NS 7.1 now lists files and folders in blue type?

I've been noticing some strange things since I upgraded from NS 7.02 to NS 7.1 the other day.

First, now whenever I download any programs, data files, or images, a Download Manager Window appears, listing all of them. That didn't happen with NS 7.02. What do I need to do to keep that window from appearing? Do I need to have such a record kept?

Second, each e-mail message I receive, the sender's e-mail address now appears listed in my Address Book. How do I stop that from happening?

Third, I've noticed that in my C:\Windows folder, there are 28 folders listed at the top, the text for them is all in blue type, and the folder icons themselves seem a paler color than the other folder icons. The 28 folders include, for example,

$NtServicePackUninstall$
$NtUninstallQ307869$

These appear to be MS updates. I don't need them listed there, do I? Can I just delete those items? How do I keep new ones from appearing in the future?

When I performed the NS upgrade, I installed 7.1 on top of 7.02. Except for these weird aberrations, everything seems to be working OK. My Address Book and Bookmarks and e-mail Inbox and Sent and Newsgroups files all got absorbed correctly.

So what's with these new weird things? So far I haven't found any configuration settings that I can change that would help. Any ideas?

 

Hi BOBBO,

Everything is copacetic.

First
You can disable the Download Manager:
Edit | Preferences | Navigator | Downloads
Select: Open a Progress Dialogue
OR
Select: Don't open anything

Need to keep a record is purely a personal choice...

Second
Edit | Preferences | Mail & Newsgroups | Addressing
Disable: Add email addresses to my Personal Address Book

Third
A Google search turned up quite a few users with the same question. This is what I discovered:

Typically, these files are found in the C:\WINDOWS directory, and contain the uninstall information for the patch(s) referred to by that number (307869). You would need to check what it is for, at the corresponding MSKB page:
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;307869

If you decide that you are not going to uninstall the patch, you can delete the files. I would be cautious in so doing. If you remove them you will no longer have the option to uninstall the patche(s).

Let us know if you have more questions.

Ramona

 

Ramona: Thanks for the reply.

First: Done. I'll have to wait until I've downloaded something to see if the fix works, but I expect that it will.

Second: Sort of done. "Add email addresses to My Personal Address Book," which is what I would expect to be the source of the errant behavior, wasn't enabled in the first place. Odd. But in Address Autocompletion, "Local Address Books," which I wouldn't think to be causing the problem, was checked, so I unchecked it. Again, will have to wait to see if that fix works.

Third: I don't expect to be uninstalling any of those listed patches, but I'm curious, because before I upgraded to NS 7.1, the patches weren't being listed in C:\WINDOWS like they are now (in blue, yet), but they were listed in ControlPanel\Add or Remove Programs and I did uninstall one famously troublesome patch from there. Interestingly, there are 14 patches listed there now, while there are 28 listed in C:\WINDOWS. I'll have to compare the lists, item by item, to figure out why the difference in numbers. Any ideas? And I'll no doubt check out the link you provided. Maybe, somehow, I'll learn just what's going on and can decide whether to dump those blue listings or not. It's still most curious that this stuff started after I'd upgraded to NS 7.1.

I wonder if going back to NS 7.02 might be what I should do. It was working fine, I can't see any particular change for the better with 7.1, and I'm not aware that I'm having the resources drain that some other users are reporting. After another day or two, to see if the changes you suggested are working, and maybe seeing some more replies, I'll be better able to decide whether to stick with NS 7.1 or go back to 7.02, which I still have, by the way. (That isn't contributing to any of those problems, is it?)

 

BOBBO,

Rest assured that Netscape has no effect on Microsoft patches/hotfixes. It could be that you simply hadn't noticed those entries prior to your Netscape 7.1 install?

Keep us posted on your progress, and whether or not you decide to go back to 7.02...

Ramona

 

Ramona: Your suggestion for problem #1, regarding the Download Manager, seems to have worked. I downloaded a small image and the DM window didn't pop up, and when I deliberately opened it, it didn't list that new image. While I had it open, I removed all the items that had already accumulated. That problem now appears to be a thing of the past.

Problem #2, e-mail addresses appearing in my Personal Address Book, still seems to be with me. When I open Edit ... Addressing, it appears to apply to outgoing messages, not incoming. I had disabled it anyway, as you recommended, but the addresses from incoming messages still wind up appearing in the Address Book. Why? An idea: When I open the Address Book window, in the left-hand pane are two items, Personal Address Book and Collected Addresses. Would deleting that second one help?

Problem #3 is, as you say, not a Netscape problem and you're most likely right, I probably just hadn't noticed the listing of those patches before. Why they're in blue type is still a mystery, but that's for a different thread if I decide to pursue it further.

As for your last question, I'm still using NS 7.1, at least for the time being. I've noticed that there's no Print button in the Menu Bar when the NS Messenger window is open. Was there one in NS 7.02? I know I can print a message by opening the File menu and clicking on Print there, but that seems an unnecessary extra step. Wouldn't a Print button be handier?

 

Hi BOBBO,

Good going on Problem #1.

Problem #2.
If you have disabled the feature in:
Add email addresses to my: Personal or Collected Address Book
that is all you can do to stop the process. Could it be that the addresses you see are the ones which were collected prior to your disabling the feature? It does collect addresses from incoming and outgoing messages.

With Netscape closed, you can go to your Profiles folder, and in the *.slt folder delete the history.mab file. This is the Collected Addresses. Netscape will rebuild the file at the next startup.

You cannot delete either the Collected Address Book, or the Personal Address Book.

Problem #3
If you still have questions, you probably should post this on the Windows side of the BBS. Some of the Windows folks can give you some reassurance on this issue.

Last question
There is a "Print" option in Mail & Newsgroups
Edit | Preferences | Mail & Newsgroups
Select buttons you want to see on the toolbar:
Print is one of those buttons you can select...

Hope that made your day!

Ramona

 

Ramona: I got my Print button back, following your suggestion. Did it make my day? I'm still awake from "yesterday," and now it's tomorrow. Which day should I say we made?

That Address Book issue still puzzles me. When I open the Address Book and highlight, say, Collected Addresses and open the Edit menu, one of the available options is Delete Address Book. I don't want to fool around experimenting and inadvertently delete my Personal Address Book, but doesn't it appear that the Collected Addresses could be deleted? And if it can, would that stop the addresses from being added to my Personal Address Book whenever I receive an e-mail as they still seem to be? I didn't have this problem with NS 7.02 and don't remember a Collected Addresses "book" being a 7.02 option, which makes me wonder if this development is something NS 7.1 is dumping on me. I almost have NS 7.1 tamed now. Can we still save it?

 

BOBBO,

If you click on "Delete" you will get a window that says:
Delete failed
You are not allowed to delete the Personal or Collected Addresses address books.

Not to fear, 'cause Netscape won't let you do it!

You can delete the addresses in the Personal and Collected Address Books, however. Just highlight them and click on "Delete ". Once you disable the feature, delete the history.mab file, you shouldn't see anything else in the Collected Address Book. You shouldn't be continuing to collect Incoming Addresses in your Personal Address Book either, if you have followed these steps...

This was an option in 7.02 also, but you may just not have noticed.

Check back with you later today, as I'm headed for some shut eye...

Ramona

 

Ramona: Not much joy here. Last night I deleted the contents of Collected Addresses as you recommended, and also deleted the history.mab file. New entries still appeared in the Personal Address Book this morning. So I checked Collected Addresses and found it empty (that's some progress), and deleted the history.mab file again (is it supposed to reappear like that?), and new messages later today were still causing the senders' addresses to reappear in the Personal Address Book.

What now?

 

Hi BOBBO,

Progress is slow but sure!

Yes, the history.mab file is rebuilt each time Netscape is opened. (If it is deleted)

Add the below script to your user.js file:
user_pref( "mail.collect_email_address ", false);

If you don't have a user.js file, then you need to create one.

Open Notepad:
Start | Programs | Accessories | Notepad
Add the above script to Notepad
Click: File | Save
Save to:
C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\xxxxxxxx.slt
(Depending on your OS)

Since disabling the preference settings don't seem to have any effect on the collected addresses, this should help.

For more info on the user.js file, and its creation: The USER.JS File

Ramona

 

Ramona: Did as you suggested. Now it's just a matter of waiting for an incoming e-mail and seeing if the sender appears in the Personal Address Book or not. I'll get back to you with the results. Until then, thanks for all the help.

 

BOBBO,

Send yourself an email. You don't have to wait on someone else...

Let us know how it goes. I'm experiencing a little of what you are, in that 7.1 just doesn't seem to be able to retain settings... That's a whole 'nother story tho.

Ramona

 

Ramona: I was about to begin a post when I saw your reply. Someone just now sent me an e-mail. I read it, copied and pasted it, and sent it along to some friends. Then I checked my Personal Address Book. No new address entry! So, until I learn otherwise, it appears the fix works.

Three cheers for Ramona! H'ray! H'ray!! H'ray!!!
And one beautiful red rose, to boot!

 

Arrgghhhh!! They're back!!! Two e-mails arrived today and their addresses appear in my Personal Address Book.

I thought we had that problem licked. What now?

 

Hi BOBBO,

A little bird, who wishes to remain anonymous, has whispered in my ear...

In the: C:\program files\Netscape\defaults\pref\mailnews.js
live the below scripts.

pref( "mail.collect_email_address_incoming ", false);
pref( "mail.collect_email_address_outgoing ", true);

Since the setting in Netscape's Preferences are not working for you (and they should) then add the above scripts to your user.js file, This should do the trick.

Post back with results...

Ramona

 

Ramona: Sorry to be so long getting back to you. Shortly after your post arrived, I had to go see some friends out of town.

Much weirdness to report. When your message first appeared today, I started doing as you suggested but ran into trouble every step of the way. Went first to Netscape\defaults\pref\mailnews.js, and when I tried to open it to find those two files there, I got a Windows Script Host error message:

Error: Object expected
Code: 800A138F
Source: Microsoft JScript runtime error

Unable to get the lines I wanted from there, I tried to go to the user.js file but couldn't find it. Had to do a Search, no such file found. Tried to drill down to it, couldn't find it. Referred to the instructions you posted on July 11 for the correct location of the user.js file, used them to go there, couldn't even find the place. Discovered that the C:\WINDOWS\Application Data folder no longer existed. That's when I had to leave this afternoon. Big-time bafflement

So this evening I'm back home, tried again to find the lines in mailnews.js, got the same error message. Tried Search again to find the user.js file, this time found it, right where it's supposed to be. The Application Data folder had come back to life, so I opened Notepad and pasted your lines into it and saved them in the xxxxxx.slt folder as you recommended.

That's where things stand now. Two e-mails had arrived while I was away, one of the addresses was already in my Personal Address Book, but the other one got added like before, which is what I'm trying to stop. Now with those lines added as you recommended, it's just a matter of seeing if more senders get added to the Address Book.

If those two added lines take, and stick, perhaps the problem will be fixed. Any idea how to explain what's been going on? All that weirdness? I can't figure out if they're a cause or a result of the problem. What are your thoughts?

 

Hi BOBBO,

To open a *.js file:
Open Notepad | File | Open
Then browse to the *.js file you wish to open
Select the file
Make your Edit
Click Save
Close Notepad

OR

Browse to the *.js file
Highlight the file
Press the Shift Key
Right click the highlighted file
Select: Open with
Select: Notepad
Enable: Always use this program to open this type of file

You shouldn't edit the mailnews.js file, however. I just meant for you to copy/paste the two scripts I listed into your user.js file, which you have done.

If you edit the user.js file on the fly, you must close and then reopen Netscape for the edit to take effect.

That takes care of that weirdness...

Why your Application Data Folder disappeared, I know not, unless you didn't enable "Show all files, etc ".

Out of curiosity, would you type this into your Netscape Location bar:

about:config

tell me if you now see the two entries you added to the user.js file. They will be listed as below:
mail.collect_email_address_incoming
mail.collect_email_address_outgoing

If you have closed, then reopened Netscape, the two entries should be listed, and show a Value of "false ".

I've been seeing some fallibilities in this area, and would like to know if it occurs on other systems.

Thanks, and fingers crossed!

Ramona

 

Ramona: I did the about:config thing first before shutting down NS, and I found both lines there, but they didn't both end with "true." Incoming said true but outgoing said false. Then I shut NS down and reopened it and ran the check again, with the same result, incoming true but outgoing false. Significant?

The Application Data folder may well have been "invisible" because at first I did not have Show All Files checked, but that still leaves the question, why didn't user.js show up when I did a Search the first time?

As you say, I only tried to open the mailnews.js file to see if the lines were there so I could copy them to paste them into user.js.

We know now more than we did earlier, but are we making any headway?

 

Hi BOBBO,

We're making headway, although you need to open your user.js and edit one of the scripts. Both Values should be false. I did say true, but should have said false.

O.K., change this script to read "false "
user_pref( "mail.collect_email_address_incoming ", false);

You should see both values as "false" when you next check the about:config. You should also see the two scripts in your prefs.js file as well, both with values of false. If that's what you see, then this should be the end of it.

Ramona

 

Ramona: I did the editing as you recommended, and the change shows up as it should in both user.js and about:config, both before and after shutting down NS and restarting it.

But when I check prefs.js, it shows outgoing as false as it should but doesn't show incoming at all. That file is a Mozilla preferences file and when I open Notepad, it says not to edit that file. I pasted the lines into Notepad and tried to save them to prefs.js, but then a window comes up telling me that the file already exists and asks if I want to replace it. I declined to do so and closed Notepad. The user.js file is very short, with only those two lines in it as I recall, but the prefs.js file is very long, and I didn't think it smart to risk wrecking it. If I could just add that one line, fine. But I wouldn't want to replace the whole long file with those two lines so that they would be the entirety of the new file.

The user.js file and the about:config both show the two lines as we want them now. Do we still need to do something to get the prefs.js file to include that one additional line? If so, how do I go about it?

It's getting late, so I'll probably sign off now and check in tomorrow morning to see what wonders we can produce then. Thanks for your continuing efforts to help.