Technology

Mozilla: Windows 10 and Users Choice

Mozilla Future Releases has published the article Windows 10 and User Choice, which talks about some the changes that have occurred with Firefox as a result of Windows 10. Besides Windows 10 making Edge your default browser (unless you do a custom install), web searches using Cortana are done though Bing. The article goes on to explain how they have been able to workaround some these changes. But first, they talk about the UI change in regards to the search feature for the Windows 10 version of Firefox: User choice is a core principle with which we design our products….

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Take Ownership Registry Script

This registry script works for Windows Vista and newer and adds a ‘Take ownership’ (Administrator) option to the context (right-click) menu in Windows (File) Explorer. Very useful for removing crap Microsoft has sneaked onto your computer such as the Get Windows 10 (aka GWX) propaganda as well as Windows 10 itself. You can run this script on files and/or folders which will give the Administrator ownership privileges to be able to delete said files and/or folders. Installation is simple, download and open the zip file then run the Take Ownership – Install.reg file. You will be presented with a couple prompts accept…

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Remove ‘Get Windows 10’ (GWX)

Most people who were running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 before Windows 10 was released this past July who didn’t want it removed (and also hid) KB3035583 from their Windows Updates. But, what about people who bought a new Windows 8.1 computer or reinstalled Windows 7/8.1 AFTER Windows 10 was released? I ran into this scenario last week after a couple family members purchased new Windows 8.1 PCs (yes, you can still get Windows 8.1 PC’s) and the machines download and installed KB3035583. I thought this would be a simple fix, remove and hide KB3035583 and all would be well. As it turns…

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Google ends NPAPI Support with Chrome 45

People are still complaining about how Mozilla is removing support for NPAPI plugins (Silverlight and Java specifically) in the upcoming Windows 64-Bit release of Firefox (now tentatively scheduled for Firefox 42 in November) even though the move is not that unusual given the trend to move away from NPAPI plugins by other browsers. Microsoft’s Edge Browser (Windows 10 only) does not support Active X or any of the NPAPI plugins (Flash is integrated not a plugin). On Tuesday, September 1st Google released Chrome 45 which ended the browser’s support of NPAPI plugins as well. I found this out when I…

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Firefox 40.0.3 Released

Mozilla release an emergency update for the Firefox 40 branch on Thursday, August 27th with Firefox 40.0.3 release. This release addressed the following issues: Disable the asynchronous plugin initialization (1198590) Fix a segmentation fault in the GStreamer support (GNU/Linux) (1145230) Fix a startup crash when using DisplayLink (Windows Only) (1195844) Fix a regression with some Japanese fonts used in the <input> field (1194055) On some sites, the selection in a select combox box using the mouse could be broken (1194733) Some search partner codes were missing (1195683) Various security fixes   User should be prompted to update or can do…

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How to Limit Windows 10 Forced Updates

Note: I use the word ‘limit’ in lieu of ‘stop’ because Windows 10 Home users can not stop Security Updates, which there is really no reason as for the most part Security Updates have been trouble free. There are three different methods you can try, to stop Windows 10 from automatically installing updates (new drivers and software features). These updates have been particularly troublesome for ‘fast ring’ users and the patches to fix these broken updates have caused endless crashing loops. The method which use choose to use will depend if you are a Home, Pro or Enterprise user as well as the type…

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Dealing with WordPress White Screen of Death

A White Screen of Death in WordPress occurs when PHP has crashed. Usually this is caused by malformed coding which causes the interpreter to stop processing the page. Most common reasons include installing incompatible plugins or themes. Remember many years ago troubleshooting a White Screen for someone and determined that they had installed a Joomla theme in WordPress. While they both used the same file structure there are vast differences between WordPress and Joomla.  WordPress has made several enhancements over the last couple years that greatly reduce the likelihood of there being a White Screen of Death such as performing…

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Experimental Private Browsing now in Firefox Beta

As mentioned in the Three Pillars of Firefox from July 2015. The Uniquely Firefox Pillar hinted towards an improved private browsing mode. In the past Private Browsing would not show up in your history, or keep cookies and temporary files. So, now Mozilla has expanded on what happens in a private browsing session and has rolled this out in the current Firefox 40 Beta. Our hypothesis is that when you open a Private Browsing window in Firefox you’re sending a signal that you want more control over your privacy than current private browsing experiences actually provide. The experimental Private Browsing enhancements ready…

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Mozilla to Depreciate add-ons using XUL, XPCOM, or XBL

Back in July Mozilla’s Dave Camp had talked about in his email how to get Firefox away from being dependent on XBL and XUL. At that time, many on mozillaZine were concerned that this could have dire consequences on the future of Firefox as trying to move away from a development system that has been used for the past decade would not be easy. If anything, it would require a complete rewrite/redesign of the desktop version of Firefox. Many had hoped this would be like a campaign promise and people would forget about it. Unfortunately, Mozilla has lived up their…

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Windows 10 Update to Fix Crashes Crashing.

Yep, you read that right. The update (KB 308148) pushed out on Friday, August 14th which was suppose to fix the botched update (KB 308146) is failing to install correctly and also resulting in an endless crash loop. Like the previous update there is no detailed explanation what this update does (besides causes crashing).  According to Microsoft: “This update includes improvements to enhance the functionality of Windows 10.” So is Microsoft saying that crashing is now a functionality of Windows 10 and it has been enhanced with this latest update? via Forbes > Gordon Kelly

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