for toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets

  

  Change to true by clicking on those funky arrow keys on the right hand side.

  

  This file is built on the old add-ons <span class=”pl-c”>Classic Theme Restorer & Classic Toolbar Buttons. You can activate specific lines by deleting the “/” at the beginning of a line. Among a slew of customizations you can make to the classic Firefox interface this css file provides, you can move the bookmarks toolbar above your tabs as the gods originally intended. You can control the toolbar buttons,  customize back and forward buttons, tab appearance and position, and customize a slew of other interface features.</span>

  Note the instruction in the file to enable this preference or custom styles will not be loaded:
  about:config > toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets > true

  I stress, however, make a backup of your Firefox profile before replacing the existing userchrome.css file and keep a backup of the userchrome.css file you download from GitHub. You will need to experiment — a lot — with the changes you make to this customized userchrome.css file. Keep very close track of the changes you make so you can reverse those you don’t like. It takes some time, but you can use this to make Firefox look the way you want as Mozilla updates the browser again and again.

  If I was able to make this work, anybody who reads AskWoody can.

  (thank you Planner guy for the detailed info!)

  Windows News Firefox, Patch Lady Posts

• What’s up with Firefox 90? Should you go back to version 88?

  Posted on July 26, 2021 at 02:42 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  In rapid succession, the Mozilla Foundation recently released versions 89 and 90 of its Firefox browser. Cries of pain immediately arose from users seeking a way to roll back to Firefox 88.

  What’s the problem?

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.28.0 (2021-07-26).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, browsers, Firefox, Public Defender

• Born: Reported profile problems with the newly updated Firefox

  Posted on December 4, 2019 at 06:35 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Günter Born reports that the new versions of Firefox, released yesterday — version 71 for most people and ESR (Extended Service Release) 68.3.0 for those on the extended track — have prompted problem reports. It isn’t clear if these are one-off, or if they’re indicative of a larger problem.

  • Upgrading to ESR 68.3 damages the default profile (C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default).
  • Upgrading to ESR 68.3 or Firefox 71 removes the policies.json file (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\distribution\policies.json).

  In addition, Born has a report that the picture-in-picture function for video playback keeps gobbling up memory.

  Can you confirm any of those reports?

  Utilities Firefox

• Firefox users don’t be fooled: The “Contact Windows support” message is fake.

  Posted on November 5, 2019 at 13:19 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Scary.

  Dan Goodin at Ars Technica takes a shovel to this message, now appearing in Firefox:

  

  Apparently the message appears as the result of a bug in Firefox and it appears if you venture onto an infected site — you don’t have to lift a finger..

  The attack works on both Windows and Mac versions of the open source browser. The only way to close the window is to force-close the entire browser using either the Windows task manager or the Force Close function in macOS.

  Looks like the Firefox folks are working on a fix.

  Thx CA…

  Windows News Firefox

• Did Firefox suddenly forget all of your passwords? Blame Avast. Again

  Posted on June 14, 2019 at 19:06 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  If Firefox suddenly forgot all of your passwords in the past day or so, blame Avast.

  It looks like Avast Antivirus and AVG Antivirus are both blocking the file that Firefox uses to store passwords. Your passwords are still there. You just need a new version of Avast or AVG.

  Martin Brinkmann has the details on ghacks:

  Firefox, just like any other modern browser, supports the saving of authentication information to improve the sign-in process on websites. Instead of having to enter the passwords manually each time they are requested, Firefox would provide the password when needed.

  Firefox saves the data in the file logins.json in the Firefox profile folder.

  Reports suggest that Avast and AVG security applications cause the issue for Firefox users. It appears that the software programs somehow corrupt the login.json file so that Firefox cannot read it anymore.

  Lawrence Abrams on BleepingComputer has the inside story:

  In a Mozilla bug post about this issue, Lukáš Rypáček, an engineering director at Avast, explained that the AVG Password Protection program will block a process’ access to saved logins unless the process is signed by a known and valid Firefox certificate. As Mozilla had issued a new certificate on 5/31/2019 and signed Firefox 67.0.2 with it, but AVG had not included it in the AVG Password Protection program, the Firefox processes were being blocked.

  Apparently Avast has released updates to fix the problem.

  Freeware Avast, AVG, Firefox

• Woody’s Windows Watch: Dispatches from the browser-war’s front lines

  Posted on February 18, 2019 at 05:38 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  

  Internet Explorer isn’t a web browser. According to Microsoft, it’s been demoted to a “compatibility solution.”

  Edge has some big fans, very few users — and it’s about to get a heart transplant.

  Chrome’s the crowd pleaser, but one hare-brained idea (recently rescinded) has to give you pause.

  Firefox keeps on foxing, but in terms of usage numbers, it can’t get a break.

  What should you do?

  Out this morning in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.6.0. Now available – yes, for free — on AskWoody.

  Windows News browsers, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Woody's Windows Watch
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