SillyDog701

[Tfunt]

I have looked all over this forum and all over Google for a way to customize NS 7.2. I want to remove the AOL and Weather.com stuff, also I want to skip the registration, and also I would like it to populate the Home page and proxy sever on install.

The reason I want to do this is so I can run a silent install on my end users PC. They aren’t allowed any IM's or chat software and they have no need for Weather.com.

If any one could either point me to a thread or threads that I might have missed or help me out in any way it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060111 Firefox/1.5.0.1

[Ramona]

Travis,

You can download a Gecko Software Development Kit, which is binary compatible with Netscape 7.2, then make your changes accordingly. There are several members who have developed their own versions of Netscape 7.2, and will no doubt be around soon to help you.

I am moving your Thread to the "Customized Build" Forum, where I believe you will get more attention.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060111 Firefox/1.5.0.1

[beanboy89]

I have looked all over this forum and all over Google for a way to customize NS 7.2. I want to remove the AOL and Weather.com stuff, also I want to skip the registration, and also I would like it to populate the Home page and proxy sever on install.

The reason I want to do this is so I can run a silent install on my end users PC. They aren’t allowed any IM's or chat software and they have no need for Weather.com.

If any one could either point me to a thread or threads that I might have missed or help me out in any way it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

To me, it sounds like you're after removing alot of the third-party "bloat" from Netscape 7.2. If that is the case, you might as well try out Mozilla Application Suite or SeaMonkey. Both products are based on the same codebase as Netscape 7.2, but without the commercial Netscape addons you want to remove. In addition, Netscape 7.2 is very much out of date, and has many unpatched security vulnerbilities which have been fixed in Mozilla and SeaMonkey.

Also, Mozilla has a CCK in development, which will allow you to alter many of the settings of the browser, like the default homepage.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20060221 K-Meleon/0.9 (Gecko 1.7.13 Update)

[Don_HH2K]

There's actually an easier way of doing this than editing the changes in with the Gecko SDK (which I don't think would work properly in this case, because the SDK is used to create XPCOM components). It's still one hell of a doozy, but it's possible.

First of all, download the full package of Netscape 7.2 -- that is, this one (be prepared, it's 25MB in size). Double-click on the resulting NSSetup-Full.exe, but do not go through any of the dialogs. Instead, while Setup is still running, go to your Temp folder in Windows Explorer. You can access this by typing [tt]%temp%[/tt] into a Run dialog. There will be a directory called [tt]ns_temp[/tt] -- make a copy of that directory, and put it somewhere else -- not in the temp directory. Now you can close the setup progam.

In the copy of ns_setup you made, there will be a file called [tt]CONFIG.INI[/tt] -- open this up with Notepad. Search for a line reading [tt]GRE Type=Shared[/tt], and change it to [tt]GRE Type=Local[/tt]. Save config.ini (file -> save), and run setup.exe. Select only the Netscape components you want -- if you only want the browser, deselect everything else. If you want Mail and Newsgroups, then since you don't want AIM the directions become a bit more complicated than they already are, as AOL has 'fused' the two components. Make sure not to install the "Developer Tools" package, as that also installs more chat software.

Once that's installed, go to the directory that you installed Netscape 7.2 in. Most commonly, it's [tt]c:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape[/tt]. Within this directory, there will be a few more directories -- go to [tt]defaults[/tt] and then [tt]profile[/tt]. Create a new text file, for the time call it prefs.txt, and open it up with Notepad. Copy and paste the following text into it:

Code: Select all

user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "homepage URL");
user_pref("network.proxy.ftp", "proxy");
user_pref("network.proxy.ftp_port", "proxy port");
user_pref("network.proxy.gopher", "proxy");
user_pref("network.proxy.gopher", "proxy port");
user_pref("network.proxy.http", "proxy");
user_pref("network.proxy.http", "proxy port");
user_pref("network.proxy.share_proxy_settings", true);
user_pref("network.proxy.ssl", "proxy");
user_pref("network.proxy.ssl_port", "proxy port");
user_pref("network.proxy.type", 1);

Replace [tt]homepage URL[/tt] with the default homepage. Replace [tt]proxy[/tt] with the proxy server address, and replace [tt]proxy port[/tt] with the port of the proxy server. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT get rid of the quotation marks: they must be left in.

Save the file, and rename it from prefs.txt to prefs.js. There is a folder within [tt]profile[/tt] called [tt]US[/tt] -- copy prefs.js into that directory so that there's one in profile and one in US.

Next, go back to the root Netscape directory, that is, c:\Program Files\Netscape (and do not confuse this with c:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape). From here, send the lone [tt]Netscape[/tt] directory to your archive of choice -- personally I recommend you grab a copy of WinRAR and make a self-extracting archive of the Netscape directory with it.

Now that you have your archive, just load it onto a CD or somehow put it on the other computers, extract it, and create a shortcut to Netscp.exe (contained within the Netscape directory) on the user's desktop.

If you run into any problems, or if (as I said above) you need to install Mail and Newsgroups but not AIM, then post back here and I can answer any further questions.

As beanboy89 mentioned above, Netscape 7.2 is extremely outdated. If you decide you want to use Mozilla Suite or Seamonkey instead (and I recommend you do), post back here and I will update the directions for you. Basically, the process is exactly the same, but the directories and a few file names will change.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060130 Donzilla/1.1PR1 (WML/1.3)

[Tfunt]

Ok guys sorry about that I wasnt able to reply in the Customised Build. But it has been fixed now.

Anyway the reason I am using 7.2 is because we have a web site and so far they say it suports NS 7.2, IE 6 and FF 1.5.
Well my users have all but the NS 7.2 and we like to make sure they have one of each so if they need to help someone one the phone with one of the bowsers they can. Oh for deploying our software we use Altiris Deployment sever.

I havent tried any of tips yet. I probaly will Monday morning.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)

[casey1992]

If your site supports Netscape 7.2 and Firefox 1.5, chances are just about 100% that it'll handle Mozilla Suite and SeaMonkey, too.

Mozilla Suite and SeaMonkey are so similar to Netscape 7.2 that your support people should have no trouble with them; the learning curve would be very short (if there's any learning curve at all).

I'd look into 'officially supporting' all three browsers and providing copies to your support people.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060111 Firefox/1.5.0.1

[Tfunt]

They dont want to go for Mozilla Suite and SeaMonkey. They just wont to stick with the 3 main browsers or IE, NS and FF. The company is kind of slow to update stuff so for now we are trying to upgrade from 4.79 I think to 7.2. But we want to remove AOL, Weather Channel and Registeration and also have the Homepage and Proxy already be set on install.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060111 Firefox/1.5.0.1

[Fulvio]

I am not sure what is the fuss, but I don't rememember ever seeing the Weather channel. I checked my installation, and I don't see anything specifically AOL. As for the registration deleting the activation.dll file from the component folder, will do the job. obviously, all this stuff can be done, but, I agree that it may be next to impossible to do it for a large bunch., nless the program is radically changed. Domn gave you the picture.
I am not even be going to discussed the other items.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20060127 Netscape/8.1