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uspto tiff files worked for years now cannot be viewed-chrome works

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  • Last reply by Buffaloed

Buffaloed
Buffaloed
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For more than 2 years, Firefox has viewed Tiff images at the US Patent Office. A few days ago it stopped working. The error message said a plugin from Alternatiff or Quicktime from Apple was needed. I reinstalled the Alternatiff plugin but still no success. I uninstalled and then reinstalled Firefox and still nothing. I tried the Google Chrome browser on this same computer and it viewed the patent images with no problem using the Alternatiff plugin just as Firefox had always done in the past. 

   I have cleared the browser history and purged all cookies but no effect.
   My computer is a 64 bit Compaq about 4 years old. Operating system is Windows 7.
For more than 2 years, Firefox has viewed Tiff images at the US Patent Office. A few days ago it stopped working. The error message said a plugin from Alternatiff or Quicktime from Apple was needed. I reinstalled the Alternatiff plugin but still no success. I uninstalled and then reinstalled Firefox and still nothing. I tried the Google Chrome browser on this same computer and it viewed the patent images with no problem using the Alternatiff plugin just as Firefox had always done in the past. I have cleared the browser history and purged all cookies but no effect. My computer is a 64 bit Compaq about 4 years old. Operating system is Windows 7.

Chosen solution

Hmmm, maybe...

Firefox can find plugins in several locations, and most installers add a registry entry pointing to the location, but some do not, relying on an old "shared" plugin folder. Firefox 21 changed the location of that folder, leaving you with two options: (1) move the files yourself, or (2) set Firefox to check for the old location. That second step is described in this article: Windows Media or other plugins stopped working after Firefox update.

Does that help?

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All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

Hmmm, maybe...

Firefox can find plugins in several locations, and most installers add a registry entry pointing to the location, but some do not, relying on an old "shared" plugin folder. Firefox 21 changed the location of that folder, leaving you with two options: (1) move the files yourself, or (2) set Firefox to check for the old location. That second step is described in this article: Windows Media or other plugins stopped working after Firefox update.

Does that help?

Buffaloed
Buffaloed Question owner
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Thank you very much for solving this problem for me. However I think Firefox users like myself who have been using Firefox for years without any problems may be put off when something like this happens and may abandon Firefox for another browser. I think that when an update occurs that can cause such problems, a notification should be sent to the users that they can expect problems to occur (in my case failure of once reliable plugins to function). Many of the Firefox users ( myself included) have grown accustomed to Firefox working as reliably as the telephone and disturbances such as this are off putting. I was almost ready to jump ship and move over to Google Chrome since it was still working as before. Thank you again. 

                                       Buffaloed