Deploying Firefox

[webman]

Locking down the browser to prevent changes also saves us time in the long run so we don't have to fix things that they inadvertently break through their tweaking.

[CyberNerd]

Locking down the browser to prevent changes also saves us time in the long run so we don't have to fix things that they inadvertently break through their tweaking.

 

Understood, but if all changes revert to the default settings when the browser reloads (through the read only mandatory profile) and no addons can be installed (again permissions) then I don't see what would break through tweaking.

 

 

I'm not trying to bitch at your efforts, as we've been through it as well.We spent quite a lot of time locking firefox for citrix (my colleague did all the hard work) IIRC the way to disable c:\ was to redirect file:// to about:blank. I'm now thinking that we went a bit OTT with it, upgrades are a pita - and TBH if we wanted a fast but limited browser we should have just installed Chrome.

[Michael]

OK I'm up to V5 on the FF Beta. I've uploaded them for download and I've made additional tweaks

[Michael]

I'm upto V7 which I have installed today on a network running XP SP3 clients and so far so good. The speed boost is very noticeable

[Michael]

I have found a bug with FF 3.5.3 with regards to the British Dictionary. Other FF users on the web have reported the same issue. The Add-on always fails unless you update it, so by default I have disabled Spell Checking This is included in V7 already.

 

The second problem I have noticed is when attempting to view secure websites using FF and BGFL's proxies. It just doesn't load, yet they do in IE8. As soon as I switch off proxy settings, websites like Yahoo Mail, Gmail and Paypal (which are all secure), all work absolutely fine. It does look like a proxy issue to me.

[Arthur]

Does using the -install-global-extension option to install the British English dictionary via its .xpi make any difference? I've always installed extensions using this method and never had any problems. I use an AutoIt script to do this (attached to this post) which automates the installation of Firefox using its native installer.

 

Out of interest, is FFDeploy definitely compatible with Firefox v3.5 since it hasn't been updated in almost 5 years? I had a quick look through the CreateProfile.vbs and it doesn't seem to use Firefox -CreateProfile default to create the default profile. Not sure if this makes any difference though.

Firefox.rar

Edited October 5, 2009 by Arthur

[Michael]

Thanks for that. Do you know where I can download a standalone copy of the British Dictionary in .xpi format?

[Arthur]

Either of these links works for me (right-click > save link as if you are using Firefox though).

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/downloads/latest/3366/addon-3366-latest.xpi

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/addons/3366/british_english_dictionary-1.19-fx+zm+tb.xpi

 

It looks like you replied while I was editing my post. Doing the above to save a standalone copy of the .xpi will work. I've just tried it.

Edited October 5, 2009 by Arthur

[Michael]

This link works for me.

 

Again it 'attempts' to install the dictionary automatically. I can't download a standalone copy which I could integrate; just as I did with the Favourites menu which is an add-on.

 

Hopefully this'll be fixed in a future update as the dictionary should work by default in the first place

[Arthur]

You might want to try again. See my post above for details.

[Michael]

Thanks. I copied and pasted the links into IE and I can download them. If I try in FF, it'll try to install the dictionary automatically. I'm going to attempt to integrate it now

[Michael]

Well I tried and it failed. The included dictionary still takes priority, so unfortunately until this gets fixed I'll leave the dictionary disabled. Thank you for all your efforts

[Edu-IT]

Do you have a version with the Config disabled? Also, would you be willing to do the proxy tweaks?

[Michael]

Do you have a version with the Config disabled? Also, would you be willing to do the proxy tweaks?

 

No I don't, but I can disable the about:config. You'll just receive an error message, but this will lock out everyone, including administrators. I have locked down the more critical options so I see no need in the school where I installed V7 today.

 

I just need to know proxy name, port, any exceptions, homepage and which LA it's for.

[Michael]

I need some help from other Birmingham schools (BGFL). I've discovered a problem whereby when visting secure websites using FF, sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. A good website to test is PayPal. You can download my FF build here

 

If you already have FF installed, backup your settings and then uninstall it. Then run my file (which is completely silent), then navigate to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox and create a shortcut to your desktop from Firefox.exe, then run Firefox. All feedback would be much appreciated.

 

I can only come to the conclusion that requests are being made to different core Birmingham proxies which is why it sometimes works fine and other times it doesn't. It works first time, everytime when trying to visit secure websites from home.

[Michael]

Good news, I've cracked it. I've uploaded the latest v7.1 and both normal and secure websites work correctly when using BGFL. If you've already downloaded/installed V7 you can install V7.1 directly on top without any problems

[Edu-IT]

Okay. So in theory this is in a suitable enough state to be deployed site wide within a school without causing any 'issues' to the network/profiles etc?

[Michael]

So in theory this is in a suitable enough state to be deployed site wide within a school

 

I have tested, tested and tested again and the only issue found was with Yahoo Mail, but I later found this affected all secure websites. v7.1 hopefully will become final if all goes to plan where I am deploying tomorrow. It's a school which use e-portal (which is a secure website also) so things will certainly become interesting.

 

The best advice I can offer is to test with a select few users and go from there. The speed improvement is pretty big over IE and I have designed FF to be as transparent as possible so users can easily use both browsers if required. FF does insert entries with any user profile (under Application Data and Local Settings). Hope this helps!

[Michael]

I can confirm v7.1 is now officially the final version. Additional testing was completed successfully today with a noticeable speed improvement (especially with ePortal)

[Michael]

If you want a good comparison how good Firefox is, open up IE and FF on the same machine, search for the same clip on youtube, then play them both at the same time. The speed difference is very noticeable. Edited October 8, 2009 by Michael

[Michael]

Now that FF v7.1 has gone final, for schools who wish to deploy FF I'm now in a position to create custom versions for proxy, exceptions and homepage settings only

[Edu-IT]

I'm interested in giving it a go. I'll drop you a PM.

[Arthur]

Do you have a version with the Config disabled? Also, would you be willing to do the proxy tweaks?

After a lot of Googling, I have finally found a much easier method to disable about:config.

 

1) Download the file attached to this post. This originally came from the Firefox CCK Wizard add-on.

2) Extract disableAboutConfig.js to "%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox\Components".

 

When users next open Firefox they will get a message saying 'about:config' has been disabled.

disableAboutConfig.zip

[Michael]

Thanks Arthur, it works, but I had to delete the Mozilla folder within my profile then re-install FF, copy the disableAboutConfig.js file then run FF.

[Arthur]

Cool!