Bugfix: New Tab Appearing in Every New Window

The Symptoms

Every time you open a new Firefox window a new tab appears pointing to http://interclue.com/1.5.4-update.html

The Problem

Firstly, we here at Interclue are unable to re-create this problem. We think we know what the problem is but we cannot be sure without a complete copy of a users profile to test.

We know the problem can occur if the Interclue preference set is missing or corrupted. If this is that case then Interclue will think it has just been installed for the first time, and then it will show the first install page.

We believe the problem comes down to the interclue preference set not being saved in the users prefs.js file. We have only received two copies of the prefs file from people suffering this problem. In one copy the Interclue preferences were corrupted. Any attempt to load the preferences resulted in an error and the entire set of preferences had to be discarded. In the other prefs file the entire preference set was missing! No extension preferences had been saved at all. We also noted that many preferences where missing.

The problem now splits into two distinct parts.

Corrupted Preferences (Problem #1)

If your preference set is being corrupted then installing the latest beta should work

• click here to install interclue-beta 1.5.5
• Click "File > Exit" from the Firefox menubar
• Re-start Firefox

We have implimented a backup set of "known good" preferences, and each time the prefereces are loaded we update the backup set. So even if the set becomes corrupted you should always be able to load the previous backup set.

or Missing Preferences (Problem #2)

For some unknown reason your preferences are not being saved to the prefs.js file when Firefox closes. There is a simple test you can do to check if this is the case.

• Open Firefox
• Select "Tools > Options..." from the menubar
• Click the "Advanced" tab
• Select the "General" tab
• Now make sure the "search for text when I start typing" checkbox is checked
• Click "Ok" to save the changes
• Select "File > Exit" to close all your Firefox windows (Please do not close them with the close button, use the menuitem as this will ensure all firefox windows will close)
• Restart Firefox
• Go back the the General tab (Tools > Options > Advanced > General)
• Is the "search for text when I start typing" still selected? If so then your preferences are being saved correctly, if not then your preferences are not being saved when you shut down Firefox

If your preferences are not being saved then there really is nothing we can do to help. Without being able to save the state of Interclue, we become unable to tell if the add-on has just been installed or has been installed for some time.

Interclue does nothing unusual with your prefs.js file. We urge you to uninstall Interclue and run the test again to make sure this has nothing to do with Interclue.

What can I do to help?

Try installing the latest beta version of Interclue and restarting your browser, and tell us if this works. If it doesn't work then send us a copy of your prefs.js file. The file is located one of the following places

• Windows 2000 and XP
  C:\Documents and Settings\{Windows login or user name}\Application Data\Mozilla\
• Windows Vista
  C:\Users\{Windows login or user name}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\
• Unix
  ~/.mozilla/
• Mac OS X
  ~/Library/Mozilla/
~/Library/Application Support

and is named "prefs.js". Attach it to an email, and send it to us (support@interclue.com). This should help us to locate the source of the problem.