Hi, I'm an eBay seller and save old eBay auction files to my hard drive for future refence. Firefox no longer opens these files correctly (see below).

Question

Hi, I'm an eBay seller and save old eBay auction files to my hard drive for future refence. These files which all use the same name but are saved in a different folder for each eBay auction no longer open correctly -- much of the eBay auction text information shows up for a split second and then disappears -- the area at the top of the saved eBay auction file then collapses -- the original eBay auction photo of the product shows up as well during that split second but disappears when the other auction text disappears. These eBay auction files open correctly when opened using Internet Explorer. In Firefox, Firefox adds some strange information at the end of the file name when it is opened which is not a part of the actual file name itself (i.e. here is the original file name which is the same for whatever ended eBay auction I open: eBayISAPI.dll.htm -- here is the altered file name after Firefox opens it: eBayISAPI.dll_files/eBayISAPI_data/eBayISAPI_002.htm#ht_658wt_1349 -- yes, it is that long -- the last part is slightly different for each separate auction file that I open). None of this happened until recently. The files open this way whether using Firefox 4.0, Firefox 3.6.16, Firefox Safe Mode 3.6.16, and Firefox Safe Mode 4.0.

Answer 1

Here is what I did:
1) In Firefox 4.0, I opened the Bookmarks on the Menu Bar at the top of the screen. I clicked on the Import and Backup menu. I then exported all my bookmarks to the PC's desktop using the default file name BOOKMARKS.HTML.
2) In Firefox, I opened the Add-ons menu under Tools on the Menu Bar. I clicked on the Prnt Scrn key on the top right of the PC's keyboard in order to obtain a screen shot of all the Firefox add-ons. I then opened Microsoft Word and pasted the screen shot using the Control V command (Ctrl V). I then saved the Microsoft Word file on the PC's desktop for future reference.
3) I then opened the Control Panel in the Start menu (accessed from the little Windows world globe on the bottom left of the screen -- the operating system is Windows 7).
4) In the Control Panel, I opened Uninstall A Program in the Programs section.
5) I uninstalled Firefox 4.0 clicking on the box "Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations" in order to remove whatever bug in my Firefox customizations was causing the two errors above (this is the MOST IMPORTANT PART of this whole process which is why I saved all my bookmarks as an HTML file and saved a screen shot of all the Firefox add-ons).
6) I then reinstalled my old Firefox 3.6.16 version obtained from the following link: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html (I am not yet in favor of using Firefox 4.0 -- you suppose you can reinstall Firefox 4.0 on your system if you want).
7) After Firefox 3.6.16 was reinstalled, I had to import all my old bookmarks. Under Bookmarks on the Firefox Menu Bar at the top of the screen, I clicked on Organize Bookmarks. I then clicked on the Import and Backup menu and then the Import HTML command in order the BOOKMARKS.HTML file saved on the PC's desktop.
8) I then re-added all my favorite Firefox add-ons by clicking on Add-ons under the Firefox Tools menu and then clicking on the Get Add-ons command. I then searched for all the old add-ons I wanted to re-add to Firefox using the Microsoft Word document on the PC's desktop saved with the screen shot of all the old Firefox add-ons on my system by I uninstalled Firefox 4.0.
9) I then opened one of the old eBay auction page files saved on my hard drive under the eBay default file name "eBayISAPI.dll.htm". The file opened perfectly with NO missing sections and no missing original eBay auction listing photo! the file looked exactly like it did as if I was logged into eBay and looking at the original ended auction.
10) I then opened Hotmail in Firefox and received NO "update your browser" message! I was able to open all my old emails and write and send new emails (with all my Contacts being automatically detected when I went to type in the email address of the person I was sending the new email to)!
In summary, you need to uninstall Firefox 4.0 being sure to click on the "Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations" box during the uninstall process. Be sure to save/export all your old bookmarks before the uninstall process and make a note of all your old add-ons. Then reinstall whatever version of Firefox you are comfortable with. Apparently, my Firefox customizations had become corrupted at some point; removing the Firefox customizations during the uninstall process allowed any future Firefox version installed on my PC to start over with a clean slate (these corrupted settings would show up in whatever version of Firefox I had installed on my PC so removing them during the uninstall process was the key to solving all my Firefox bugs). I hope my suggestions help to solve your problem and good luck!