Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox

[kimco52]

I use both Firefox and Internet Explorer for different reasons. This one computer works well with Firefox. My main computer does not. It has both Firefox and IE. I would use Firefox but when you right click save as and save it, it goes through the motions as if it did but in reality you cannot find what it supposedly saved where it was suppose to save it or anywhere..I have even searched everywhere and cannot find it. So, I use IE on that computer. I have upgraded firefox, removed it completely, reinstalled, upgraded, etc.. all to no avail.

I just reinstalled XP Pro on that machine and getting things back up and running. When I went to IE, it said I was in IE but when I would go to a website or a bookmark/favorite, that new window would be a Mozilla window. And it still won't save. So I removed Mozilla. Now in IE, entering a website or clicking on a favorite will generate the error "program/file not found". So, I reinstalled firefox. Now, it still appears that clicking on a favorite or entering a website will still open Mozilla, from within IE. And it not only does not save, but clicking on save will bring up the error that it has performed an illegal act and must shut down Mozilla. It shuts down and I am still in IE on my home page.
What is happening and how do I correct it? I tried going to Microsoft to download IE again but putting microsoft in the URL moves me over to Firefox and then microsoft says I need to use IE to download their program or use an add-on....which firefox won't download and save.
I go to Control Panel to add Microsoft programs and it won't let me do IE.

What do I do? (Yeah, I know... move to Linux).

Why doesn't Firefox save? Must be in my registry but I have no clue.

[dcsos]

choose a differnt default destination to save to in firefox
TOOLS>OPTIONS>DOWNLOADS choose other than the desktop..maybe a setting the your system doesn't like the desktop so save to the root drive as a test

[kimco52]

I save it to c:\whatever folder I choose.
I don't save to desktop. It always asks where to save to and I give it a specific location. It does not show up anywhere.

[vmoeung]

After saved, do a file search. Then you will know where its place.

[dcsos]

maybe its fighting the default ??
set it back to th desktop then.
if it works I'll bet you could move it staitaways after downloading anyway..

and VM read his post..he can't save anything!!!
he's gotta get it working befor he searches for it!

[adam]

What happens when you look at the download option after setting up a download? (Hit tools/downloads.) Is the download queue even showing at all or is it just stalled for some reason?

[kimco52]

I tried to download, it "acted" like it did. I looked at the download cue and there is nothing....blank screen.

When I start IE, it goes to my home page but if I tell it to go anywhere, it opens a new window and that window is a firefox window and it does everything there in Firefox. Why does IE start up Firefox? How do I stop that?

[vmoeung]

hey, did you format your hard drive and re-install os? If not that could be your problem.

[ahhaa]

when you start IE, does it say IE is not your default browser? (& do you want to change it? answer is yes)

did you perchance install the ff addon that opens an IE window in ff?

[SanderMan]

Did you delete your user profile before reinstalling?

[kimco52]

ahhaa,
When I start IE, it does not ask any such question. Neither does FF.
I don't know if I installed such an addon. Where do you get it? How would I know if it is installed?

SanderMan,
Probably not. where is this profile that I need to delete? I do notice that If I uninstall Firefox, it does not do a "clean" uninstall and I think it leaves a bunch of stuff and does not remove itself from the Registry. It keeps the bookmarks and other stuff somewhere.

Vmoeung,
No, I was trying to keep other stuff as it was. That may be part of the problem but I was having similar probs before I reinstalled the OS. Too many programs to reinstall that I don't want to have to pay again to reinstall. I may have to, however.

[aedipuss]

try going to start/set program access and control/ and set what you want as the default browser.

as for the firefox download problem. try going to the ff homepage and for the plugin - "download statusbar" it may help keep track of your downloads for you. just click install now when you find it and then close/restart ff.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/26

[ahhaa]

K52- one browser or the other has to be your default browser (that can be autocalled by links)

the open-IE-in-a-Firefox-window add-on is usually from the official Firefox site... click Add-Ons under Tools in Ff to find it easily

its not real clear what is the cause of your save problem, except that the default is Desktop. Why not do a trial letting it save where it wants on the desktop, and if it doesn't show there use Search to find the file (which you have cleverly named something unique!:])

also, it seems the screwup is in the IE department, so you could try going to Win Update and have a go at that.

[SanderMan]

Read here about the user profile:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder

[kimco52]

aedipus,
Where is the start set program access? I click on my start bar and there isn't anything like that there. Is it in something else?

ahhaa,
I have let it save to default, desktop, a specific location, anywhere and it never shows up anywhere..... It does not save it anywhere. I can play again later today.

[ahhaa]

Have you tried Searching for the file? Does this happen with both browsers?

You might consider checking Microsoft's Knowledge Base- its an unusual problem...

[Seeker47]

maybe its fighting the default ??

Might not apply here, but . . .
when you use multiple programs in any category (e.g., for video players, I have WMP, QT, PowerDVD, Gom, and VLC installed presently) I think it's a good idea to not let any of them claim Default status or grab those file associations. Just answer NO when they ask you, at install time, or any other time. You will lose some convenience, in terms of being able to just double click on a file and have it load into some appropriate app (hopefully), but you should have more freedom in using whatever you prefer to use in a given case, without your apps constantly dukeing it out for supremacy, which can seriously get in your way. (This is one of the more charming aspects of WinBlows.)

[hudsonf]

At the top of Firefox click " Tools " then click " Options " then click " Downloads ". You can choose where to save your downloads. Also while you are in the " Tools " menu you can click " Main " and select to let Firefox check if it is the default browser. To let Internet Explorer check if it's the default browser I think it's under " Internet Options " - " Programs ".

[aedipuss]

kimco52 - as far as i know it should be in your start toolbar if you have xp with sp2 installed. it's real program name is control.exe and it's located in the windows/system32 folder.

maybe it's one of those optional downloads from ms update? i really can't recall - sorry.

[kimco52]

aedipuss,
I do have the Set program Access and I looked at it. It does not allow me to change anything for some reason. There was one thing it did allow me to change and I did but had no different results.

hudsonf,
I looked and checked and Firefox was the default browser. I told it not to be the default and I told IE to check if it were the default but restarting the computer and IE did not ask me or try to change it to default.

ahhaa,
I did what you suggested and checked for add-ons and there were only two, none of which remotely resembled anything mentioned here. Certainly, not the open IE in a Firefox window. I don't want to do that anyway. I start IE and when going to any address past the home page, it automatically opens a new window which is Firefox, not IE.

One of those add-ons was the download toolbar. I can't even see that. Even though it is loaded, it does not come up.

Currently, all this is now moot, temporarily. The computer died for some reason yesterday and until I figure that out, not much more I can presently do. I may be forced to start fresh.

Thanks to all for the suggestions and help.