Advantages (??) of creating Profiles

I'm the only user on this computer. No one else ever touches my computer. When I installed Firefox (and Mozilla) I never bothered creating a profile. Thus the only profile is the so-called Default. Is this fine or is it desirable to create a profile? If so, why? Please bear in mind that I don't want to use two profiles myself. I'm content with a single one.

Now... if I must create one, how do I go about keeping all the same bookmarks, address book and so forth?

 

James, I gave a long reply at another forum, but this link from Ramona's solutions will do: http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/NS7newprofile.html

 

Ah, Fulvio! You're a profile genius! Actually, I was (and am still) playing both sides of the street, so to speak. I wanted to see what answers I would come up with here and play them against the other forum. If you're still reading the other forum, you'll see that I put in a follow-up. Here it is:

Right now I have Mozilla 1.7.1, Firefox 0.9.2, Thunderbird 0.7.2, Opera 7.52 and IE 6 (which is "out of sight" so to speak). Each of these programs was created in its own folder but I allowed each to simply give me the Default profile. As far as I can tell, there has been no sharing of bookmarks... I had to create them in each and they're not exactly the same. And to date (knock on wood), I've not experienced a single problem with freeze-ups, loss of data or anything of that nature.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of Netscape 7.2 (like most of you) and wondering if I simply make a separate folder into which I will install it, if there is really any need to do anything other that to accept the "Default" profile it creates?

 

James, you rascal!

Netscape 7.2 will pick up the Mozilla 1.7.1 Profile, as Netscape and Mozilla share the same Profiles folder. Either create a new Profile for Mozilla when prompted by the Profile Manager, or create a new Profile for Mozilla before the install.

When you install 7.2 it will look in the Profiles folder and see "Default" and will use that Profile. Since Firefox does not reside in the Profiles folder, there will be no problem there.

There is a hack which you can use to separate Netscape and Mozilla in the Application Data Folder. If you're interested, see this page:
Separating Netscape and Mozilla - Hack

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona

Okay. How about this scenario:

I don't really need Mozilla 1.7.x and Netscape 7.2, right? Supposing I simply uninstall Mozilla 1.7.1 (but leave its profile intact) and then install Netscape 7.2? This should satisfy, right? I'd have three browsers (NS, FF and Opera) to play with and there would be no danger of corrupting anything... uh... right? Please tell me this would be okay because I don't want to have to do things that sound confusing to me. My learning curve for this stuff is really bad, Ramona. It's entirely unintelligible to me and I'm not sure I even want to try to learn.

So, what's the verdict? Can I just uninstall Mozilla but leave its profile files alone? Huh? Huh? Can I???

 

Hi James,

Oh yeah, uh huh, uh huh, I like it! You betcha! Uninstall Mozilla 1.7.1, reboot your PC, then install Netscape 7.2. Mozilla will tell you not to do this, but I've never had a problem using the Profile of one program for the other, as long as you don't try to SHARE one Profile with two programs.

Ramona

 

Great. BTW... I downloaded and installed that Mozilla BackUp utility and backed up my Mozilla, Firefox and T-bird profiles. Now... this is also going to demonstrate my complete inadequacy but exactly "how" are these back-ups opened? I clicked one just out of interest's sake and Windows told me it could not open the file. It asked whether it should scour the internet for the appropriate program or list programs from which I would select the proper one.

 

Hi James,

I don't use any of the extensions, but I do know that there have been some problems when it comes time to recover a backup when having used the Moz Backup. The Author of the extension doesn't have any Help files or FAQ on his web site, so I'll leave it to you to check your chrome file to see if there is anything there that you might reference. It is my understanding that those files are Zip files. Is this correct? Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, but I will see what more I can find out for you...

Ramona

 

Ramona, you are always of help to all of us. My problem is, I'm still unsure of how to do many of these things.

Okay... supposing I just dump the Moz. back-up extension and forget about those backups. Since I've already uninstalled Mozilla 1.7.1 (but only partially... I assume the files that it did not uninstall were the profile files), when I install Netscape 7.2 it should find that profile files, right? And all should work out!

 

James,

You do just fine handling the information we force feed you!

Now, what do you mean you have uninstalled Mozilla "partially "? Do you mean that you have uninstalled Mozilla, but the Profile is still left? If so, did you remember to delete these two folders:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\mozilla.org
C:\Program Files\mozilla.org

Does the Moz Backup have an uninstall? If the extension is in the chrome directory, which is a subfolder of the *.slt folder, you can safely delete the chrome folder. It will be rebuilt when you first start Netscape 7.2 If you don't uninstall it now, Netscape 7.2 will have the extension.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona

When I uninstalled Mozilla it first prompted me as to whether I wanted to completely uninstall it (and I answered yes) and then it removed the program but towards the end of the uninstallation it informed me that not all files could be uninstalled and did I wish to uninstall them at this time? I said no. I've always done this when upgrading from one Mozilla to the next and the newer version appears to pick up from whatever was left behind, my bookmarks, address book, and mail. So I'm assuming that the files left behind were part of the Profile. That's what I meant by only partially uninstalling Mozilla.

Ramona, this - C:\Program Files\Common Files\mozilla.org appears to have been uninstalled when I simply went to the Add/Remove Mozilla 1.7.1 and uninstalled it. It is no longer there.

However, this - C:\Program Files\mozilla.org "is" still present. Are you saying that I should delete this?


The Moz Backup had an uninstall and appeared to remove itself without any problem.

 

When the uninstall prompted that not all files could be uninstalled, I believe it refers to the Program files, at that point of the uninstall. That's why you still have the C:\Program Files\mozilla.org. You will want to backup your plugins subfolder before removing the mozilla.org folder.

Good, and yes that happens with the newer versions of Mozilla, just covering all the bases, as you are removing Mozilla for good.

Yes, you can delete the mozilla.org folder, after first saving your plugins folder.

Good going on the uninstall of the extension!

Ramona

 

it's done....

Okay... I've backed up the plug-ins in a separate folder and deleted C:\Program Files\Common Files\mozilla.org. Hopefully it is a clean uninstall and I'll be ready for Netscape (when it arrives). I'm assuming that it will automatically find the profile but that I will manually have to copy and paste the plug-ins into its plug-in folder. Is this correct? Sorry for all the detailed questions.

 

Hi James,

I think you mean you deleted C:\Program Files\mozilla.org, right? If so then you are all set for Netscape 7.2, whenever it comes.

Yes, all you have to do now is copy the plugins subfolder, replacing the existing almost empty 7.2 plugins folder.

T_Moz stated, on another Forum, that the Release had been pushed back to August. However, that is only a little over a week, so it won't be too much longer. Rumor is that the Calendar component is the hold up.

Ramona