Addon null and can't remove flagfox [RESOLVED]

Any feedback, suggestion, bug reports, problems....
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chaver4u2
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 10:44 pm

Addon null and can't remove flagfox [RESOLVED]

Post by chaver4u2 » Wed Dec 07, 2011 11:09 pm

Since the last 2 days, when opening Firefox, I get this error message "Addon is null".
After clicking CANCEL, Firefox works OK.

I read the instructions in some posts how to resolve this "remove flagfox, restart firefox, reinstall flagfox".....but: then I get a window stating "you don't have any add-ons of this type".

How can I remove an add-on if I don't have any? ........which isn't true, because they're all still there.
What is Flagfox anyway?

Mysterious.......

Mac OS 10.7.2
Firefox 6.0

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DaveG
Flagfox Developer
Posts: 723
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:06 pm
Location: Philadelphia, USA

Re: Addon null and can't remove flagfox

Post by DaveG » Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:16 am

chaver4u2 wrote:What is Flagfox anyway?
I think you're the first person to come here asking for help that's never heard of what you're asking for help about. :P

Flagfox is a Firefox extension that adds a flag in the address/location bar that tells you what country the website you're currently on is being served from. If you right-click on it you get a menu of special shortcuts Flagfox can do like looking the page up in various malware checks, page translation, link shortening, etc. If you didn't install it then someone else did.
chaver4u2 wrote:I read the instructions in some posts how to resolve this "remove flagfox, restart firefox, reinstall flagfox".....but: then I get a window stating "you don't have any add-ons of this type".
Hmm. Your Firefox install seems to be more broken than most. As stated in the other threads, this is unfortunately a bug in Firefox's Addon Manager that breaks Flagfox and some other addons when you update Firefox. It doesn't seem to happen to many, but certainly enough to be a problem. I've talked about this with the guy who wrote the Addon Manager and he has no idea what's going on here as of yet.
chaver4u2 wrote:How can I remove an add-on if I don't have any? ........which isn't true, because they're all still there.

Mac OS 10.7.2
Firefox 6.0
First up, I'd suggest updating to Firefox 8.0.1 or manually installing the new version from Mozilla.com. That might fix it for you. If it's still broken, you might be able to just reinstall Flagfox from Mozilla's addons site here. If that doesn't work, and Flagfox is not listed in the "Extensions" pane of the Addon Manager (click Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) then you're significantly more broken than usual. You can force a reset of the Addon Manager by opening your Firefox profile folder, exiting Firefox, and deleting "extensions.sqlite" and "extensions.ini", as well as "extensions.cache" and "extensions.rdf" if they exist. When you next load up Firefox it'll redetect all your installed addons and any brokenness should go away. You won't loose anything important if you only delete the files I mentioned, though if you had any addons disabled then you'll have to re-disable them from the Addons Manager.

If you're the only person who uses the computer in question and you don't wish to use Flagfox, it and any other extensions you don't want can be disabled or uninstalled using the Addons Manager (assuming it's working correctly).

chaver4u2
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 10:44 pm

Re: Addon null and can't remove flagfox

Post by chaver4u2 » Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:25 pm

DaveG
Thanks for your advice. I removed those 4 extension files, and all is back to normal.
My apologies I didn't remember what FlagFox was again. I thought it had to do with flagging down a fox, which I found very peculiar.
For a moment I thought it had to do with that poem about the fox by Fontaine.
Anyway, I now see what it is and it's quite cute.
I'm sad, though, that I'm no longer unique in the world not remembering what FlagFox was.

Is Firefox 8.01 for a Mac? I'm using Firefox 6.0 and haven't received any notice to upgrade, nor is Firefox upgrading automatically, which it used to do till now.
Or is 8.01 for PC's?

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DaveG
Flagfox Developer
Posts: 723
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:06 pm
Location: Philadelphia, USA

Re: Addon null and can't remove flagfox

Post by DaveG » Thu Dec 08, 2011 6:28 pm

One of the two fixes in Firefox 8.0.1 over 8.0 is a Mac only crash, specifically Java. Each major version, 8.0 at this point, will always have fixes and improvements for all platforms as well as the latest security updates. Mozilla only supports the latest release (currently 8.0.x) and the latest extended support release (currently 3.6.x for now) with security updates so it's generally recommended to only run one of those two major versions. No clue why you're not getting an automatic update for it but just installing the newer version yourself might be a good idea.

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