Pc tools firewall plus, etc.

Hi All!

First of all, I am sick and blitzed out of my mind on Zyrtec. :cry I will do my best to be coherent.

Here's my info: Windows XP Pro, Avast, Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot, Spyware Blaster. PC Tools is my firewall and Window's firewall is disabled. ISP is AOL dial-up (long sad story ).

Monday, I got up to get on the internet and AOL kept bringing up error messages about something blocking my modem. I unplugged the wires to the modem and jack, cleared the cache, etc. and was finally able to get on. Then I decided to finally let FF update because I was tired of all the little messages and intrusions, especially about the add-ons. I thought updating from 3.6 to 12 would solve all the intrusions and update requests, but it didn't. Also, I hate the way 12's interface looks. rolleyes The web address strip is shortened or missing, no status bar at the bottom of the page, etc. Any fixes?

I've also had a problem with something changing my IE settings, especially Connections (it changes it from "Never dial a connection" to "Always dial my default connection"). A month or two ago, I spent time with AOL's tech people to fix this because I couldn't open IE offline without it opening AOL and starting up to access the web. Any way, it started doing it again and I discovered the setting had been changed and I reset it.

Next, today, I think I had cleared the cache and rebooted and got a message about some files may have been changed, but because of my respiratory infection, bad/no sleep and Zyrtec I didn't write the 2 paths to these files, but thru the fog of my mind, I think they were system files. Also, this message said that I should run my malware programs and I did (I bootscan Avast daily and the logs were clean) and they were all clean. Afterwards, I clear the cache and reboot. I get a box from PC Tools about "New Network Detected" and in the strip is "WORKGROUP" and below it is a MAC Address and an IP/Mask and numbers. Then it says, "Select a trust level for this network" Below it is a Strip that is on Public and below that is "PC Tools recomends untrusted profiles for insecure networks. Then there is a button that says "Apply". This is a standalone computer and I'm not on a "network" that I know and understand about. What the heck is going on and what should I do? I haven't hit "Apply" and I've just moved the box out of the way. It comes back after rebooting. How do I get rid of it? Should I "Apply"??

Also, can I "downgrade" FireFox to an earlier version? I really don't like 12. How would I do that if it's possible? I want to keep my history and bookmarks (I was having problems with that too earlier and I so far I'm starting over on the history and the bookmarks came back).

Hope I'm clear. I feel horrible right now, thank you for any help and please let me know if I need to clarify anything. THANKS!!

 

Hi Meekiecheese.

You have a lot of separate issues here - probably some should be in separate threads.

Unfortunately, Firefox 3.6 is no longer supported.
You may want to look at Pale Moon which is an optimized version of Firefox designed specifically for Windows.

To fix the status bar problem, on the menubar, try Tools > Menubar Options
see the following thread: Pale Moon 11 Status bar

There are some add-ons that will backup the Firefox settings, etc.

Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles

Back up your bookmarks or move them to another computer

Firefox Environment Backup Extension