Hi Peter,

>> I just learned from Mike that os2pref.js = prefs.js.

> Something quite strange with your setup.  os2pref.dll is the only file of
> that name on my 4.61 install.  prefs.js will not be recreated on startup as
> it is a system file that I was warned should be edited with great care, as
> any corruption will stop NS working.  (p.s. did you ever - edit?)

> I don't have a 4.40 on my system any more as the testing showed 4.61 to
> be far superior from a feature and stability view.  However, I can't
> remember 4.40 asking for multiple user setup - so I suspect that there
> shouldn't be a user directory.  So,

Oh, there is a users directory in 4.04. Anyhow, I solved my problem by
reinstalling 4.04 over my existing copy. It fixed my spurious error msg of
being "unable to parse os2prefs.js", even though it still doesn't exist
anywhere on my system. I really wanted to understand how to fix it without
having to take the big hammer and reinstall. That way I might have had a
chance to understand what caused the error in the first place.  Nope, I never
did edit this file.

> 1) why bother with 4.40 reinstall 4.61

Oh I've just recently done that. I now have 2.02, 4.04 and 4.61 installed :)
How do you overcome the problem 4.61 apparently has when it stops downloading
large files without completing. I haven't tried it personally, which is why I
still have/use 4.04, but a number of people have mentioned it's a problem.

> 2) DON'T EDIT prefs.js with anything other than EPM.  (I added the
> user_pref("toolbar.logo.frames",8); to mine without it complaining.

I won't :)

> 3) if u want to retain your setup, maybe get a new perfs.js from a
> working system - I'll willingly send you mine (4.61)

Thanks. My prefs.js work perfectly now in 4.04 and 4.61.

> 4) retain your user files and reinstall from the download archive, then
> see if perfs.js is recreated - may be a leftover from an aborted 4.61?
> or a previous 4.40 install to different directories (did you move it?)

Thanks. Someone else suggested a 4.61 abort, but I hadn't downloaded it at
that stage. Hadn't moved it either.

> 5) confirm categorically that there is a perfs.js on a working 4.40
> install.  Mine has a bunch of path specific statements so be aware
> that they will not transplant easily.  I assume that the file is
> created at install time using install values.

Well after I reinstalled 4.04 on top of an existing 4.04 everything worked as
expected. I could not find any corruption in my old prefs.js and the new
install accepted all the stuff in my old prefs.js. This was why the error
about "could not parse os2prefs.js" was so mysterious.

> Hope this helps and you don't feel that the suggestions are too trivial

Well, these were all good suggestions as to possible problems and solutions
some of which I've already tried or taken up. Thanks for your time and help.

Stu/2

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