Firefox - zip file vs. actual installation

Why do some people choose to run FF from the zip file as opposed to actually installing it (i.e., using the exe file)?
Rebecca

 

I can tell you why I do.

Using the .zip I install it to my D: drive and nothing exists outside of the folder I created for it. When I want to get rid of it for the next version or fix, I go to safe mode and delete the folder, install the new one and continue the march.

Once FF is finalized I probably will install it with the .exe file after a period of waiting for any false starts and further bug fixes. I will probably end up with FF and Thunderbird as my final online stuff.

 

Thanks for the reply, Bill - that makes sense to me.
Another question for you, though: for a while, I had the 0.9 version of FF installed on my computer. Then I downloaded the zip file of 1.0PR, and ran FF from that for a couple of weeks. My bookmarks remained the same in the two versions - does this mean that my profile was somehow shared by both of them?
Rebecca

 

rebecca

Excellent question! (any question that makes me think)

I have been doing it wrong.This is how I did it just now.

I went to the doc and settings folder, application data Mozilla folder and found firefox and deleted it. Went to the c:\program files folder and found firefox under mozilla.org and deleted the firefox folder. Went to the D:\program files folder and deleted firefox folder. Ran Registry first aid and cleaned all refs it found. Now have no firefox stuff on the computer.

Then I unzipped the install file to D:\Program Files. Found firefox.exe and sent it to the desktop as a shortcut. Opened that and firefox asked me if I wanted to import from Internet Explorer, Netscape or Mozilla. I selected none and firefox opened with a new profile and waited for me to set my prefs etc.

As I remember it, when I did this before your excellent question, I was not asked the import question. It used the default profile located on C: drive that was there from the old version.

I now have D:\Program Files\Firefox and C:\Documents and settings\william\application data\mozilla\firefox\profiles with a new profile.

This is what I suppose would be called a clean installation of Firefox. Right Ramona?

 

You got it Bill!

Ramona

 

Rebecca,
as you see from Bill's reply, while you can put the unzipped file, which is equivalent to the program plus the GRE folder, anywhere you want, the profile will go into a default location.
I was asked, I think, when I first got FF1.0pr which settings I wanted to import. I say I think because I create a new profile out of habit. The most obvious reason why I wanted two separate profiles was because I wanted to keep some of the extention. Hardly anything is compatible in 1.0.x.
I, also, have FF0.9.3 as my default browser for Copernic Plus, a search suite.
I will use 1.0, regularly, when it behaves.

 

rebecca,

Why I use the zip file, which Bill and Westside didn't mention, is because it doesn't add anything to the Registry except your preferences. The .exe file would of course add more Registry Keys. The Champions consider this "no Registry entries ", however, a Registry key is a Registry key, the way I see it....

Ramona