Firefox update question -- need help someone

[Larry Kart]

At some point within the last year I changed my browser from Safari to Firefox. Then a few months ago, in the name of neatness, I put my Safari software in the trash and emptied it. All well and good, or so I thought, but now I have two problems.

First, even though there's no Safari software left on my computer, I keep getting updates from Safari, which I ignore, but still it's a bit annoying.

Second and more troublesome (though probably there's no connection between the two things), when I get a notice that there's an update for Firefox, it won't update but instead tells me that I don't have the systems permission required to install the update and that I should contact my system administrator, whoever or whatever that is, or "try again from an account that has permission to install software on this computer."

I have no idea what, if anything, to do. Any ideas?

[Larry Kart]

I have gone to Firefox's website and nosed around there, but I don't see any information that answers my problem.

[Shawn]

I assume you are using a Mac? Go to System Preferences/Accounts and make sure the account you are using is an Administrator and not a Standard account.

I remember having that Firefox "administrator" error before. I deleted the Firefox application and downloaded the latest version from the website. You might want to give that a shot if you have the correct account level on your computer.

Safari can also be re-downloaded from the Apple website if you need to reinstall it. The Mac OS uses Safari for other things, so if it's deleted completely it can cause some confusion (you can get around it, but would need to also delete the Safari folder from /User/Library and the .plist from /User/Library/Preferences).

If you have a PC...ignore everything I just said.

[JSngry]

I put my Safari software in the trash and emptied it.

Don't know about a Mac, but it's a general rule of thumb to uninstall software rather than just delete it, if that's what you're saying you did. Uninstalling should get rid of register keys, DLL files, etc, Of course, that's what should happen, not what always does, but it's still the way to get rid of a program you'll no longer be wanting.

[John L]

Safari is useful for viewing PDF files. Firefox on a Mac is problematic in that regard.

[Larry Kart]

I put my Safari software in the trash and emptied it.

Don't know about a Mac, but it's a general rule of thumb to uninstall software rather than just delete it, if that's what you're saying you did. Uninstalling should get rid of register keys, DLL files, etc, Of course, that's what should happen, not what always does, but it's still the way to get rid of a program you'll no longer be wanting.

So how I do uninstall software?

[J.A.W.]

I put my Safari software in the trash and emptied it.

Don't know about a Mac, but it's a general rule of thumb to uninstall software rather than just delete it, if that's what you're saying you did. Uninstalling should get rid of register keys, DLL files, etc, Of course, that's what should happen, not what always does, but it's still the way to get rid of a program you'll no longer be wanting.

So how I do uninstall software?

PC or Mac?

[Larry Kart]

I assume you are using a Mac? Go to System Preferences/Accounts and make sure the account you are using is an Administrator and not a Standard account.

I remember having that Firefox "administrator" error before. I deleted the Firefox application and downloaded the latest version from the website. You might want to give that a shot if you have the correct account level on your computer.

Safari can also be re-downloaded from the Apple website if you need to reinstall it. The Mac OS uses Safari for other things, so if it's deleted completely it can cause some confusion (you can get around it, but would need to also delete the Safari folder from /User/Library and the .plist from /User/Library/Preferences).

If you have a PC...ignore everything I just said.

Yes, I have a Mac. I went to System Preferences/Account and it said that I was the administrator. Also, per my response to Jim above, if deleting the Firefox application is what I want to do, and then download the most recent version of Firefox, apparently just putting the icon in the trash and emptying the trash isn't good enough?

[Larry Kart]

Also, Shawn, if I get that far, how do I know whether I have the correct account level on my computer?

Further -- and this is proof of how little I know about this stuff -- if I delete Firefox from my computer and thus have no browser application on my computer any more, how do I got to Firefox's site to download a new version of Firefox? Don't I need a browser to get there?

[JSngry]

Don't know how the Mac works, but on a PC you can go to Control Panel & there's a Add/Remove Programs function. Also, some programs have their own uninstall applet built in. You can right-click the program group and see what's there, or go direct to the program folder to see if the uninstall applet is there.

As far as getting the new Firefox w/o the old, you can either get it through another browser, or else download the install package thru Firefox, uninstall the existing version, and then run the install package for the new version. At some point, we all, hypothetically, had to get Firefox w/o already having it, right?

Either way, uninstall the old version before installing the new. Uninstalling should get rid of everything, not just the main program files,

Other can speak more succinctly and/or in more precise detail about this, I'm sure.

[Quincy]

The administrator password is one which you should have been called upon on other occasions for some of the system updates. I believe you're not running the latest version of OSX so it may have been awhile since you last needed to provide it. This same password might pop up when you first boot up your computer, though perhaps you don't do that for your computer. Perhaps you have a (paper) file about the computer where you wrote the password down?

For deleting Firefox on a Mac you do just what you did to get rid of Safari. Just drag it to Trash (this info courtesy of the Firefox site.) There are some programs on the Mac that have uninstall programs but many are still just dragged to Trash. No Windows Registry here.

For the sake of convenience I'd visit apple.com and download Safari. It's only about 60 mb so you should have plenty of room. Although it's safe to delete Safari you may occasionally run into some nagging issues that you mentioned so I'd get a copy and keep it on the computer. You can keep it off the Dock and not even have to look at it, but it'll be around in case some update to Firefox messes things up for you. Or if you were to accidentally delete Firefox. (Also if you ever accidentally deleted all of your browsers one way to get Safari back would be to grab one of your installation discs and look for a folder that I think is called "optional installs.")

[Larry Kart]

The administrator password is one which you should have been called upon on other occasions for some of the system updates. I believe you're not running the latest version of OSX so it may have been awhile since you last needed to provide it. This same password might pop up when you first boot up your computer, though perhaps you don't do that for your computer. Perhaps you have a (paper) file about the computer where you wrote the password down?

For deleting Firefox on a Mac you do just what you did to get rid of Safari. Just drag it to Trash (this info courtesy of the Firefox site.) There are some programs on the Mac that have uninstall programs but many are still just dragged to Trash. No Windows Registry here.

For the sake of convenience I'd visit apple.com and download Safari. It's only about 60 mb so you should have plenty of room. Although it's safe to delete Safari you may occasionally run into some nagging issues that you mentioned so I'd get a copy and keep it on the computer. You can keep it off the Dock and not even have to look at it, but it'll be around in case some update to Firefox messes things up for you. Or if you were to accidentally delete Firefox. (Also if you ever accidentally deleted all of your browsers one way to get Safari back would be to grab one of your installation discs and look for a folder that I think is called "optional installs.")

Hmm -- seems like each fix presents new problems. For instance, I can't download the current version of Safari because I have OS X version 10.4.11, and the current Safari requires version OS X 10.5.3.

[Chicago Expat]

Is your Mac OS up to date? Click on the apple icon in the top left corner. The second choice down on the drop-down menu says "Software Update". Click on that. It will likely pop up a window that asks you for your system admin password. Give it. There may be several options of things to update. Put a check in the box of anything that says O/S, but also any firefox, safari, and adobe updates (pretty much any firefox update I've ever done required an adobe one as well, so just get 'em out of the way together). Some of the updates may be irrelevant to your current problem or even your mac as a going concern. Choose what seems appropriate.

When it's done, you'll have to restart your computer.

Hopefully that will take care of your error message regarding functionality to download current versions of safari and/or firefox.

By the by, I use Firefox as my browser of choice, but certain sites (Amazon, for one) default to the Safari browser. For the sake of simplicity, I let Safari hang around.

I will re-read your thread. I'm trying to understand your problem exactly. I may or may not be any help. I'm a recent Mac user and haven't exactly embraced a learn-it-all approach like I did long ago with Windows.

P.S. My OS version is 10.5.8, and I think I'm up to date, so your update function should get you clear.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Chicago Expat

[Larry Kart]

Is your Mac OS up to date? Click on the apple icon in the top left corner. The second choice down on the drop-down menu says "Software Update". Click on that. It will likely pop up a window that asks you for your system admin password. Give it. There may be several options of things to update. Put a check in the box of anything that says O/S, but also any firefox, safari, and adobe updates (pretty much any firefox update I've ever done required an adobe one as well, so just get 'em out of the way together). Some of the updates may be irrelevant to your current problem or even your mac as a going concern. Choose what seems appropriate.

When it's done, you'll have to restart your computer.

Hopefully that will take care of your error message regarding functionality to download current versions of safari and/or firefox.

By the by, I use Firefox as my browser of choice, but certain sites (Amazon, for one) default to the Safari browser. For the sake of simplicity, I let Safari hang around.

I will re-read your thread. I'm trying to understand your problem exactly. I may or may not be any help. I'm a recent Mac user and haven't exactly embraced a learn-it-all approach like I did long ago with Windows.

P.S. My OS version is 10.5.8, and I think I'm up to date, so your update function should get you clear.

All that was waiting there in Software Update was an update of Safari, so I thought "Why the hell not?" and updated that. Whether that will make any difference elsewhere, e.g. ability to update Firefox, remains to be seen. Perhaps it's a good idea, as you and others had said, to have an updated Safari on the computer.

Another perhaps connected recent glitch -- whenever I restart my computer IChat is the first thing that pops up, and I've never used IChat before, though I may have clicked on it once by mistake.

[JSngry]

There are some programs on the Mac that have uninstall programs but many are still just dragged to Trash. No Windows Registry here.

Geez, where's the fun in that?

[Chicago Expat]

Another perhaps connected recent glitch -- whenever I restart my computer IChat is the first thing that pops up, and I've never used IChat before, though I may have clicked on it once by mistake.

On my old Windows, there was a place I could check and uncheck the applications that I wanted to open automatically at start-up. I'm not sure where that happens on a Mac. iChat shouldn't be showing up without you clicking on it. I'll nose around my system preferences and see if I can find a place that allows you to switch it off. Perhaps it's something with the ichat software preferences.

Let us know what happens with Safari and Firefox. I'll be interested to hear the result of the update and reboot of your system.

[Larry Kart]

Another perhaps connected recent glitch -- whenever I restart my computer IChat is the first thing that pops up, and I've never used IChat before, though I may have clicked on it once by mistake.

On my old Windows, there was a place I could check and uncheck the applications that I wanted to open automatically at start-up. I'm not sure where that happens on a Mac. iChat shouldn't be showing up without you clicking on it. I'll nose around my system preferences and see if I can find a place that allows you to switch it off. Perhaps it's something with the ichat software preferences.

Let us know what happens with Safari and Firefox. I'll be interested to hear the result of the update and reboot of your system.

Well, I took care of IChat (I hope) by putting it in the trash and dumping it (took a long time).

[Quincy]

Hmm -- seems like each fix presents new problems. For instance, I can't download the current version of Safari because I have OS X version 10.4.11, and the current Safari requires version OS X 10.5.3.

A Safari that will work for your version of Tiger is in the link below. Sorry I didn't check that in the earlier post since you gave your version number.

Safari for 10.4.11

The latest version of the latest OS (Snow Leopard) is 10.6.6. Not much sense in getting Snow Leopard now as Lion is coming out fairly soon. (Also Lion may not have as much to offer to older machines as some features relate to multi-finger wipes on trackpads that only more recent laptops will recognize.)

Edited March 6, 2011 by Quincy

[mellowT]

Larry,

I've been a long time Mac user. Up until 6 months ago I too was running Tiger (10.4). Looks like Quincy provided the right link for downloading Safari again.

You should probably never delete a base application like Safari or iChat. If you don't use an application that appears in your toolbar at the bottom, simply drag it out of the toolbar (watch it go poof!) and you won't have to worry about accidentally clicking on it.

If an application starts up immediately upon login, you can undo that state by right-clicking the toolbar icon -> Options -> Open at Login (toggle off). (If your mouse doesn't have right-click, hold down the Control key as you single-click).

[Chicago Expat]

If an application starts up immediately upon login, you can undo that state by right-clicking the toolbar icon -> Options -> Open at Login (toggle off). (If your mouse doesn't have right-click, hold down the Control key as you single-click).

Ah, thank you for that. I knew it had to be somewhere on here. I'm not having that problem myself, but it may one day be helpful.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Chicago Expat

[Larry Kart]

Hmm -- seems like each fix presents new problems. For instance, I can't download the current version of Safari because I have OS X version 10.4.11, and the current Safari requires version OS X 10.5.3.

A Safari that will work for your version of Tiger is in the link below. Sorry I didn't check that in the earlier post since you gave your version number.

Safari for 10.4.11

The latest version of the latest OS (Snow Leopard) is 10.6.6. Not much sense in getting Snow Leopard now as Lion is coming out fairly soon. (Also Lion may not have as much to offer to older machines as some features relate to multi-finger wipes on trackpads that only more recent laptops will recognize.)

Thanks -- I already found and downloaded that version of Safari last night, though I was so punch drunk I don't remember the circumstances now.

[Chuck Nessa]

Must have been good punch.

[Larry Kart]

Larry,

I've been a long time Mac user. Up until 6 months ago I too was running Tiger (10.4). Looks like Quincy provided the right link for downloading Safari again.

You should probably never delete a base application like Safari or iChat. If you don't use an application that appears in your toolbar at the bottom, simply drag it out of the toolbar (watch it go poof!) and you won't have to worry about accidentally clicking on it.

If an application starts up immediately upon login, you can undo that state by right-clicking the toolbar icon -> Options -> Open at Login (toggle off). (If your mouse doesn't have right-click, hold down the Control key as you single-click).

Too late, I already deleted it. The Apple police will be knocking on my door.

My problem was that it wasn't on my dock but would be actively running as an application or be in the process of setting itself up to run whenever I'd restart my computer, and then it would take a minute or so before it had finished and I could get out of it.

[JSngry]

multi-finger wipes on trackpads that only more recent laptops will recognize.)

What does this mean? I'm curious.

[Larry Kart]

Must have been good punch.

Computer problems/doubts can really batter the psyche.