[WEB4LIB] Re: Netscape/Yahoo problem

[Andrew I. Mutch]

Gillian

As the "IT department" at the library, I can understand wanting to keep a
handle on who "hacks" what.  However, that's not an excuse for the techs
not to do their jobs.  They should be working for you and with you, not
against you.  I would point out to them that they need to better
secure the browsers and that there are a number of methods to do that.  My
help pages just illustrate one approach.  

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI

On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Gillian Wiseman wrote:

> I'm always interested in such fixes for problems: unfortunately I haven't the
> authorization to get into the program files and do the hacking. Our IT department
> prefers to keep everyone else helpless! <grrrrrr...>
> 
> Gillian Wiseman
> 
> Andrew Mutch wrote:
> 
> > The simplest way to prevent people from changing those preferences is to
> > rename the "prefui32.dll" file in the "Netscape\Communicator\Program"
> > directory to some other name, like "prefui32.dlx".  After you make that
> > change, the "Preferences" option will still appear under the "Edit" menu but
> > when a patron selects it, nothing will happen.  If you later need to get back
> > into the Preferences panel, you simply rename the file back to the ".dll"
> > extension.
> >
> > The other option is to set you "prefs.js" file in the
> > "Netscape\Users\Default" directory to the "read-only" property.  Although
> > that won't stop people from changing the preferences, when you restart the
> > browser, any changes to the preferences will be wiped out.  Other Netscape
> > "hacks" are available here:
> >
> > http://northville.lib.mi.us/tech/netscape.html
> >
> > These tips apply to Netscape 4.x.
> >
> > Andrew Mutch
> > Library Systems Technician
> > Waterford Township Public Library
> > Waterford, MI
> >
> > Caleb C Tucker-Raymond wrote:
> >
> > > It sounds like someone set the default link-color preferences in Netscape
> > > (Preferences - Appearance - Colors) to be the same as the background
> > > color.
> > >
> > > You should be able to correct the problem by unchecking 'Always use my
> > > colors', and for good measure, setting the default link color back to
> > > blue.
> > >
> > > I haven't found a really good or consistent way to keep people from
> > > changing preferences.
> > >
> > >        Caleb Tucker-Raymond
> > >    Electronic Systems Librarian
> > > Saint Mary's College of California
> > >
> > > On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Gillian Wiseman wrote:
> > >
> > > > This may be a really simple thing, but it has me stumped; on one of our
> > > > public access computers (Windows NT) when Yahoo.com is opened in
> > > > Netscape (but not in IE) none of the links are visible. The words are
> > > > all invisible. They're still THERE, because if you randomly click in a
> > > > blank space (the commas, etc... ARE visible), you will follow the link.
> > > >
> > > > I've tried emptying the cache, reloading the page, everything I can
> > > > think of short of reinstalling the browser (have to get IT to come do
> > > > that; I'm not allowed!). Can anyone explain to me what's going on?
> > > >
> > > > Gillian Wiseman
> > > > Electronic Resources Librarian
> > > > Waco-McLennan County Library
> > > >
> > > >
>