Having trouble downloading Firefox.

I'm reposting this because I don't think it went thru the first time. Again, I followed all the directions on downloading Firefox but each time I attempt to launch it I get the following ALERT notice: "Start.Mozilla.org could not be found. Please check the name and Try again."
What gives? I thought this was going to be a snap. Firefox did not take me to my home page as promised. It just sits there like a lump.
I'm certain I did something wrong but I don't know what.
Help.

 

This is how to correct it:
Close the error message box.
Go to Tools>Options>General
You have to change the "Homepage" section
Erase the address in the "Location(s):" field
Enter your favorite website address in that field
(example: http://www.dilbert.com )
Click "OK" at the bottom of the page.
The next time, you open Firefox or click the homepage
icon you will be taken to this site.

Note 1: If you have a firewall, I'm assuming that you give
Firefox access to the internet.
Note 2: Starting Firefox in safe mode, only disable the themes and
extensions that you have installed. It is useful when your
browser go crazy after installing an extension or theme
Note 3: To start in safe mode (Windows):
Start>Programs>Mozilla Firefox>Firefox (safe mode)

 

It does not sound like you had trouble downloading or installing Firefox. It sounds like Firefox was setup fine, and that you don't have a live internet connection.

ArchAngel's steps assume you have internet access. If they don't work, run Internet Explorer and visit a couple new websites to verify a live connection.

 

hey archangel,
thanks for the response about Firefox installation. I do have some questions though. I do have a fire wall. It's Norton Internet Security Professional and I'm a little confused as to how I would allow Firefox access to the internet. I will give it a try and see what happens. You mentioned starting Firefox in safe mode and disabling themes and extensions. This threw me for a loop. When and why would I do this? Please explain further.
Thanks.

 

Ma bad

 

I ran IE and I do have live internet access. This is all very frustrating.
I have to say ... for something supposedly easy to download and set-up it's been nothing but trouble. I think what I'll do is struggle along with this poor excuse of an operating system till I've gotten two years out of this blasted PC. When that time arrives I'll transfer to a Mac and truck no more with Microsoft. It's painfully obvious that the geniuses at the House of Gates don't give a pig's tit about the end user. Eventually, they'll go the way of the dinosaur. And good riddance to them all.
Thanks guys for all your help.
I'll just muddle on with this crap till I can stands no more and then I'll junk it.
Firefox sounded good but alas I'll have to stay with IE.

 

Be patient, Firefox is great. i.e. Wait til you try tabbed browsing which IE does not have.

Right now your firewall isn't allowing Firefox to access the internet. Why? Cause you haven't given it permission to. That's all. Internet Explorer can get on the internet now because the firewall allows it to. Hang loose. I'll get you step by step instructions.

Once you setup the firewall to allow Firefox to access the internet, this problem will not happen again. Be back in a couple...

In the meanwhile feel good your big Firefox problem is tiny and that your firewall is doing its job.

 

Try using this. If you get bogged down by any step, just post back for help. In section 2(2) where it says "Navigate to the executable file for the application that you are adding, and then select that file." it is looking for Firefox.

To add a new Application rule

1. Open the list of rules:
1. Open Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall.
2. Double-click Personal Firewall.
3. Click the Program Control tab. You see the list of Application rules.
2. Add the rule:
1. Click Add. You see the "Select a program" browse window.
2. Navigate to the executable file for the application that you are adding, and then select that file.
3. Click Open. You see the NIS or NPF Program Control dialog box. It has the following choices:
* Permit
* Block
* Manually configure Internet access
4. Select an option, and then click OK. You see the Application Category window.
5. Choose a category, and then click OK. Your application is added to the list.
3. Configure the rule:
* If you chose Permit or Block, you are through configuring the rule. Continue with step 4.
* If you chose "Manually configure Internet access," you see a series of windows for configuring the rule. Answer the prompts. For more information on these choices, see the section Overview of customization options.
4. Click OK.
5. Close NIS or NPF.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I needed it. I will once more venture forth into the fray but this time with your step by step. Right now it's time for some "steppin' out" and I intend to kill a glass of wine or two or three.
Be back tomorrow with the results.
I do have twoadditional questions. Once I'm cruisin' with Firefox what becomes of this "beast" which holds my original homepage captive? Isn't he lurking within the machine doing all sorts of damage?
Again, thanks for your patience.

 

I take it you are using Norton Windoctor also?

You have to be very careful with that one, or it will easily screw up your registry. Every time I've had it on my comp, I've had to do a complete reinstall. Last time I had XP running for over a year without reinstalling, then I had a brain fart and tried Nortons again. You can guess what happened. I would seriously recommend getting rid of anything Nortons and use other programs. I use ZoneAlarm for firewall, Avast for antivirus, and Tuneup Utilities and Xteq for tweaking and registry cleaning.
All are free, except Tuneup Utilities is a 30 trial.

 

Hey guys,
Well here I am, once again struggling against the forces of evil within my windows xp. I followed the step-by-step you provided and it was a snap to add the Firefox within my Norton Personal Security. The only problem is that I still got the following Alert message when I tried to log on to the internet: "Start.Mozilla.org could not be found. Please check the name and Try again."
Sooo, I followed your previous directions and went to the Tools>Options>General> to change my home-page to www.yahoo.com. I "OK" everything and step back out to my desktop. I double click the Firefox icon and whammo! I get the following Alert message: "www.yahoo.com could not be found. Please check the name and Try again." Sooo, I tried shutting down the computer and restarting it but this didn't work. Sooo, I had to uninstall the Firefox and reestablish connection with IE and post this plea for HELP!
What am I doing wrong?

 

It's easier to say this as an outsider, but try and stay patient. Firefox, when you install it (and you're almost there) will protect your computer, and help you avoid viruses, spyware and other headaches. Entirely removing that stuff from your computer is tough, and would be much more a hassle than the work you have left to install Firefox. Installing Firefox is smart just be patient. There are not many causes to this problem. And there will be little to no problems with Firefox after you install it.

Make sure the firewall was allowing Firefox to access the internet.

1) Re-install Firefox.
2) Confirm Internet Explorer is live on the internet by going to a couple websites you never have been to.
3) Once you confirm your Internet Explorer is live, try Firefox.
4) If Firefox cannot access the internet, close Firefox.
5) Disable the firewall.
6) Immediately open Firefox again, and try to access the internet.
7) If you cannot access the internet, click start -> run -> type 'ipconfig' and write the results
8) Enable the firewall (don't forget)
9) Post the results of 'ipconfig' in your next post.

 

Am glad to know "I'm almost there". That's somewhat encouraging. I tried to launch Firefox again and when I got the alert again I did as you suggested and diabled the firewall. Once the firewall (Norton Internet Security Professional 2004) was disabled I relaunched Firefox and whammo! my home page appeared. So I backed out and re-established my firewall. Once the firewall was back in place I couldn't get to my home page from Firefox. I keep getting that same ol' alert. I also went to run>ipconfig but the results appeared on my screen so fast and disappeared before I could actually see what it said.
This is bordering on the spooky.
Thanks for you help. I do appreciate it.

 

I agree with ArchAngel 100%. Get rid of Norton or macafee and replace with free ware. Lot of good stuff out there. I still have a paid version of mac fee anti-virus and firewall. I have uninstalled them both and replaced them with zone alarm which has worked great for me and avg anti-virus. There are other ones out there,do a search and read what others think. When you get FF.working I have a couple of suggestions here for opening FF. http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=47976 It took me a while to like FF. but the more I use it the more I like it. Check out this forum also,if you still have trouble. http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=677b2a2c6912d8724272a10947da266b

 

you're probably right about the Norton's but it should be able to allow FF. If it weren't near impossible to make contact with NIS I would challenge thm to find a way to work with FF. and the damned thing about it all is that I spent nearly $65 for the NIS. that's money down the drain.

 

you're probably right about the Norton's but it should be able to allow FF. If it weren't near impossible to make contact with NIS I would challenge thm to find a way to work with FF. and the damned thing about it all is that I spent nearly $65 for the NIS. that's money down the drain.

 

My step 7 should have read "7) If you cannot access the internet, click start -> run -> type cmd -> type 'ipconfig' and write the results." That would make that flashing black screen stay put on your screen like any other window.

But who cares now, right? It's the firewall, so it's time to solve your problem, which is how to configure Norton to allow Firefox to acess the internet.

BTW, ditto what the other geeks said, if you're up to it, though I know family and friends who share your thinking about Norton/Mcafee. You paid for it, and it's already installed, so why change it...It's right and wrong. Your computer is technically broke because it has Norton/Mcafee, but not broke enough you feel to be fixed. I hate such thinking but that's real world thinking. It is advisable to replace Norton/Mcafee with freeware (think betterware, in this case, or we wouldn't be suggesting it, we're not cheapskates), when you're up to it, of course. Put it on your to-do list is what I'm sayin, and try to get around to it, it will be better in the long run for your machine. Like you're doing with Firefox. You'll probably need a geek around. A geek poser or geek wanna-be may even do (but nothing beats the truth of a geek).

Re-try the instructions I posted on 12/11, on how to allow Firefox to punch through your firewall. Maybe this time it will work for ya.

If that does not work, do you get free phone support with Norton? If so, tell them you need to give Firefox access to the internet, and they'll walk you through it on the phone.

 

Don't get me wrong about not wanting to switch from NIS because I paid for it. Granted there is some of that but from all the things I read about NIS it was supposed to be the best. And if this creepy-crawly little virus managed to get thru "the best" how can some shareware protect me? Do you know what I mean?
I will call the folks at Norton and see what they can do for you.
Will get back with you later. Again, thanks for helping me. I truly appreciate it.

 

Yeah, you would think that considering the price of Norton/MacAfee, that they would be the best. Unfortunately, I echo the sentiments of others here - the best thing you can do for your frustration level is to get rid of them. They generally cause more problems than they solve.
If you want to spend more time surfing the net, and less time trying to fix problems - make the change.
Freeware like ZoneAlarm and AVG do a better job, are less intrusive and use far less system resources than their high priced competitors.

 

Well, whaddya know ... after spending over 1 hour and 47 minutes on the phone with no less than five chaps from Norton I managed to get Firefox working. Yikes! what a rat's nest of configurations I had to go thru to get it done. Only problem is I had to rush out and come to work before getting a chance to explore the web using Firefox. I'll do that tonight. One of the problems encountered during this excercise is that I have a file in my Temp File Folder that could not be deleted. The Norton guy told me I must contact Dell and have them help me delete the bastard file. That should take me close to two hours to do. There's gotta be an easire way.
Any way I want to thank you again for all your help.
Thanks.

 

Glad to hear you got it working.
Re: the file in your temp folder - if Firefox is working - why waste your time on the phone with Dell to delete it? Is it causing any other problems?

 

no, it's not causing any problems that I'm aware of. Perhaps you can answer me this; what happened to the virus that created the hijacking of my homepage on IE? Using Firefox has re-routed me but the bastard is still lurking within my machine ... is it not?

 

I guess I missed somthing. I didn't see anything about your homepage on IE being hijacked, just your problems getting your homepage established on Firefox, which was not a virus problem.
If you had a virus or spyware problem, I assume you did a virus scan, ran adaware, etc.. if so, the problem should be fixed.
Curious - what is the name of the file in your temp file that you cannot delete?