Open Links in Firefox Private Window

[Moshe]

Fx 20 has introduced “Per Window Private Browsing”.
Can I set POP Peeper to open links (from messages) in the existing private window instead of opening a new non-private window?

Thank you.

[Jeff]

POP Peeper simply tells your browser to open the link, how your browser opens the link is up to your browser. I thought that Firefox had this option, but I'm not able to find it...

For what it's worth, IE does have the option:
Tools / Options
"General" tab
"Tabs" button
"Open links from other programs in"
- new window
- new tab
- current tab/window


I've been through the Firefox options several times, and I just don't see the relevant option. I'd expect it to be under the "tabs" header, like it is in IE, but none of those options sound relevant.

[Moshe]

Thank you Jeff. Appreciate as always.

It's probably in about:config. I'm going to look into it and i'll keep you updated.

Best regards.

[Moshe]

browser.link.open_newwindow.override.external is the relevant entry in about:config.
It doesn't have an effect op private windows, and I've filed the following bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=856839" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Moshe]

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=829180" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jeff]

hm, looks like the Fx developers have the same problem as every other developer -- make a decision and there will surely be a user who wants different behavior

My favorite quote:

Con: User has to make a decision.

[Moshe]

Indeed. I love Firefox but I do think that its developers could learn something from you.

[Moshe]

Solved in latest Firefox versions (v30 now).

PpTweaker -> Misc2 -> Browser to launch URLs.

Enter the following line:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -private-window

[jjgui1]

This bug / feature may have just come back to roost. I completed an update to 35.0.1 yesterday and now all my email messages (regardless of service: msn or yahoo, etc.) can no longer open links or new windows from the emails. I'm trying to troubleshoot which config entry is causing the problem. Of course, patches/updates for Java, Flash, and Windows have just hit as well.

[Moshe]

Hi jjgui1,

I use FF 35.0.1, and PP opens links in that browser as usual.

Are links opened in a non-private window, or they are not opened at all?
Try running Firefox in Safe-Mode (hold Shift while double-clicking the FF icon).

Good luck.

[jjgui1]

This had been working for me as well (FF 35.x) and for quite some time up until now, so it was a surprise. I should mention I'm on the latest patch set for Win 8.1, latest Java and Flash (8, upd 31 and 16.0.0.296), clean reboots so everything seems to be running/starting correctly (as it had been).

NOTHING in any email that requires an action back FF works now. The emails open in PP, but any links are no longer functional. The options "get entire", "view entire", and "online" are greyed out as well in the tool bar of PP, but I usually never pay attention to them.

PP used to just open a tab in the active FF window (sometimes I have more than one private window open so it goes to the last used) and display whatever I selected in the email. Now I see the PP window frame show that I'm clicking (the frame turns a little darker grey in my case when I'm holding down the LH button), almost to show me it's reading my click but it's hands are tied as to what to do now. Very odd.

I did try restarting PP and also restarting FF in "safe" mode. Makes no difference at all and nothing comes up anywhere indicating warnings or errors.

Dead in the water ...

UPDATE: I had added the "-private-window" option to the FF command line (as mentioned in earlier posts above) but that failed to correct anything. Never used it before so wasn't sure it was needed anymore anyway.

As long as I had everything down and closed for applications, I began to wonder if IE was still alive and well on my machine. I almost never open IE unless I'm really having a compatibility issue in the inter-web. IE came up fine and I made no further changes to the system or startup of PP. I was going to remove the private window option from the PP staratup command, but something in my mind made my just try PP the way it sat. Sure enough, now FF started up and brought up the web link I picked in the email!!!! Woohoo!

Soooo, what did starting IE have to do with it then? I have not a clue. My guess - somewhere within Windows, the association of PP / IE was somehow broken and PP wasn't able to start any browsers. Even though FF is my default browser, opening IE cleared something up. I thought in the past that PPs fonts and other page display features were based on IE coding so maybe one of those old skeletons popped up. *shrugz* Now PP is back to opening tabs in the active FF window as it had before this issue started.

(P.S. - I was going to just delete the entire set of posts tonight, but I'm leaving it thinking this trick/tip might help someone else that runs into this unlikely and unusual behavior of PP.

P.P.S. I see PP is struggling with SSL connections in Yahoo again (failed - asks if SSL plugin is running), but that has been a "sometimes" error and goes away on its own. Timing?)

[Jeff]

Glad you got firefox working again. Not sure why running IE would have anything to do with it.

Based on email I've been receiving, Yahoo/IMAP has been *really* struggling lately... Lots of "bad connection" errors which suggests that the server can't even be connected to. An SSL failure means you were able to connect, at least.

[jjgui1]

Broken again, nothing suggested previously is working. I can run PP and get the messages, but any links within each message fail to open. I can't understand why this is a strangely recurring issue.

[mjs]

..... I can run PP and get the messages, but any links within each message fail to open.....

What settings do you have here at "Tools" > "PPtweaker..." > "Misc2":

If you are using your OS default browser to open links then this (circled in red) should work for you. If you are not using your default webbrowser then enter the browser you want to use to open links.

If this is not your problem; when you say "links.... fail to open", what exactly does happen?

[Jeff]

I just re-tested the command-line previously given:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -private-window
and it still works for me using the latest version, 57.0.4 x64 (firefox is my default browser). If it doesn't work for you then I can only assume that it may be because of extensions or something else specific on your computer.

Edit: or you're using a different path to firefox than provided. e.g. even though I mentioned "Program Files" above, that was just a copy/paste and isn't even where I have it on my own machine (I use a custom path). For example, if you're using the 32-bit version of Firefox on a 64-bit OS, the path is more likely:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -private-window
But you should check the actual path first on your computer before blindly trying to change the values.

[jjgui1]

Hey guys - Update for you and a response to the unpredictable behavior.

Ok, for the first response - I do have FF set as my desired/default browser and it is was checked already. Note that I only use FF on this system and it is my default browser. I have IE also on the box (win 8.1) but I don't use it unless troubleshooting. I actually encounter some type of runtime error and crash when using IE, so I avoid it unless needed for testing.

I was able to process links in emails up until this point and then it just ... stopped. Email still worked and PP was fine otherwise, just the links were not opening. What I mean by "process" is being able to click on a link that either opens a new window and tab or opens a new tab in a current window. It doesn't matter anymore if I'm using private or not, both modes worked. Now when the problem hits, I click on the link, I see a little blink in PP like it is trying to process normally but nothing happens. No errors, no system messages, nothing.

Jeff - Yes, I noted and used the correct path to my FF. Ya, I have a customized location for FF and got that part right. It hadn't changed recently but I verified everything was still in place. I also store my .INI file with my PP data and keep that in a directory that is backed up in my documents. This has also worked well for quite some time, I just have to correct the field to tell PP where my .INI and data are located when configuring any new versions of PP that come out.

I also checked to make sure I was running the latest on all the PP stuff required. It has the latest of everything that it usually runs with, so that wasn't that case either.

OK, NOW HERE IS THE REALLY STUPID AND FRUSTRATING PART TO THIS: Tonight the problem has again automagically fixed itself. Just as quickly had it come up, it has now disappeared again. I did nothing different than before. After running through all the stuff in this post and checking it all, there wasn't much I could do and I decided to leave it alone for the evening. I didn't patch anything, I didn't update anything, I didn't change anything (that I'm aware of). I'm going to have to say this is something internal that Win8.1 was fighting over and who knows what was going on. I did mention that when I started IE this time, I did get the runtime error. That has happened before, though, and I've never figured out where to go to fix that and basically ignore it as I don't use IE that much. That is the only unusual event that happened so ... I'll have to just put this one aside (again) until the issue comes back (again).

Thanks, guys, for the help and suggestions.

[Jeff]

Here's a couple of ideas to try if it happens again:
1) It's possible that the problem could be specific to the message, so try opening the link to another message that you previously tested and know should work. For example, some newsletters may use scripting that tries to force the link to open in the same window (in webbrowsing, I frequently open links in new windows with ctrl+click, and it annoys me to no end when it doesn't work or it opens in the same window).

2) Try running the command yourself in the Windows Run prompt (WinKey+R). Just take whatever you've specified in PP for the webbrowser, add a space and the URL (right-click on the link in PP and copy the URL), e.g.
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -private-window https://www.esumsoft.com

I suspect that you may even find the reason when you copy/paste the URL.

[jjgui1]

Ok, I'll keep these in mind.

Idea #1: I actually did try several emails to make sure it wasn't just one rogue email. They were news letters from the same source known and trusted source but from different dates - nothing would open. I didn't have another source to try quickly that was a simple letter w/o all kinds of scripts and ads (Amazon, for example) as I wanted to keep it simple. I'll do a wider approach to my testing next round

Idea #2: Command line - Yes, of course. Command line can be our old friend for showing errors and messages that Winbloze hides. I'll perform this test as well.

It may be a while before the strange behavior shows up again as it is very unpredictable. I actually assumed it was a FF issue as they change stuff and BREAK stuff so much (beyond annoying anymore, but I'm used to it). I've spent many years behind the command line so this is a bit like legacy work. Woohoo!

(Yes, PP is working fine - tested it b4 I wrote this reply.)
Thanx for thoughts.
JJ

[Jeff]

So are you able to open links in the same email message *now* which you weren't able to before?

If so, then that does sound like something external and not the message itself (as I was conjecturing about with the scripting stuff).

One other thing for you to add to the "try the next time" list -- if you have any other Firefox windows open, try closing them. Go into Task Manager and make sure there aren't any rogue firefox.exe processes still running. Then try from PP again.