Alexander’s Blog

If you have upgraded your Firefox then you may have run into this situation where you try to install an add-on, plugin, theme, or an extension to Firefox but get this error message:

“Software installation is currently disabled. Click Edit Options… to enable it and try again.”

No matter what you do to Firefox configuration under Tools -> Options, you will not be able to install the software. I ran into this problem recently when I tried to add some cool add-ons to my browser. I was able to find the answer on mozillazine.com.

In Firefox 1.0.x the option to allow Web sites to install software is found under “Tools -> Options -> Web Features -> Allow Web sites to install software”. Starting in Firefox 1.5 the option has been removed from the user interface (UI). The software installation option must be enabled to allow installation of themes, extensions and certain plugins that use the XPInstall method.

If you click a Web site’s “Install” link and you see a message bar that says “Software installation is currently disabled. Click Edit Options… to enable it and try again.”, here’s what you need to do.

Firefox 1.0.x: Click the “Edit Options” button to open the Web Features preferences panel, place a checkmark in front of “Allow Web sites to install software” and try again.

Firefox 1.5: If you previously disabled this option and then updated to Firefox 1.5, the disabled setting will be carried over. Since the option to enable software installation no longer exists in the UI, you will need to use about:config to reset the “xpinstall.enabled” preference to the default “true” value. These step-by-step instructions should fix the problem:

1. Type about:config in the Location Bar and press enter.
2. Type xpi in the Filter box and then locate xpinstall.enabled in the list.
3. Double-click to toggle the value from “false” to true”.

Once you have made the change, you should be able to install software. You don’t even need to restart the browser. For a list of Firefox extensions, click here.
More info…

One spammer has managed to identify e-mail addresses on a “do-not-spam” list touted as secure, taking advantage of an obvious flaw with such lists and prompting critics to wonder what took so long.

“Do-not-spam” registries work by encouraging users to submit their e-mail addresses - Blue Security says it has 450,000. Before sending out a batch of messages, spammers are supposed to remove any addresses appearing on such lists.

The lists are generally encrypted so spammers can’t mine them for new addresses. Instead, spammers run their lists through an identical encryption algorithm, and the resulting fingerprints are compared. Spammers can then remove any matches.

But John Levine, co-author of “Fighting Spam for Dummies,” said spammers merely have to run their lists, see what’s been removed and compare that with the original to find out the addresses on the “do-not-spam” lists.

“It’s only a surprise that it took this long,” Levine said. More info…

If you are using the Internet Explorer 7.0 beta, you might want to take advantage of these add-ons from Microsoft to help personalize the way you use the Internet. According to Microsoft, these add-ons have been carefully screened by then and rated by users to help you select the ones that suit your needs and preferences.

Internet Explorer has several new features. It provides improved navigation through tabbed browsing, Web search right from the toolbar, advanced printing, easy discovery, reading and subscription to RSS feeds, and much more.

Internet Explorer 7 provides security through a new architecture, security features that help defend against malicious software (also known as malware), and new ways to better protect against the theft of personal data from fraudulent Web sites, a practice known as phishing. In addition, Internet Explorer 7 also includes improved support for cascading style sheets, a rich RSS feeds platform, and tools for deploying and managing Internet Explorer 7 in large enterprise environments. More info…