Thursday, March 6, 2008

Swiftfox VS. Firefox

If you like to try out different software packagaes as I do then sometimes things can get a bit messed up. Case in point, I had replaced Firefox with Swiftfox. Swiftfox is Beta at best and to be honest not as compatible with Firefox as I would like. The problems are more instability than functionality. Also many FF plugins simply aren't compatible with SF.

I also realized when I switched back to FF that SF had done some changes that created more issues with FF than I liked. Fortunately I was able to recover the damages.

To fix FF issues in Linux is easy. Simply delete the hidden folder .mozilla under your home folder. If you have FEBE then getting your extensions back is easy as well. If not get it before deleteing the hidden folder and backup extensions and themes and bookmarks before doing so.

Once the hidden folder is deleted and you start FF it opens in default mode with no new addons, cookies, extensions or themes. Reinstall FEBE through the file>> open dialogue and then restart FF again. Then use FEBE to reinstall everything else and restart FF one last time.

Though you will have to re-enter your saved passwords (I have learned from past experience that FEBE does not handle restoration of cookies, password data and user settings well so I highly suggest you never use those options) the minor inconvienence makes for a fresh start with FF and helps improve its usability.

Lesson learned - be able to recover from trying something new if it doesn't work for you.

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