Advice needed for Netscape clean install

I'm thinking about maybe going with the latest Netscape 7.2 broswer with a custom install, but after reading some of the probs people are having with it, I have a few concerns and questions.

Questions about uninstalling Netscape 7.1 and going with a clean new install of the Netscape v.7.2 browser.

Once I do a clean uninstall of Netscape 7.1, as per the instructions I have read here and on the newsgroups,and I install 7.2--- can, I use my same (current)profile with NS 7.2. Can I still use my customized *users.js* file, and what about my mail, will it be OK and can it be tranferred over to 7.2? Will my bookmarks be carried over also? Since,I think I have read that some things in 7.2 are not compatable with the old version, will I have to start over with cumstomizing a users.js file and create new mail accounts,etc? Will I still be able to use the Crescendo player as I do now?

Basically, I just would like for someone to give me the steps (One by One)(baby steps) for using my current profile which contains,everything, stored passwords, online forms data, bookmarks,mail settings for 2 accounts, customized prefs etc. I don't want to have to create a new profile and then start over and loose those things.

If there are any links to a step by step process for having a smooth transition from Netscape 7.1 to v.7.2---Could you please post them here in this thread. If I have to redo the users.js file, could I just make changes to my current one and have it work in the new v.7.2 , If so please tell me what changes are needed before hand. Thanks in advance.

VI

 

Ramona has a great link for a clean install .
Contrary to people's understanding, there is no transferring of profile items. They sit still, and your program will find them. As long as you do not install on top of the previous version, i.e. using a different folder for the installation. Now, this is the part which throws a lot of people off. Don't use the same profile for two programs. So, you can take the path of least resistance, i.e. try your 7.2, installed in a different folder with the profile which you already have, and then uninstall 7.1. You can also uninstall 7.1 first. Just don't use the same profile.
Now, if you want to see differences, then you will have to create a new profile . A new profile will have a different name, and the profile manager will come up, but we can get around that .
As for the user.js, you should not have any problem. You can always copy/paste the file out of the profile. The user.js file will override the prefs.js file, so it depends on what you have in the user.js. 7.1 needed a modification to run better because of the resources leak. 7.2 has fixed the problem, and resources do not come into play with Win XP, anyway.
By the way, I don't know if it matters, but I have user=singular.

 

Thanks Westside for all the info and for the links. Yup, mine is user-singular also. The plural was a typo....it was late and I guess I was a bit tired. The new install should go well, since I will follow all of your and Ramona's instructions. Again, thanks for the help. Merry Christmas to ya.

VI

 

You almost convinced me that it was plural. In fact, I did not correct to singular till just before sending. I wish you good luck, and Happy Holidays, as well.

 

Ok, my experience with NS v.7.2...hehe...Uninstalled the old version as per instructed.Fresh boot. removed the GRE folder and the Netscape folder....my profile was not touched... then I did a scan disk, and a defrag for maintenace. Ok, then I installed the new version as per instructions that Ramona and Westside have given following their links and advice....Install of 7.2 went fine or so it seemed, It seemed to pick up my original profile as I have only one, without any problem. But---- it did not seem to use my *user.js* file very well. I lost my mail and I could not set the homepage to start with *netscape com*. I reset it to that page time after time, checked my prefs and that is what it was set to also, but everytime, I loaded Netscape it would give me the *Congratulations, you have installed Netscape V.7.2 over and over. I changed the browser startup page in about:config time after time, and the startup browswer homepage would not stick there either. So, I gave up trying to make the Netscape homepage...my prefered startup one cos nothing I did would make it stick. It seemed to continually want to congratulate me for installing the browswer when I loaded it. (go figure)

I was able to finally get both of my email accounts working,(but overall it did not seem to work as well as the previous messenger), with some tweaking on my email accounts, BUT...then I had 2 Local Folders, which I did not have before in V.7.1 and even after following the instructions to remove them, to the letter, I could not remove them. I could find NO references to them in my *user.js* file at all. I would delete the Local Folders mail boxes it would create, then reboot and check my mail and the darn things would have been created again. This went on for sometime also, until I tired of it. Nothing but nothing would get rid of those Local Folders, even tho' I was using my customized *user.js* file from my original profile. The only thing that really worked correctly was the bookmarks file and my stored password and form info. I had no problems with those for whatever reasons.

To sum it up, 7.2 installed fine, it would load OK, but the homepage would NEVER ever stick, and I could NOT get rid of the 2 Local Folders, that it insisted I had to have around,whether I wanted them or not, no matter what hacking or tweaking I did.

I have since, uninstalled 7.2 and went back to 7.1. It picked up my profile and all my customized settings are as they were before, no problems at all with it...No Local Folders...and the homepage sticks to my preference.

If anyone would like to comment on this or has any suggestions that may solve those problems I had with 7.2 then please post them. I am open to trying it maybe one more time, but only if I can get some info which would solve the homepage problem not sticking, as I told it to, and a way to force it to use my original *user.js* file plus a hack which really would get rid of those pesky Local Folders. If not, then it will not find a home with me again.

Peace,
Vanilla Ice

 

1.Don't worry about the Local Folders, for now.
2. I never recommend to use the same profile, because there are significant differences between versions.
3. I set the homepage, or actually the home group, because I use a number of
Tabs, from the Prefs|Navigator. I never had to get anywhere near the config settings. It has always worked from the Prefsm selecting Current Page or Current Group.
4. Considering the time which you spent, it would have been so easy to create a new profile. But, I have reused old profiles with very strange combinations, like my Netscape7.02 profile for my Moz1.8a4.
Except for Moz1.7.5 which needed some reburbishing, I have recycled old profile, with no problem. Only the themes became incompatible, in some case.
5. I don't understand why the user.js file would not work, but it depends on what is in it.