v47.0 Broke Homepage and Open Link in New Tab Settings

[Wiggam72]

Oh boy, it is now apparent that FF version 47.0 is a complete disaster. Every time I think I've fixed something it broke, something else rears its ugly head.

I noticed two more things that it broke and I've been trying to figure it out on my own how to fix it but can't. I can no longer keep my Advanced settings in Duckduckgo for my Homepage I've had even before I started using FF 3 years ago. The other thing it does is after I put in a query in the search, the link no longer opens in a new tab like it had been since I began using FF. I use the Add-on Open Link in New Tab.

The only way I can think of to work around the problem of Advanced settings in Duckduckgo is to use an exception in FF Privacy settings but I can't find out how to do that.

As far as the links provided after a search query not opening in a new tab, I don't know what to do about that.

My Privacy settings are set to delete everything but Form History and Search History,
Site Preferences, and Offline Website Data.

[JayhawksRock]

Have you updated ALL of your extensions like Open Link in New Tab > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... n-new-tab/

[dfoulkes]

I 'might' assume that your search engine settings are stored in a cookie? ... so if you are clearing cookies that may be the reason for the lose.

...and as for that extension not performing... have you checked for extension updates? ...

FWIW ... I use 39 extensions in here and I've had zero issues ... almost from Firefox version 3.0beta.

I use StartPage and I believe all settings are stored in cookies... I think.

[dickvl]

You can let the cookies expire when Firefox is closed to make them session cookies instead of using "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear the cookies.

You can create a cookie "Allow" exception to keep specific cookies.
Options -> Privacy -> "Use custom settings for history"
Cookies: Exceptions
Cookies: Keep until: "I close Firefox"

[Wiggam72]

Have you updated ALL of your extensions like Open Link in New Tab > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... n-new-tab/

Yep. That's the first thing I did after v47.0 started screwing things up.

I 'might' assume that your search engine settings are stored in a cookie? ... so if you are clearing cookies that may be the reason for the lose.

You can let the cookies expire when Firefox is closed to make them session cookies instead of using "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear the cookies.

You can create a cookie "Allow" exception to keep specific cookies.
Options -> Privacy -> "Use custom settings for history"
Cookies: Exceptions
Cookies: Keep until: "I close Firefox"

Yes the cookies are the reason, but this didn't happen until v47.0. Obviously they did something that deletes those cookies. Prior to that, DuckDuckGo settings were protected. The above configuration doesn't work. It still deletes the DuckDuckGo Advanced Settings and resets it to the default.

The only way I can get it to work like it was until v47.0 is to uncheck Cookies in the Privacy section where it reads: When I quit Firefox, it should automatically clear all:

I don't like doing that, but until this issue is resolved, I'll have to leave it like that. I don't want to have to change the DuckDuckGo settings every time I close and then open the browser.

[dfoulkes]

You might want to test all of this out in a test profile... just create it and set the Privacy stuff the way you had it before... set up the Duck settings and then close Firefox to see if the cookie is gone... AFAIK clearing cookies 'clears' cookies... but I thought that the exceptions cookies were not removed... could be wrong there.

[Wiggam72]

You might want to test all of this out in a test profile... just create it and set the Privacy stuff the way you had it before... set up the Duck settings and then close Firefox to see if the cookie is gone...

I followed your suggestion and used a Test Profile but unfortunately no luck. It deletes the cookies and it reverts back to the default settings.

In a way I'm glad that it didn't work because that would mean that something was really corrupted since some days ago I disabled every single one of my Add-ons just to make sure it wasn't one of them that is causing the problem.

Oh BTW, the feature to open a link in a new tab is a setting in DuckDuckGo and appears to have nothing to do with the Add-on Open Link in New Tab as I thought it did. It's been so long since I've had to go into the Advanced Settings that I don't remember enabling it. It's identified as New Window and the default setting is Off and I changed it to On. The other setting I changed is Safe Search which limits search options. The default setting is On and I changed it to Off.

[dfoulkes]

So are you saying that when you have cookies for that engine set within your exceptions section in Privacy... they also get removed when closing Firfox?

[TheVisitor]

Perhaps a silly question but your not in 'Private Browsing' are you ? I wouldn't think so with a new profile, unless you perhaps you changed something prior to using it.

[Wiggam72]

So are you saying that when you have cookies for that engine set within your exceptions section in Privacy... they also get removed when closing Firfox?

Yes. Until v.47.0 links after a search query opened in a new tab and my Safe Search setting was always off. The cookies or whatever method being used worked fine until v47.0.

Soon after v47.0 I began noticing that many searches resulted in far less links. It took several days for me to realize that it was because the DuckDuckGo settings were being deleted by FF.

When I started having the tab issue, I thought it was because the Add-on Open Link in New Tab was having the same problem that NoSquint and NoSquint Plus had-being broken by 47.0. I even uninstalled and reinstalled it several times and of course nothing changed.

For the most part, (probably not 100%) it appears that NoSquint Plus is fixed after several updates.

Perhaps a silly question but your not in 'Private Browsing' are you ? I wouldn't think so with a new profile, unless you perhaps you changed something prior to using it.

No, I've used Private Browsing only a few times.

[dfoulkes]

AFAIK the 'basic' function with respect to cookies has not changed ... but in your case it seems that something did.... This older thread on the Mozilla board sounds like it was working the same way back then as it does now....
How to keep certain cookies from being deleted when Firefox closes | Firefox Support Forum | Mozilla Support

With respect to the change at your end... do you use any cookie related extensions? ... I have my system set up to accept all cookies 'but' I actually control what cookies I want a perm-cookies and those that I only want a temp-allow to take place... and when I close Firefox all those temp-allows go away... you have anything like that in your profile... I use Cookie Monster for that.

[Wiggam72]

With respect to the change at your end... do you use any cookie related extensions? ... I have my system set up to accept all cookies 'but' I actually control what cookies I want a perm-cookies and those that I only want a temp-allow to take place... and when I close Firefox all those temp-allows go away... you have anything like that in your profile... I use Cookie Monster for that.

Hmmmmm, I was using Blur (used to be called DoNotTrackMe) but removed it when I found out that they were no longer preventing tracking. Ridiculous!! I wonder if that has anything to do with it. I'll look into it.

I removed it when I started poking around my Add-ons after FF updated to v47.0.

[dfoulkes]

Not sure about Blur ... don't use it ... but I see this line in its description... maybe it goes beyond that info in handling cookies????

- Block tracking that doesn’t rely on cookies (more effective than
“private browsing”)

[Wiggam72]

dfoulkes, can you do me a big favor? Can you use the following site and change the settings to Safe Search--Off, and New Window--On and see if you can accomplish this harrowing feat. The settings are found by clicking on the 3 bars on the page to the right like the ones FF uses > Advanced Settings. https://duckduckgo.com/?kp=-1&kn=1

I'm not sure if the link I posted will hold the above settings or not since it isn't coming from my IP and browser.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to have cookies removed on all sites but a site added in the Exceptions List without unchecking Cookies in the Privacy section of FF.

I tried using Cookie Monster but can't do it. It appears to be nothing more than a conduit to FF rather than actually doing it itself.

[dfoulkes]

I'm not sure that I did the exact test that you need... I used my test profile which I clear out all data at time of close. I changed its Options to not clear out cookies, visited the Duck site, changed its options, saved the settings (which puts it into their cookie) ... closed that profile, started it again and the settings were still there... and of course the new window was there too. It is all in the cookies...

I'm still trying to figure out a way to have cookies removed on all sites but a site added in the Exceptions List without unchecking Cookies in the Privacy section of FF.

I tried using Cookie Monster but can't do it. It appears to be nothing more than a conduit to FF rather than actually doing it itself.

The reason I use cookie monster is because of some of the things you've mentioned... and I don't know how you handled saving certain cookies in the exceptions area and 'also' had Firefox options to clear out cookies at close time... that never worked for me and that is why I use Cookie Monster.

As for that extension... it's not built to 'override' stuff in Firefox ... it's built to give the user a better 'front-end' to handle cookies... To summarize what I did at the start of using that Extension.

- I installed that extension.
- I set the Firefox options to clear out certain things when I close Firefox... 'but' not cookies.
- I then visited all the sites where I wanted to keep cookies. ... (so now I have the perm-cookies I want.
- From that point on, if I visit a site that needs cookies 'but' I don't want to save them for later browsing... I use the Temp. allow cookies option via that ext's icon... and when I'm done with that site I either Revoke the cookies for that site or I just close Firefox and it will clear out those temp cookies.
- So, I have like 20 or so perm-cookies in my profile and from time to time I visit those cookies to make sure that I didn't click the wrong option in Cookie Monster.