Manny Cav's tech requests.

Manny Cav · **on:** September 07, 2007, 12:06:44 AM

I have had an odd ill-ability to stream some music files with Firefox. It forces me to download them when I used to be able to stream them. An example site where this occurs is http://www.vgmusic.com/. None of the MIDIs want to stream for me. Used to, I could use either Windows Media Player or QuickTime, depending on if I had QuickTime installed at the time, but now, I can't stream anything like that. Stuff like YouTube videos still work, but I can't seem to be able to stream any music. I can, however, stream with Internet Explorer. I could swear that Firefox could do it once. Is there a way to fix this? And I'm not taking "use IE, idiot" for an answer.

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landbeforetimelover · **Reply #1 on:** September 07, 2007, 01:01:58 AM

why don't you just go to the firefox website and download the latest version and reinstall it? That's what I'd try first.

Petrie. · **Reply #2 on:** September 07, 2007, 08:27:05 AM

Perhaps Firefox can't play midis so it reverts to saving.

Manny Cav · **Reply #3 on:** September 07, 2007, 06:13:08 PM

It happens to MP3s as well. And I have Firefox version 2.0.0.6, which I understand to be the latest. If I can help it, I would like to not resort to QuickTime. This used to work, but Firefox doesn't seem to want to communicate to Windows Media Player anymore. Either that, or WMP just isn't listening.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #4 on:** September 07, 2007, 06:28:09 PM

I'd just reinstall firefox. If it doesn't work, go get an older version of it. Perhaps firefox automatically updated to the new version which doesn't support streaming anymore. I'd go download an old version of firefox and disable auto updates if just reinstalling it doesn't work.

Manny Cav · **Reply #5 on:** September 07, 2007, 06:31:29 PM

I'm just going to do a re-install on BOTH programs.

Petrie. · **Reply #6 on:** September 07, 2007, 10:09:31 PM

Or...I did this to the Rabbit Bungalow....the website could be coded purposely to force you to save the file rather than stream it. Does it happen in many places or just on that one site?

Manny Cav · **Reply #7 on:** September 07, 2007, 10:25:43 PM

It's happening to me on a LOT of sites -- virtually any site with hosted MP3, MIDI, and probably WAV files, too. And the reinstalling didn't help, either. I swear that Firefox could stream the files with WMP at one time. I can stream them just fine with Internet Explorer, and installing QuickTime makes Firefox use IT to stream the files, but I don't like QuickTime for a lot of reasons.

Petrie. · **Reply #8 on:** September 07, 2007, 10:28:03 PM

Could they have stopped that due to active X controls and viruses? Windows isn't exactly bug proof, and WMP 10 especially isn't.

Manny Cav · **Reply #9 on:** September 07, 2007, 10:30:33 PM

I'm running Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Firefox 2.0.0.6 and WMP 11. IE can communicate to WMP, but Firefox can't. And who is "they"? The makers of Firefox, Windows, or WMP?

Petrie. · **Reply #10 on:** September 07, 2007, 10:43:06 PM

Could the makers of Firefox have patched that up and said, we're not doing that anymore because of hacker vulnerability? I haven't used Firefox regularly since the 1.5 days, and I don't recall it ever having trouble opening files.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #11 on:** September 08, 2007, 12:47:33 AM

Stupid question, but is firefox set as your default browser?

Manny Cav · **Reply #12 on:** September 08, 2007, 10:04:53 AM

Manny Cav · **Reply #13 on:** September 08, 2007, 11:50:26 AM

Problem partially solved (more on that later): On the toolbar, I went to "Tools", then "Options...". When I looked at the "Content" section, I saw an option that tells Firefox how to handle files. The extensions MID, MP3, and WAV were nowhere to be seen (but oddly enough, WMA was there). I just downloaded some sample files and set the default to play with Windows Media Player.

HOWEVER, it's still not completely fixed. When I download one of those 3 files, instead of streaming the file (as it does with WMA, WMV, or some other format like that), it downloads the file completely, THEN it streams the file. When I looked at the file type handler, it said that those 3 formats "Open with Windows Media Player", but WMA said "Open with Windows Media Pleyer Plug-in Dynamic Link Library" (which I understand to be abbreviated as "DLL"), which Firefox, not surprisingly, says that WMA opens with a plug-in, not an application. However, I can't get those 3 formats to open with plug-ins, just applications. Is there a way to tell Firefox to use the plug-in on those formats also, or is there another way to fix this?

Manny Cav · **Reply #14 on:** September 11, 2007, 12:32:36 AM

Alright. Here's my next problem that I can't seem to solve myself: Vista dun me wrong. Basically, the recycle bin disappeared off of the desktop. I literally have to navigate to C:\$Recycle.Bin\Recycle Bin to view and empty the recycle bin. Is there a way to get it to show up on the desktop normally again?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #15 on:** September 11, 2007, 04:10:59 AM

In Vista, it's possible to remove the Recycle Bin from the desktop. I've also heard of some people who have the Recycle Bin disappear from their desktop for some unknown reason. If either of these has happened to you and you want to bring back the Recycle Bin to your desktop, here's what you need to do.

- Right-click on the desktop and choose Personalize.

- Click on the Change desktop icons link in the upper left corner in the Tasks section.

- In the Desktop tab, there will be a Desktop Icons section with checkboxes and some possible icons to put on your desktop. One of these is labeled Recycle Bin, check the box next to that one then click the Apply button and you will now have the Recycle Bin back on your desktop.

Yet another crap thing in vista <_<

Manny Cav · **Reply #16 on:** September 11, 2007, 10:24:50 AM

Thank you. And that's not the end of problems Visat has given me, but that's another story altogether.