Can't open profile after problem with Extension update & then uninstall (User Agent..

I tried to update to User Agent Switcher 0.6.4 Extension. Install seemed to go fine. Reopened browser & the UA was not on the Tools Menu. Looked in Extension Uninstaller & it showed UAS as still 0.6.3

Tried to update to 0.6.4 again with same results. Thought maybe I should try uninstall of UAS 0.6.3 & then try again. Used Extension Uninstaller to uninstall UAS 0.6.3 & closed browser. Now the Profile (only that one) won't open. Profile Manager opens, & I select the Profile. Netscape.exe shows in Task Manager but doesn't open. If I kill the process, I can open Netscape (but only in other profiles).

I went into the affected User profile & deleted every reference to User Agent Switcher. Looked in every file. Only one I couldn't open was user.js listed as 0KB. Trying to open it each time MS Antispyware says PoeBot.Explorer trojan is trying to run. I choose clean & it says cleaned. Try to open again, & same thing happens. If I select ignore it, file still doesn't open.

Googling only tells me this trojan is a few days old with no removal instructions. Deep scanned including CA VET, Trojan Hunter, Spybot, Adaware, McAfee Antispyware, Pest Patrol, CWShredder, & HiJackThis yields no malware. Strangely, a full scan with MS Antispyware yields nothing, but trying to open user.js yields the same result (that trojan alert).

Are my 2 problems connected? Did this trojan get in through UAS xpi?
How do I get my Profile to open?
(How do I get your Extension to reinstall & again work?)

FYI, only time I ever had a trojan alert before was months ago the day before the SUN Java vulnerability was posted.

Appreciate all Help.

 

Marklet,

I have no experience with this extension. I would go to this page, on the author's site for more information:
Installation
UA Switcher Forum

Also check out this thread on our "Removing Spyware and Viruses" Forum:
PoeBot.Explorer

BTW, the user.js file is user created, and if you have a backup of the file, then delete it. The *.js files are easily opened by opening Wordpad, click on File | Open, navigate to the user.js file, and open.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,

Thanks for your reply. I went to the Forum (we think alike) & read all site pages. The Developer's first reply was not helpful. I posted a followup.

As to PoeBot.Explorer, I'm guessing it wasn't related & just found as a false positive in a 0 KB file.

"BTW, the user.js file is user created, and if you have a backup of the file, then delete it. The *.js files are easily opened by opening Wordpad, click on File | Open, navigate to the user.js file, and open ". No method would open this one strangely until I moved its location. I then opened in Notepad & it was a true 0 KB (not rounded down). It was empty (totally blank) & I deleted it.

That has not helped me get the Profile open. Is there a way to transfer All this into a new Profile?
What's important to me:
bookmarks
browser preferences
history of visited links
installed extensions & their settings
installed themes
changes made over long period of time in about:config and/or using Preferential

 

Marklet,

I did not on the extension page that there is a "Contact" link, so you can contact the developer directly:
http://www.chrispederick.com/contact/

Bookmarks, and History are easily copied: bookmarks.html and history.dat
Never copy a prefs.js file to a new Profile. Most of the time it is the pref.js file that is corrupt.
Extensions and Themes may, or may not work. All you can do is try...
about:config is prefs.js, do not copy prefs.js, as I warned above

I have a guideline here for Creating a New Profile

Ramona

 

Sorry to hear about your profile problems, Marklet.

I tried User Agent Switcher some time back, as well as the User Agent in PrefBar, but couldn't get either of them to work with Firefox. Launchy, on the other hand, works perfectly with both Firefox and Thunderbird. It also works with Mozilla, which, if I remember correctly, you use.

 

Hi JSS3rd,
Thanks for the sympathy. I hate situations like this & my silliness to not have done a backup. Actually both the UA in PrefBar & in UAS have always worked for me (if one didn't on a site, the other covered it). Launchy immediately caused me problems when I tried it & was uninstalled.

As with some past problems, I'm still experimenting (Definition: pulling my hair out) trying to save my current Profile that won't open (or at least most everything I want from it).

As to Ramona's latest reply: Thank you Ramona. As I previously said, the Developer replied in Forum but was no Help. If he hadn't replied there, I saw the email & would've used it. The Developer's useless reply was that it's best to install Extensions always in a fresh profile. Is that ridiculous, or am I missing something? That could only conceivably apply if it was the only Extension and/or Theme you were using. Otherwise it could never be "fresh ". And it would mean having to redo prefs.js; I never kept a memo log of all the tweaks & settings I've made there. You said to never copy prefs.js to a new profile: what method do you use to record & to restore all the changes/settings/tweaks you've made? Ramona/friend, P-L-E-A-S-E don't say the method is your personal memory; my brain cells definitely don't have that capability.

Anyway, as I continue experimenting to save the Profile (others may say useless but somehow I managed it before), I have questions that may or may not have bearing. The folder under the profile name folder has the suffix .slt; is there anything unique about this folder being named with a .suffix in it? I notice that chrome.rdf is full of references to the profile name & the .slt; can chrome.rdf be saved by changing all these references to a newly created profile name & its .slt? If yes, is there a method/software for mass replacing the high volume of these references (eg: replace every Mozilla/Profiles/ "x "/ "xx ".slt with Mozilla/Profiles/ "y "/ "yy ".slt)?

 

Marklet, as members here have seen me post this many times, I am using the same Profile, which dates back to the Ark. I haven't created a new Profile since Version .03 of Firefox. As to Netscape and Mozilla, samo, samo! I am very conservative, and don't really like extensions, for the very reason you are experiencing. I don't want to jeopardize my Profiles. The only extensions I use are Chatzilla, and SpellBound. Even so, I back up my Profiles folder every day...

The significance is that Profile data is stored in this randomly named directory to make it difficult for malicious programs to find profile data. This is called salting, thus *.slt.

You can try changing the references using Wordpad, which has a Find and Replace feature.

Don't you have a Profile backup? If not you might want to read the Preventive Browser Maintenance page that is included in the sticky at the top of the Forum.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,

Thank you for your reply.

"I am using the same Profile, which dates back to the Ark ". You look very well for your age!

"I am very conservative, and don't really like extensions, for the very reason you are experiencing ". Respect your view, plus I possibly overdo it. Still, many Extensions significantly add to my 'joy' of browsing and/or provide time saving utility.

" I don't want to jeopardize my Profiles. The only extensions I use are Chatzilla, and SpellBound. Even so, I back up my Profiles folder every day... ".
I should & hopefully now will backup before installing any new or updated extension or theme. That said, since you do 'religiously' backup, please do explain what other danger/ "jeopardize" you then see? If a Profile is backed up (copied to a different location) & then there's a profile problem: does simply deleting the Profile & pasting in the backup not work or not always work? Is there some interaction with Registry by the corrupted Profile that doesn't allow the backup to simply be pasted in? Is a Regshot required before & after any Extension or Theme install or update?

Thank you for the .slt naming significance expanation. That sounds to me that it's 'just' smart naming & the folder itself couldn't possibly be corrupt (as opposed to files in it)?

"You can try changing the references using Wordpad, which has a Find and Replace feature ". I of course have Wordpad (& Word & Notepad). I was opening it with Notepad & didn't know that function. I'll experiment with doing that in Wordpad. Thank you very much. (yes I know to change the open with just for it).

Thank you very much.

 

FWIW

look at:
UltraEdit

regards:captjlddavis

 

I like UltraEdit, too ... I was used to an extremely full-featured text editor on the Amiga, and when I migrated to the PC eight years ago I found M$'s NotePad laughable. I don't remember how I happened on UE, but I've been using it through many different versions. IDM has just introduced version 11.0, but I'm still using 8.1a ... it's that good!

Before you spring for UE, though, do a Google search for "free text editors" ... there are plenty of them available.

 

Thanks Everyone

Thank you to everyone who replied.

I've managed to get the original Profile working (with crossed fingers that everything is & will continue working).

Based on a friend's advice, here's what I did:
1. All references to the UAS Extension had already been removed from all Moz files.
2. Created a new/fresh profile.
3. Moved all files from the old profile that had corresponding files in the new profile to a different location.
4. Moved the corresponding files from the new profile to the old profile.
5. Opened each old profile file that was moved to a different location, copied its contents, & pasted the contents over the corresponding freshly created files (yes all, including prefs.js).

It didn't make sense to me why this would work, but it did. My friend was insistant, so I tried. The only prior additional step had been the deletion of the 0 KB user.js that was empty & MS Antispyware had problems with.

I've now backed up Mozilla folder & am going to press my luck trying to reinstall UAS (different scenario this time as the older version is not present).

 

Update. Installed current version of UAS into the 'repaired' Profile. All is working fine, but I did notice something different: In the Netscape 7.2 Main menubar, UAS places an entry under Tools. The current 0.6.4 placed its entry in a different location (within a different separator grouping) under Tools than the 0.6.3 & prior versions did. Perhaps this factor was involved in updating 0.6.3 to 0.6.4 not showing up before under Tools & breaking the profile when I used Extension Uninstaller to remove 0.6.3? (This time there was no 0.6.3 on my PC, - just a new install of 0.6.4).