In a bind over Netscape 7.x demise

Hi Ramona and Everyone,

Thanks for permitting me to register. As of a few days ago, I can no longer open 7.1/7.2. and hence my email account. I have continued to use Netscape 7.x, because I like its format for email, bookmarks, etc., and because Netscape Composer facilitates building files and pages for my website. Neither Netscape 8.x nor Mozilla nor Firefox offers the advantages, for me, of Netscape 7.x

I have had HP chat sessions, which have been enlightening, but perhaps because of my own ignorance, have not solved the problem. I have tried to do System Restore, but even that will not work now, for some reason.

Following Ramona's article of 03/08/04, and the experience of another Windows XP user, on the cherokee67 site, I have tried to go to the Registry Editor, but for some reason, since changing the Startup menu (back and forth to what it was) in the System Configuration window, nothing like the "HKEY...." folders now even appears.

Things seem to be going from bad to worse. I know that I could simply uninstall all Netscape browsers, and install only the one I want. But (1) then of course I would lose the vast store of messages, bookmarks, and addresses, in my current Netscape 7/x-dependent email account. And (2) I wonder now about the advisability of even continuing to try to use Netscape 7.x for my default browser -- apart from the grim prospect of losing everything.

In short, when I click on my Netscape 7.x files or icons, the result is the same: the hourglass appears just for a split second, it looks as though a window is trying to open, but of course nothing happens.

Incidentally, this all started to happen egregiously after I ran a Spy Subtract scan. Furthermore, after doing a Full Norton Scan on all three of my Windows profiles, no virus or spyware was disclosed.

Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks indeed.

 

I would never try System Restore, nor mess with the Registry, unless I backed it up. It is impossible to tell, at this point, if you caused problems with your manipulations, or the Spy Subtract thing did something which is leading to your problems.
Your profile, and not the program is, most likely, messed up. I have yet to see a program problem or fix, and invariably, it is a profile problem.
If you prefer the NS7.1/7.2 format, then Seamonkey would work for you, as well. I would forget about the very old and insecure Netscapes, and try this program which carries on the same tradition.
Step one, I would install Seamonkey, and see if it picks up the Netscape profile, or not. It probably won't, and that will be the proof that something was done to the Netscape profile. Step two, go to Ramona's site , and create a new profile , using the information which is still on the hard drive. Your mail, bookmarks, and mostly everything else should be undamaged. I would not try to go back to Netscape. I would uninstall it. Make sure that you use the new profile for Seamonkey.

 

Welcome to the Forum, stillanovice!

stillanovice,

Please clarify which Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox, or other browsers that you currently have installed on your HDD. Thanks!

System Restore is an overkill for a browser problem. However, I'm wondering if the Registry could be corrupt, as you can no longer access the Registry Keys.

Do you access your Registry by clicking on:
Start | Run, and then entering "regedit" in the blank "Open" field?

Should we assume that you found that you couldn't access the Registry when making the edit suggested in this Solutions article: http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns71startupnot.html ?

Exactly what did you change in the Startup menu, and why?

You won't lose Messages, Bookmarks, or the Address Book by uninstalling Netscape. I would strongly urge you to make a backup copy of the Profiles folder immediately, and place it in a newly created folder just for this purpose. Profiles Folder Locations HERE

Consolidating the Mail for 7.1, and 7.2, can be done by simply renaming the files, e.g., Inbox2, or OldInbox, etc.

I would recommend solving the current problems before even thinking about updating to a newer browser. Once we have figured out the problem, and fixed it, then yes, you definitely need to move onward and upward! I agree that SeaMonkey would be ideal, as it is almost identical to Netscape 7.x.

Did you follow the workarounds, other than the Registry edit, from the Netscape Won't Start article? What you describe does sound like the Installer Bug which the article describes.

When you ran SpySubtract, did you do a spyware scan, or also a registry scan? Did you make a backup of the Registry first, or does the program do that for you? If not, in the future don't ever edit your Registry unless you make a backup first.

One last question, are you sharing a Profile with Netscape 7.1 and 7.2?

Please try to answer the questions, as the more information we have, the easier it will be to help you...

Thanks again!

 

In first place, which browser worked, and what was done, about the time when things did not not work.
Very important to know which Netscape. The Installer Bug mentioned by Ramona is a NS7.1 problem. It does not get completely uninstalled, and, it prevents the opening of NS7.2, unless a custom install , and a separate profile were used.
However, the problems seems to have been compounded by trying to fix the problem

 

In a bind over Netscape 7.1/7.2 demise

Dear Ramona and Westside,

Thanks so much for your replies and help. I apologize for my delay in following up and responding. Life has been hectic here.


For simplicity and clarity, I will not try to quote each of your replies, but hope to fully address your queries and to update you on what has happened. I also have a further question or two.

First, following your advice, Westside, I did indeed download Seamonkey. Mirabile dictu! Amazingly, upon installing Seamonkey, I of course was asked whether I wanted to make it my default browser. As soon as I clicked "Yes," my entire email account opened and downloaded, and also downloaded all the messages that were still on my ISP (Earthlink). This of course was exactly what my Netscape 7.x would no longer do.

Furthermore, the icon for every other Netscape [7.x] file that was on my desktop also changed to the Seamonkey icon. Also, as you probably have inferred, none of these files previously would open when I clicked on the icon, or for that matter, whenever I clicked on the program in my Program file listing. But after the icons automatically changed to Seamonkey from Netscape [7.x], they too opened normally.

Originally, since when I tried to open Netscape 7.1 or 7.2, nothing would happen and I thereby was locked out of my email account, I contacted HP chat. (My desktop is a Compaq Presario S4300NX, and I run Windows XP.)

Also, when I rebooted my computer, both the SpySubtract window/icon opened. Further, the window for Skype, which I downloaded and to which I subscribed sometime ago, would also open up, informing me that a Skype upgrade was available. I usually have answered "No" to that, except once. When I realized that the followup windows to that opened up and I could not make sense of how to do the upgrade, I shut it down (sometime ago), and since then. have answered "No" to that window whenever it opens, as always happens (so far, the last time I checked) if I have to reboot my computer.

More alarmingly, though, another Skype window started to open. This was an error window, resulting in a cascading stream of "Access violation" windows.

In effort to help me with my Netscape problem, and to circumvent or eliminate these problems noted above, my HP chat adviser said to go into Run "msconfig ", and then unclick=disable all the Startup options. He said that would solve my problem.

It did not, however, so I re-enabled all the Startup options. The one great benefit, however, from my HP chat sessions was that one adviser gave me the link to the cherokee67 website, which in turn of course led me to your forum here!

So, to address your initial advise, Westside, I did not create a new profile, because it turned out that I did not have to do so, in order to rescue my email program, bookmarks, etc. Installing Seamonkey did it automatically, happily, even though you guessed that it probably would not.

And to both Ramona and Westside -- As far as System Restore goes, the person who once did that was the computer professional working at the store where I bought my desktop in August 2003. It then solved the problem, and often has, on those fortunately infrequent occasions when it has been necessary. However, as noted, in this last Netscape-problem instance, System Restore has not worked. Since installing Seamonkey, though, I have not tried to use System Restore (since there now is no immediate reason to do so), so I don't actually know whether it would work or not.

In the past, I used System Restore only because my computer has frozen up, and Windows XP had stopped working.

The other browsers on my desktop are IE, Mozilla Firefox, and Netscape 8.0/8.1. All these other browsers, including Netscape 8.x, continued to work. As I think I mentioned, I've never used Netscape 8.x because I have never figured out to use it for email, for which Netscape 7.x has hitherto supplied such a user-friendly format.

I should add that on my wife's older computer, running Windows ME, I also downloaded Seamonkey. She loves it, and also says it works much faster and better than her own Netscape 7.x used to. On her Netscape profile, however, even though Seamonkey now is the default, if I open my own Netscape 7.x profile on that older computer, it still works!! that is, as a Netscape 7.x profile. Amazing!

Regarding my Registry Editor -- what no longer appears automatically when I open it is all the list of four or five HK key entries, etc. However, if I start to click on all the mini-icons in the long vertical list to the left of my screen, then different Registry entries appear, depending on what I have clicked -- all the "original" entries, and more start opening up. So, I think my Registry Editor may still be OK -- actually, I don't recall ever doing anything deliberately to change the Registry Editor, anyway.

I know you advised, Ramona, against installing Seamonkey without first creating a new profile. But I went ahead and did so before taking note of your advice here.

Given your advice below, it would seem that I should still create some kind of new profile. I am not sure how to do that, and thus will have to read whatever comes from the "Here" link you supply for that.

Re: uninstalling Netscape 7.x, I am somewhat apprehensive about doing that, out of an admittedly superstitious fear that somehow I might lose everything gained in and through Seamonkey. So, a question I have here is: WHEN, if at all, should I uninstall Netscape 7.1/7.2, and for that matter, should I uninstall any of the other browsers, specifically and including, Netscape 8.x?

Perhaps you mean only that I should make sure to create another profile before getting rid of Netscape 7.x? But then, is it the case that I have effectively created that new profile by installing Seamonkey? What I now have under Seamonkey, seems virtually identical in content (messages, bookmarks, address book) to what I had under Netscape 7.x, although some of the links are differently formatted. But everything is the same, it seems.

More generally, I would still appreciate any further advice on how to proceed from here, to solidify, secure, and improve my system generally. Especially, should I create backups -- although I'll have to learn how to do that -- for anything in my system? (Long ago, I created the six (6) startups discs for my desktop that were advised by HP, in case a complete system breakdown ever occurred.)

Until then, thanks again so much for everything.

PS I've proofread all this, but hope that you will pardon any remaining typos that I might have missed.

 

Uninstalling NS 7.1 will not cause you to lose anything since it was picked up by SeaMonkey. Since you do not use NS 8 (and why anyone would want to use that convoluted piece of junk is beyond me), uninstall it. It serves no useful purpose. You might want to download and run CCleaner since you will undoubtedly have many obsolete files left over (but that is also... not necessary). Just enjoy SeaMonkey and stop worrying.

 

Absolutely. There is nothing useful in NS7.1. A new profile suggestion was made only if you wanted to keep, and use NS7.1. Just remove the temptation.
As for NS8, it has no mail. It is a browser only.

 

Further on cleaning up my system after Netscape

Hello Westside, James, and Ramona,

SeaMonkey is working just fine. However, I've now other questions -- thanks in effect to my situation which justifies my screen name!

Most seriously: Idiot me, when I went to uninstall Netscape, what did I choose to uninstall first? The program labelled "Netscape Browser (Uninstall Only) "

Now, when I go to Add/Remove Programs on my Control Panel, and try to uninstall Netscape 7.1, I get the error messages:

(1) "O: Uninstall Log folder not found"

(2) "HKEY_Local_MACHINE\Software\Nescape\7.1b1 (en)\Uninstall\Uninstall Log Folder "

In short, what I appeared to have uninstalled first was precisely the Netscape Broswer Uninstaller itself.

Second, On my desktop, I still have icons for Netscape 7.1, Netscape 7.2, and Netscape 8.0.

When I click on the Netscape 7.1 desktop icon nothing of course happens. When I click on the Netscape 7.2 desktop icon, a "Run As" window opens, asking me to specify how I want to browse them, after which nothing of course happens.

When I click on the Netscape 8.0 icon, which, prior to my removing the Netscape Browser (Uninstall Only), opened without problem, now all I get is a "Missing Shortcut" window with "Netscape Browser" in the subject line, and containing only "java" and its icon. When I click on that, nothing happens (now).

Third, under my Windows profile on the left, Netscape 7.1 (only) is still listed.

Fourth, when I right-click on anything in the Profile list, naturally I get the option "Remove from this list."

..........

My first question here is: Is it alright to go ahead and remove these Profile items/icons/entries for which the program no longer exists and which has (either unintentionally or intentionally) been uninstalled?

Second: Is it alright, when right-clicking on the Netscape icons on my desktop, to go ahead a do a "Delete" on them, since the programs referred to no longer exist in my system? (E.g., "Delete" as opposed to "Uninstall ".)

FYI, my desktop has been far too cluttered and filled up, even to the extent that when I installed SeaMonkey, with its attendant Netscape-like email format, there was not even any room for the new SeaMonkey icon(s). Pathetic!

Hence, the only way I could come up with to get SeaMonkey icons on my desktop was to drag them from the Profile list onto the newly created space on my desktop. The (SeaMonkey) icons read "Shortcut to the Internet" (which naturally means SeaMonkey since it's now the default browser), and "Shortcut to Mail."

It will do the job, but of course it's not as elegant as the SeaMonkey icons on my wife's desktop, which was not nearly so cluttered, and which hence produced the desktop icons immediately upon installation of SeaMonkey.

Further, is there any reason now not to simply DELETE the (Netscape) icon on my desktop for "Mail and Newsgroups" (also in my Profile list)?

Next, I think I will not uninstall the Netscape setup.exe icons/programs/Profile. I clicked on them and the setup wizard for Netscape 7.1 actually seems to kick in. After my hasty foulup on uninstalling the Nescape Broswer Uninstaller itself, I'm leery of that.

Next, interestingly, one "netscape.com" desktop icon actually works -- when I click on it, SeaMonkey kicks in, with my old beloved email account and lower-left-screen" mail program icons. Strange! I think I'll leave it alone, if only for auld lang syne.

Finally, I did a search on "Netscape Browser Uninstaller ", and one of the results was "Perfect Uninstaller," which supposedly removes programs that even one's system Add/Remove program won't remove.

Perfect Uninstaller is, it says, an "unregistered" program. I installed it, but have not really used it, beyond trying to get rid of Netscape stuff itself. A scan also kicks in automatically with Perfect Uninstaller. One can skip it, which I did, since as it raced through everything in my computer, I started to get uptight about having everything wiped out.

I'm learning alot here in all this, but the more I learn the more in the dark I nonetheless feel, as you can see.

Thanks.

 

Why didn't you simply go into the Add/Remove programs and remove NS 7? When you wish to remove programs, that is generally the accepted way to do things.

If I were you, I would re-install NS 7 which will restore the file you deleted. Then I would go into the Add/Remove programs and remove it.

As for the cluttered desktop, I never have more than a dozen icons on my desktop. I make a folder (right click and make new folder) into which I drag short cut icons that I seldom use) to clean up my desktop. As for a variety of browsers, unless you are trouble-shooting webpages or testing them for a variety of browsers, there is little point in having them. Most folks stick with one default browser. Perhaps having a secondary browser (not including (IE which is pretty much mandatory) would be fine but be very careful that you do not share profiles. That is why I never kept more than one Netscape browser at one time since I do not like to create new profiles. For me... I'm content with one default (Firefox), one back-up (Opera) and of course IE. This suits my browsing needs and keeps things simple without creating problems for myself.

 

Thanks for your reply, James.

I just successfully reinstalled Netscape Browser. (1) Now, when I click on my desktop browser for Netscape 8.0, Netscape 8.1 is what opens up, normally.

(2) On my Profile list, now once again is listed "Netscape Browser (remove only) ". This is what I hastily removed last time, I think.

(3) However, when I tried to install Netscape 7.1, for which I still have the exe. icon on my desktop, I get the same error message I got before all this Netscape trouble began originally: "Error: Too many setup errors occurred. xpcom.xpi. Setup will now pause. Please click Resume to retry downloading the files."

But when I click Resume, the same error message and setup failure recurs.
So, even though I have the nsbsetup.exe icon my desktop, it still dooesn't work. The result: I cannot apparently reinstall Netscape 7.1, at least, not with this setup.exe

I was thinking that successfully reinstalling Netscape Browser (8.x) (remove only) would enable me to reinstall 7.1, but it didn't.

And, when I go into Add/Remove, and try to uninstall Netscape 7.1, I still cannot do it. I conclude that having hastily removed Netscape Browser (remove only) might not have made any difference or might not have been the cause of that inability to begin with.

So do you think that (1) Removing Netscape 7.1, etc. from the Profile list, and (2) deleting (as opposed to uninstalling) the desktop icons for Netscape 7.1 and Netscape 7.2 (for which there are no apparent programs in the system any longer), will foul anything up? (3) Similarly, do you think it now OK to simply DELETE from the desktop my old (Netscape) "Mail and Newsgroups" Icon?

Since I uncluttered my desktop and freed up some space, a "real" icon for SeaMonkey miraculously just appeared on the desktop. This having happened, do you think it OK just to DELETE the now redundant (SeaMonkey) "Shortcut to the Internet" icon, which I got by simply dragging from the Profile list?

Thanks. I hope I'm not being too much of a pest with my questions.

 

Stillanovice,
your posts are very detailed, and, incredibly long. Sorry, my attention span is not good enough to follow what you are doing.
But, there are some statements which I don't understand.
You say that you went to the Add/Remove, and can't uninstall NS7.1, but you, also, say that there is Netscape7.1 in the Profile list.
Which list? Unless you called the profile Netscape7.1, there should not be such a thing. Do you have more than one profile? By default, one gets a single Profile in the Application Data|Mozilla|Profiles, which is called, aptly enough "default ", and it will contain single folder of the type xxxxxx.slt, where the xs are both letters and numbers. You would see a Profile list only in the Profile Manager. Does it list both a "default" and a Netscape7.1.
As for the shortcuts, if you renamed them, the shorcuts will not be removed by the uninstallation, so you can delete them.
In any event, considering that I don't understand everything you say, but Seamonkey works, I reiterate, do not try to use any of the Netscapes. It may be too complicated to explain. Delete any temptation, from your Desktop, and use only Seamonkey.

 

You did nothing wrong by uninstalling Netscape 8 first. My Add/Remove list also shows Netscape Browser (Uninstall Only). However, there was no need to reinstall Netscape 8.

What you should reinstall, is Netscape 7.1, in order to get the Uninstall Log Folder back.

This should add Netscape 7.1 to the Add/Remove List. Don't use the existing exe file on your desktop. Delete that file, and download a fresh copy from here: ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/netscape7/english/7.1/windows/win32/sea/NSSetup-Full.exe

Don't delete anything yet until you have reinstalled, then uninstalled Netscape 7.1, and Netscape Browser 8.