Aqua-Soft ForumsThis is a little program for people who use Mozilla Firefox on older machines. It is designed to preload Firefox in the background so it will load faster when requested.
Current Version: 1.0 build 353 (Release Candidate 1)
Version Posted: 23-Jan-2005 12:00
Note
It is recommended that you NOT use the "File->Exit" command to close Firefox or it's windows unless you are installing new extensions or themes. This will unload Firefox and defeat the purpose of this program.
Build 105
- Initial release
Build 115
- Allowed changing of the polling interval via registry setting
- Found other strings that needed to be portable between UNICODE and ANSI
- Removed some trash left over from the first ideas behind this program
- Change the preloading method from ShellExecuteEx to CreateProcess
- Added NT 4 (PSAPI) process watching code (since NT 4 doesn't include Toolhelp32)
- 2000/XP/20003 will use the PSAPI process watching code instead of Toolhelp32
Build 120
- Included a new version of regclass.dll that works under non-IE4 systems
- Code cleanup and released
- Plugged some memory leaks
Build 123
- Now preloaded Firefox in a way that will work for everyone now.
Build 130
- Added a context menu with several helpful selections
- Cleaned up the 4-bit icons
- Added a 4-bit 16x16 only icon for pre-XP systems tray
- Double-clicking the tray icon now opens the users homepage
1.0 build 179
- Create script to auto increase build number (GNU GPL licensed)
- More source code cleanup and useless code removed
- Renamed class CFirefoxPreloderDlg to COptionsDlg
- Will now ask you to change the path to Firefox if starting it fails (since this is the most likely reason for failing)
- Will now warn the user when a path to Firefox doesn't contain the executable
- Now there is only one global ErrorMessage function for all classes
- Removed unused and IE4-specific MFC headers
1.0 build 240
- Changed the Options dialog resource id to IDD_OPTIONS *
- Fixed a bug that would cause the options dialog to improperly validate the Firefox directory and not accept it
- The Preloader can now find Firefox automaticly via the registry. It will disable any option to do so if the proper keys aren't present
- Added tray menu entries to reload/unload Firefox for themes, extensions, freeing memory, and etc.
- Set the target processor for the compiler to 386 to insure no problems for old systems
- The uninstaller will now remove the Preloader's key in the registry when it is ran
- Fixed a bug that would have caused Firefox not to change themes if the Preloader was unloaded before Firefox was unloaded via 'File->Exit'
- Now the Preload terminates/unloads Firefox by posting the WM_QUIT message to its "FirefoxMessageWindow" windows. This fixes the aforementioned bug.
- Detects already running instances of the Preloader and does not run if it finds one.
- Added the Readme and License documents to the binary distribution.
- The installer now asks for and adds document icons to a Firefox Preloader program group in the start menu
- More optimization
- More code cleanup *
1.0 build 250
- Fixed a bug that caused the preloader not to remember the state AutoFindFirefox sometimes
- Fixed a bug that prevented non-admin users from using AutoFind
- Included the new build xxxx of RegistryClasses. This was included to fix the aforementioned bug.
- Preloader settings are now Pre-User and not Local-Machine
- Plugged more memory leaks
1.0 build 279
- Fixed another bug that causes problems for unprivileged users
- Fixed a bug where the Preloader couldn't find Firefox on XP in some situations
- Fixed a bug that would cause the "Reload Firefox" option to open multiple blank windows when selected
- Created a common function for handling the options dialog and AutoFind *
- Errors are not presented to the user more gracefully
- The Preloader no longer uses process watching to determine if Firefox is loaded. Instead it looks for the "FirefoxMessageWindow." This fixes the aforementioned bug.
- Improved the AutoFind Firefox feature so it will make sure that it has a valid path with a firefox.exe file in it
- The Preloader now has the option to warn the user if an action will unload the current instance of Firefox. This is adjustable in the options dialog.
- Includes a new build of RegistryClass
- Corrected some spelling errors ~
- Some minor optimizations
1.0 build 333
- Fixed a bug that caused Firefox to get terminated on certain occasions when the Preloader ended due to an error
- Fixed a few more places where the Preloader couldn't handle paths with the trailing ''.
- Fixed a bug that caused a few blank windows to appear randomly.
- Added a new method to detect if Firefox is running. It is combined with the FindWindow method to provide redundancy. It looks for the parent.lock file in the default Firefox profile. This is fixes the aforementioned bug.
- Moved messages from MessageBoxes into a string table. This will make it possible to include more languages in, or translate, the Preloader. *
- Corrected some spelling errors ~
- Final Feature Release. This will be the last beta that I will release any major new features. From here on, it's bug fixing time. Minor features may by added if requested.
1.0 build 349
- Fixed a bug that caused Firefox to be reloaded by the Preloader Options dialog after the user requested it unload
- Fixed a bug in the PSAPI process watching that caused the Preloader not to detect Firefox if it was loaded before the Preloader.
- Returned the PSAPI and Toolhelp32 process watching and is used with FindWindow and parent.lock for increased redundancy to tell when Firefox is running.
- Moved a few missed messages to the string table *
- Some minor optimizations
- Improved most code comments *
- More code cleanup *
1.0 build 353 - RC1
- Fixed a bug that caused the Preloader to load the Internet Options and Homepage hidden when it had been deactivated by the "Unload Firefox" command
- Improved compliancy with the Windows User Interface Guidelines
- The installer now asks the user if they want the Preloader to be launched on Windows startup
- The Preloader now greys and disables the Unload Firefox menu item when the Preloader has unloaded Firefox and is currently inactive
- Corrected the Preloader program groups spelling of Firefox (did anyone notice it was misspelled)
Plans and ToDos
- Fix any found bugs... (this should always be a first in any software)
- Clean up the code some as much as possible
There is no screenshot, it just places the Firefox icon in the system tray.