Going from Netscape 8x back to Netscape 7.2

Hi. I was just wondering....I am very unhappy with using Netscape 8.1. I want to go back to using Netscape 7.2. Is is possible to move my passwords, bookmarks, etc from 8 to 7.2? I am pretty clueless about how all that works, since basically everything is automatic when you go from 7.2 to 8, right? I appreciate the help. Thanks!

 

Do you mean that you uninstalled 7.2? If you just uninstalled it, all you need to do is reinstall it. The User folder should still be there, unless you reall went after it, and deleted it.
In fact the two programs are completely independent, and there would be no need to uninstall your 7.2. But, please read up the Sticky section on Netscape7.x. If you uninstalled 7.2, you might as well modernize. 7.2 is out of date, and not so secure. And, you don't need the name Netscape, aka AOL.

 

No I didn't uninstall anything yet. I was just wondering if any info from 8.1 I could move back over to 7.2 (since I have passwords on 8.1 that aren't on 7.2). yeah I thought about starting with something different but I have never had a problem with 7.2. In fact, 8.1 crashes on me constantly.

 

I would not even try. you can't, selectively transfer passwords.
I participated into a number of threads about this subject, and the final wors more or less, I dunno. But, I am poaitive that there is no way to do the operation automatically, and the NS8 file format (.r7u) is different from either the NS7.x xxxx.s, and the signons.txt format of Firefox.

 

Huh, well then I guess I will have to either put in passwords manually into 7.2 or get a different program (like Firefox or Seamonkey) and put passwords in manually there. I have never used either one of those, so I am a little hesistant but I guess I can always download them and try them out. Thanks for your help.

 

Its my understanding that when you install Firefox for the first time, it will ask if you want to convert passwords and bookmarks from either IE or Netscape. If indeed this is the case, then you won't have to do anything by hand. I'd certainly encourage you to give Firefox a shot (www.mozilla.com). If you have been using the built-in email client, then Sea Monkey will be what you are looking for; FF (as you may or may not know) doesn't have an email client. Or you could install FF and Thunderbird, the stand-alone email client.

 

Welcome to the Forum, newbie1970!

newbie1970,

These are screen shots of both Firefox and Thunderbird, which give you the options for migrating your profile data:

http://home.att.net/~cherokee68/ffpromigrate.html

http://home.att.net/~mojol/TBimport.jpg

You will wonder why you ever bothered with Netscape, once you use these two applications. There is a short learning curve in Preferences, but once you become accustomed to the settings, it is a no sweat deal!

 

Thanks Ramona. I just knew I couldn't be wrong!

Seriously, your screenshots show options to migrate from NS 4, 6, or 7. I'm assuming that these are simply old screenshots, and that indeed FF/TB will give our friend the option of importing material from NS 8 as well?

 

Paul,

You are correct, and it is an older Import Wizard window. I have updated the page, and it now exhibits the Import Wizard in Firefox 1.5.0.2. You will see that Netscape 4 has been eliminated.

No, there will be no addition of Netscape 8 to the Import Wizard, as it is an AOL product, and no longer a part of Mozilla.

 

Uh oh...so any passwords I have on Netscape 8 I will have to retype in Firefox? I haven't used Netscape 7.2 in a long time so the passwords are not updated.

 

Yep, I'm afraid so. The format of the Netscape 8 password file isn't compatible with earlier Netscape versions, Firefox, or SeaMonkey.

 

Oh that is dissappointing. I'm hoping that newbie will still give FF a try.

Which makes me wonder--if NS is supposed to be based on SeaMonkey, why did they pick a unique way to store passwords? I thought all the NS folks did was slap on the AOL stuff onto Sea Monkey (as well as include the rendering engine). Evidently they did more tinkering than that....

Golly Ramona, if everyone just thought as I did, the world would be a much more trouble-free place....

 

Paul,

Actually, Netscape 8 is based on the Firefox rendering Engine. Netscape 8.0.4 is based on Firefox 1.0.7 (which is already obsolete).

Keeping in mind that this is an AOL product which includes IE rendering as well, it comes as no surprise that some aspects aren't compatible with Mozilla applications.

I hear ya' Paul, and it seems that life is never simple.

 

AOL farmed out the development of NS8.x to a private company. The object of the game was to develop a standalone browser which could combine the engines of Firefox and Internet Explorer (for those people who could not stand to see a funny view of a page). AOL messed up with Netscape6.0, and its users refused to accept a Netscape based AOL.
I guess that with the past experience in mind they wanted to appease everyone, making a mess again, in my opinion.
I don't think that anyone thought for a moment that the file types mattered, but the .r7u format had appeared in the very first Netscape8 beta.
Yes, I had AOL, and participated in their beta testing, and got the very first NS8 beta which came out.

 

You know what stinks is that Netscape 8 doesn't allow you to see your passwords (like on Netscape 7.2 when you can choose to see all of the info for each place that you saved logins and passwords from)...so me being as absentminded as I am have forgotten alot of those, so I guess I will be asking for a lot of emails for forgotten/lost passwords if I try Firefox. If I had more knowledge back when Netscape 8 first came out, I wouldn't have bothered with it.

I use Outlook Express for my email and I like it so I was just going to probably download Firefox and not bother with Thunderbird or Seamonkey. Will it be ok to get rid of Netscape entirely after I download Firefox (they won't share files or anything like that will they?) I appreciate everyone's help.

 

As you can see, NS8 cannot go back, although, I think that you may be able to get your settings from NS8 into Firefox, when first install it. I don't know if it happens, or if it applies to the passwords. But, wait a bit before uninstalling NS8.1, although, it mattered little to me. I uninstalled it seven times, and reinstalled it. I, finally, realized that the best solution was not to get mad, but rather to ignore it.