Slow Action Loading Pages - eBay Problems

Looks like this is the right place. I've been reviewing threads and feedback this week, and I'm very impressive by the depth of knowledge and assistance this forum is able to providing, bothy my Ramona and fellow users. Hopefully, you'll be able to assist me as well. I've got several Netscape issues (perhaps related, perhaps not, so forgive the length of this post), though I'm admittedly a troubleshooting novice:

1)
For many months, I've been experiencing similar problems to Maria (her Feb postings), using Netscape7.0 in my case: Netscape would close (not lockup, but rather disappear) without warning. Sometimes on eBay as Maria mentioned, but on a lot of other sites as well - does not seem to correlate with the page the browser is at. My operating system is Win2000Pro. I'll attempt some of the posted suggestions to remedy this problem over the next few days, but I have some related questions: Could the size of a Bookmark file be an issue related to these events (I keep a huge number, and the file size is currently over 1MB)? I've got 512 of RAM and and plenty of hard drive capacity if that's a consideration. How about operating 2 Netscape windows simultaneously? The problem does seem more prevalent when I'm multitasking Netscape.

2)
I recently upgraded my account with my ISP from standard 56K dialup to a broadband dialup modem line (advertised to be 3-5x faster depending on what you are browsing/uploading). However, when I am on eBay using Netscape7.0, I'd estimate that about 50% of the time, the browser would have difficulties with the eBay page demonstrating a) a blank page b) a page with text or (?)javascript c) an otherwise blank page accompanied with the message:
"javascript "src= "http://include.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/js/
help/help_contextual_rebranding.js?%ffbw=kludge1%ff ">
d) a partially (correctly) formatted eBay page, but with script or code intertwined throughout
Any idea what's going on here? I NEVER have this problem using the standard 56K dialup line with my ISP; but one of the above events occurs with regularlity on the Broadband line. My ISP was not able to help on this one, though I was given suggestions to consider Firefox or possibly Netscape7.1 (if I was in love with Netscape).

3)
I've downloaded Netscape7.1 this past week, in hopes of resolving one or both of the probems described above, albeit with skepticism. I've noticed a significant reduction in both of the above events occuring - great! But with an unacceptable tradeoff: pages seem much, much slower to view, and the system often hangs for 20-30 seconds with no indication of the reason for the delay. I also seem to frequently get a prompt that I am trying to access a ".dll application extension ", even when I'm not inteintionally downloading anything. I also get a window popping up which shows recently downloaded files that I have to manually close for Netscape to resume. So, browsing bogs down to point of being impractical.

I realize the above was a LOT of info, but perhaps the issues are related. Thanks for any insight and suggestions!

Blitz

 

Welcome to the Forum, blitz!

Hi blitz,

I thought you needed your own thread since you covered so many problems in one post...

The eBay site is problematic for many Netscape users. To the best of my knowledge there is no "fix" to correct those problems when browsing that site.

I can list some Bug Reports if you're interested?

Bookmarks wouldn't be the issue, but you should backup your Profiles folder frequently, rather than lose that many Bookmarks.

If you're multi-tasking, you might consider using the Tabbed Browsing feature. Netscape 7.1 has a serious resource leak, and the more tabs, and windows that you have open, the quicker your resources are consumed.

On your slow loading page problem: my first thought was spyware. If you haven't done so already, I would strongly urge you to run both of these freeware applications:
AdAware
and
Spybot.
With your system spec's. you should be blazing across the Internet!

For your Download Manager problem, in:
Tools | Download Manager
Ctrl+A
Then click on "Remove from List "
It's good maintenance to keep this list emptied

Could you please post the exact verbiage of the error?

Have you installed the Sun Java plugin, or using the Java that came with the Netscape install?

Ramona

 

Ramona,

Thank you for your gracious time. I know I threw a lot up at once. In the event that the problems were somehow related, I thought better to include than omit information.

I'll respond to your comments:

-I've read other users' problems using Netscape with eBay. Though what I noticed most frequently were users who had big problems with Netscape V4 and V6, and were largely able to eliminate them after upgrading to V7 or V7.1. Which is why Maria's posting last month particularly grabbed my attention since she was experiencing difficulties with V7. Since she did not post anything after the suggestions, I'm hopeful that this means she had some success....

-I will forward you the exact syntax of the .dll message -I'll cut and paste it next time I log in from home this weekend. (I thought I had saved it here, but I am not finding it.)

-Regarding backing up my bookmarks: I am doing that periodically, and made a point of backing them up before I installed Netscape7.1 this week, just in case in the install did not go cleanly.

-I'm not famililar with the tabbed browsing feature, and will look into it.

-Spybot: I was experiencing my Netscape7 'spontaneous closure' issues beforehand; last month I in fact added Spybot to my system. I saw no performance improvement or degradation with Netscape7 after installing it. I run Spybot about weekly now, and ran it after I installed N7.1 and found I was having issues. I gather from your comments that you're suggesting that it should improve things if spyware is running in the background, and not adding to the N7.1 slowness by tying up resources while I am browsing pages.

Sun Java: I have not done anything in terms of customizing Java for N7 or N7.1. I am running the Java that came with the versions. This is an area I'm not experienced enough to know when to change system defaults.

Incidentally, both Netscape V7 and V7.1 appear to still be active, as I installed V7.1 is a separate directory.

I'll get back with you on with the actual syntax of my errors.

Thanks again,

Blitz

 

Hi Blitz,

Thanks for all the information. The more the merrier!

You said that you have Netscape 7.0 installed in a separate directory, yes? Are you sharing a Profile between 7.0 and 7.1?

Ramona

 

Ramona,

an update:

a)
I went ahead a followed your February suggestions to Maria and (renamed, rather than deleted):
"compreg.dat ", "xul.mfl ", and the folder "chrome ". So far (in 2 attempts), no vanishing-crashes have occured running Netscape 7.0....a positive sign, though too few attempts to say conclusively fixed, though I'm encouraged.

b)
Emptied the Download Manager in Netscape 7.1 per your suggestion. I noticed the Download Manager window had taken maybe 20 seconds to appear after selecting it from the Tools Menu, which is consistent with the delays I'd been incurring when it would continually pop up and bog things down. Since emptying it, it has not appeared while browsing, and even when I request it from the Tools menu (curious that I can't bring it up, but I won't complain). I imagine once I have downloaded some files, it will again answer the call when I request it from the Tools menu.

c)
Answering your 3/13 question: yes, I am sharing profiles, at least so far as I understand them. Netscape7.0 and 7.1 access the same bookmark file and mail file folders. A folder named "profiles" exists in C:\Documents and Settings\User_name\Application Data\Mozilla. There are also folders named "profile" at D:\program files\Netscape7 (or 7_1)\defaults
[comments: this is where I placed the two respective Netscape versions when I installed them; D:\ is the larger portion of my partioned hard drive]

d) I have not yet had a revisit of the ".dll application extension" error I told you about last week, with regard to V7.1. Perhaps the above fixes have resolved. If it does re-appear, I'll copy the syntax exactly and let you know.

e) Spybot has not shown anything of significance needing to be removed

f) Thanks for the tip on the Tabbed Browsing feature, which is available in both versions. My own ignorance not knowing about it....seems to work nicely.

So, things do seem to be running more smoothly. I'll continue to monitor, and provide feedback, positive or negative.

Thanks for the time and thoroughness. If you have any follow-up questions, I'll continue to check in.

Regards and thanks,
Jeff

 

Hi blitz,

Download Manager:

The Download Manager should be available to you. Maybe the file is corrupt. Do this:
Close Netscape and Quick Launch
Navigate to the salted (*.slt) folder and delete: downloads.rdf
Open Netscape
Is the Download Manager available now?

Sharing a Profile

Let's go a little deeper...
Do you have two Profile name folders, i.e.,:
C:\Documents and Settings\User_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename

From the Netscape 7.0 - 7.1 Release Notes:

Preferences
Do not share a profile between Netscape and Mozilla browsers. Doing this can lead to unpredictable results, which may include loss of Search settings and preferences and unchecked growth of the Bookmarks file (large enough to freeze your system). It is best to create a new profile for each, or manually copy (and change the name) of an existing profile.

The same applies if sharing a Profile with two Versions of Netscape, or two Versions of Mozilla. If you have only one Profile, then you need to create a new Profile for one of your Netscape 7 applications. The Profile data, and all preferences are contained in the above location. The profile folder in D:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape does not contain the data referred to above. Any reference to the Profile folder refers to:
C:\.......Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles


Ramona

 

Ramona,

1) Download Manager:

Followed your instructions and deleted the downloads.rdf file in the .slt directory. Reopened N7.1. Still am not bringing up the downloads manager. In fact, I tried saving an image file, and was unsuccessful in doing so. Apparently I've got a more significant problem than I had thought.

2) Profile Sharing:
---------------------------------------------------
Ramona: Do you have two Profile name folders, i.e.,:
C:\Documents and Settings\User_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename ?
---------------------------------------------------
Answer: No. Within the sub-directory \profiles, I have a single profile folder named "default ". (Within \profiles\default is the .slt folder I used in part 1) above.)


The Netscape release notes you copied me suggest that I duplicate the "default" folder and assign a unique name to each profile....then how do I get N7.0 to point to one of the profiles, and N7.1 to point to the other?

The release notes mention the problem of not doing so:
"...which may include loss of Search settings and preferences and unchecked growth of the Bookmarks file (large enough to freeze your system)." Is there a rule of thumb as to how large can the Bookmarks file be before it begins to be problematic?

Back to the suggestion of duplicating and renaming 2 distinct profiles:
Within the profile folder's .slt sub-directory are files which contain bookmarks, cookies, and an assortment of roughly 20 files. With these duplicated in separate profile folders as the release notes suggest, then I will no longer be able to share the same bookmark file between N7 and N7.1 (since each time I add a bookmark it will append only the profile I will be pointed to). Same with cookies and the rest of the files here. Would I then follow the instructions you placed at the link:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns7sharebkmks.html
in order to share a single bookmark file?

Do I do similarly with cookies, or is it inadvisable to share other file from with a given profile?
With separate profiles, will I also be creating two separate mail files, or will it be possible to still share mail between N7 and N7.1?

Incidentally, N7.0 did have another spontaneous crash/closure episode last night. Ultimately, if I can clean up problems in either N7 or N7.1, I'll ultimately delete the other application version which should eliminate the profile sharing issue....but I'm holding off until I can sort through the issues in N7 or N7.1 that I'd posted in my initial note last week. If I go with N7.1, the Download Manager issue will need to be resolved as well.

Thanks,
Blitz

 

Blitz,

Yes, that will allow you to share the bookmarks.html file between multiple Profiles.

This guideline will explain which files to copy from the current Profile to the new Profile: Create a New Profile The only components you can share between Mozilla Profiles or Netscape Profiles, are these:
Bookmarks
Mail
Cache

In the Mail & Newsgrups | Server Settings for each Profile, enter the path for the Mail Account you wish to share in the "Local directory" field.

None of your issues will be resolved until you create a separate Profile for one of the Netscape Versions. Sharing the same profile is the issue...

Ramona

 

Thanks again for your time and assistance, Ramona.

I'll give it a go and keep you posted. I suppose that I could also remove one of the versions of Netscape to eliminate some of the recent issues, but then I may be back where I started when I was running N7. But one step at a time.

Appreciate your assistance. You've been really terrific!

Blitz