I'm using outdated versions of Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox. I know I'm supposed to uninstall the older versions, but I'm trying to keep my settings for favorites, plugins and extensions. I've downloaded a Mozilla back-up program, but I don't quite know how to use it or if there's another way of doing this. I'm lost as far as what steps to take next. Can anyone walk me through this in a step-by-step manner? I'm not very computer literate, so please keep it simple.

Thanks in advance,

Mary

With the newer versions, some of the older plug-ins and extensions, may not work. But you should be able to retain your user settings.

When you uninstall Mozilla/Firefox, there is a file that isn't deleted. It's your user preferences file, located here:
My Computer / C: / Documents and Settings / user name / Application Data / Mozilla

NOTE: You have to have "show hidden files" enabled, to see this folder.
To enable the viewing of Hidden files, in XP, follow these steps:

1. Close all programs so that you are at your desktop.
2. Double-click on the My Computer icon.
3. Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options.
4. After the new window appears select the View tab.
5. Put a checkmark in the checkbox labeled Display the contents of system folders.
6. Under the Hidden files and folders section select the radio button labeled Show hidden files and folders.
7. Remove the checkmark from the checkbox labeled Hide file extensions for known file types.
8. Remove the checkmark from the checkbox labeled Hide protected operating system files.
9. Press the Apply button and then the OK button and shutdown My Computer.
10. Now your computer is configured to show all hidden files.

So you should be able to uninstall, without loosing your preferences, but you will probably have to reinstall some, or all, of your extensions and plug-ins.

For your bookmarks:
Create 2 new folder on your Desktop (Right click empty space on Desktop / New / Folder / then name one Mozilla, and the other Firefox.

Open Firefox / Bookmarks / Manage Bookmarks / File / Export / send it to the new Firefox folder you created.
When you get the new version installed, you will do the same thing, except this time, you will Import from the new folder you created.

I'm not sure about Mozilla (I don't use it), but I would imagine it is similar to Firefox

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Mozilla works the same as FF; both have most of the user settings in a separate folder. I have uninstalled older versions of Mozilla about five times, and have not lost any bookmarks, cookies, or stored passwords when I installed the newer version.
Cheers
John

I uninstalled and reinstalled the upgrades of both Mozilla and Firefox. Thanks so much for the help. My only question so far is that I'm unable to add the Google toolbar to the Mozillla toolbar. Is there a way to do this? I'm pretty sure I had it on the older version of Mozilla and I would like to add it back. I searched under plug-ins but there were so many that I couldn't figure it out. The one I tried to download didn't seem to do anything.

Thanks again for all the help,

Mary

PS Found the Google toolbar extension!! Thanks again

A related Mozilla problem. How do I change the default player for Mozilla? I think I chose the default when I tried to play the first video after I downloaded and set-up the upgrade . The default was Quicktime, but now I can't view video clips from MSNBC because they require Windows Media Player and I can't figure out how to change the default player. Sorry to be so confused.

Thanks in advance for your patience,

Mary

For Mozilla, the path is:

Edit/preferences/helper applications.

You can find the file type, and click on edit and choose the application with which Mozilla should open it. As I remember, Mozilla will generally use the pre-existing association found in Windows, so you might change THAT in Windows.

Cheers,
John

I tried to follow your instructions, but I'm totally confused. I went to Edit/preferences/helper applications. The only file showing is application/x-msdownload. I don't know what to do from there. I tried Add /new application, but I get a menu that doesn't give me a clue as to what to to from there. Please excuse my ignorance.

Thanks for the help,

Mary

Try setting up the application association in Windows by right clicking on an existing file on your hard drive, going through properties, and setting the extension there---check the box at the bottom that says something like "always use this program to open this type of file."
Cheers,
John