Open a Telnet link with Firefox and bad things can happen
I happened to come across a site with a number of links, and the one I chose happened to be a telnet link. Here was my experience, and I had to put myself into the shoes of the average user who knows nothing about programming.
The link that caused Firefox trouble when Firefox was chosen to run it is this: telnet://dxc.nc7j.com:7300
Click on the link and Firefox tells you that you need to select a program to open the Internet Shortcut Shell extension DLL. I have never heard of this, and I have no idea what to do here.
Choose to open with Firefox.
Now, if some error-handling routine had caught that Firefox, which is not capable of doing Telnet, was selected by the unknowing person behind the keyboard to go ahead and do Telnet, the error-handler would advise the user to the fact that this protocol is not supported and kill the process that is going to run out-of-control otherwise. Or cause to open the program that will run the Telnet session.
Better yet, I clicked on the Telnet link and offer a better description of the choices.
After all of what happened below, I installed Iron, a Chromium-based browser, and it opened a Telnet session window right away.
So what did happen, I clicked on Firefox to do this chore and was greeted by a never-ending opening of empty tabs and upon closing the browser, it relaunched and was off to the races again. And again.
OK so this ain't getting us anywhere.
Firefox opens once again, this time hit the big red X to close it, and let the prompt to close however many tabs anyway prompt sitting there.
I chose to run CCleaner, and I set that to blow away Firefox Cache and session. Run CCleaner, and tell it to force Firefox closed when it prompts that Firefox is open.
If by chance Firefox launches again, timing was perfect that the file that was causing Firefox to open was not yet cleaned, so run the CCleaner again a few times. When Firefox is no longer opening, we are back to the world of sanity.
Now, I could go in and reset the Tools Options Applications tab and look for Telnet, and replace the use of Firefox with "ask me."
Fortunately, I know a little more than some about the computer, and I knew I had to use a utility to clear out the Firefox cache.
You have a description of the issue in your knowledgebase, but it has Firefox opening endless empty tabs, but Firefox was closed and the situation is under control.. Restart Firefox manually, start a new session and then enter the Tools menu and fix the setting.
There is a knowledge base article on this very topic, but it has the user close Firefox and then all is back to normal. One can open Firefox and get into the menu to fix the issue. There was a mention in there about malware as a possible cause of the constant reopening I experienced, but Malwarebytes scans were clean.
"Well, this is embarrassing!" I have seen that nice touch to Firefox for many years, and may I compliment those who thought of that one.
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Giải pháp được chọn
There are a couple of settings related to resuming your previous session after a crash:
(A) Resume automatically, but if Firefox crashes twice in a row, show a list of windows and tabs and let me choose; (default)
(B) Don't resume automatically, always show a list of windows and tabs and let me choose; (I recommend this approach) or
(C) Never resume automatically, and don't show the list.
Switching to B or C requires a visit to Firefox's about:config preferences editor.
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste sess and pause while the list is filtered
For "B":
Double-click the browser.sessionstore.max_resumed_crashes preference and change from 1 to 0 (that's a zero).
For "C":
Double-click the browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash preference to switch its value from true to false.
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I agree, it can become a vicious circle.
The default setting to try to restore all the windows and tabs automatically after a crash isn't the best setting. Personally I do change that so I get the "this is embarrassing" screen. So one option would be to file a bug report suggesting this be changed going forward.
Another potential follow-up action would be to update the knowledge base article to better address how to recover in these situations. For example, a user could start up Firefox without restoring the previous session by:
- Launching Firefox with a specific URL
- Using a desktop shortcut
- Using a link in an external application
- On the command line, typing firefox.exe "about:blank"
- (Possibly more ways to do it)
- Renaming the sessionstore.js file in the profile folder
- On the plus side, preserves the option to restore that session later
- On the minus side, difficult for many users to find folders hidden by the OS, and the .js extension may be hidden by the OS
Since the KB is a wiki, you can go in and make edits and improvements. The syntax is a bit funky, but not much worse than this forum.
Also, I'm not sure why Firefox suggests the shell extension DLL for telnet; that's probably a bad choice for any kind of download since I believe it leads to your default browser. If that is a default setting somewhere, perhaps that could be changed.
It would be possible to perform some of the alternative solutions if one has some in-depth knowledge about the product. I marked your post as a solution simply because you acknowledged the issue.
What procedure might one follow to go in and call for the "Well, This is embarrassing!" screen -- is it a setting on the user interface or is it something I have to take chances with my warranty to fix in the about:config? if that information is laid out here or a link to the KB article that explains it, it will make this thread one more step closer to being a good all-around solution for folks.
Thank you!
I opened this link and it happened to be a Telnet link. I wasn't aware that it was not an http link when I clicked it, then I was presented with this shell extension DLL (whatever that is), and still had no idea of where to turn. It was when I chose Firefox that all the trouble began, and as you have stated, that should not be permitted to happen.
I knew I was not dealing with a malware link or vicious activity, being aware that the link was to a piece of equipment which monitors many bands of amateur radio frequencies all at once and displays within seconds the call sign, frequency, signal strength, how fast the Morse code was being sent and the time. This is but one such listening post out of over a hundred around the world.
It is an amazing system to watch in action. I can fire up my radio transmitter and within a five-second transmission of one "CQ" and my call sign, I can see my signal light up locations in three countries and from Massachusetts to Hawaii. Or just in Nevada.
I need to do some Googling, I might find how to do that patch to cause the "embarrassing!" page to show.
When the cursor is hovering over a hyperlink, the URL with network protocol should appear in the lower left corner of the browser window, so you can see if it is a Telnet link or a common internet protocol link like HTPP, HTTPS, or FTP.
Giải pháp được chọn
There are a couple of settings related to resuming your previous session after a crash:
(A) Resume automatically, but if Firefox crashes twice in a row, show a list of windows and tabs and let me choose; (default)
(B) Don't resume automatically, always show a list of windows and tabs and let me choose; (I recommend this approach) or
(C) Never resume automatically, and don't show the list.
Switching to B or C requires a visit to Firefox's about:config preferences editor.
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste sess and pause while the list is filtered
For "B":
Double-click the browser.sessionstore.max_resumed_crashes preference and change from 1 to 0 (that's a zero).
For "C":
Double-click the browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash preference to switch its value from true to false.