[Gloucs] Mandrake browser

[Glyn Davies]

Paul Broadhead wrote:

>David <david.sharon-copsegreenfarm at farming.co.uk> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Had a problem with my browser and Mandrake/Mandriva, in that it 
>>frequently diverts to the Mandrake user account registration page 
>>instead of the page that is meant to come up.  I use Mozilla, but it is 
>>a problem with Epiphany as well.  I keep telling myself that I ought to 
>>pay up and register.  Maybe it would cure the problem.
>>
>>Anyone any ideas?
>>    
>>
>
>If I understand the problem correctly, I can see two possible reasons.
>
>1) Something the the domain lookup process is doing the redirect and I
>have no idea how you can stop that.  If someone understands the domain
>name lookup process then may be they can help.
>
>2) It's built into the browsers somehow.  If they are included with the
>disto then that's possible.  If this is the case then you could download
>a browser binary directly from say mozilla and give that a try.
>  
>
Might as well add my tuppence worth

The behavior sounds the same as when you start a factory shipped browser 
for the first time on a new install. Obviously Mandrake, Red Hat et al 
want you to come to their website to sell you something - typically 
support. I guess there are a few ways they can achieve this: 1) open the 
browser with the URL they want you to see as an argument, 2) compile 
into the browser their URL to open the first time the browser is run by 
a user, 3) have a button(s), key press combination or mouse/key 
combination that opens their URL. There are of course sneakier things 
they could code into the browser but I think they would cause uproar in 
the user community.

Given the above, does the page come up when you open mozilla by an icon. 
If so, check you are open mozilla with arguments (check the icon's 
action). Can mozilla read/write to your home directory when the .mozilla 
directory is (I assume) the evidence it has been run before. If the user 
sign website comes up when you are browsing, check you haven't 
accidentally assigned a key sequence to a bookmark pointing to that page 
(I did something similar IIRC with CTRL-T by accident - well I broke my 
Tabbed drowsing). The classic would be CTRL-V/SHIFT-INSERT; the typical 
'paste' key codes.

After that, my ideas start getting fanciful/unlikely. Hope the above 
helps in some way. I doubt registering will help. I'd check Google 
Groups for other Mandrake users having a whinge.

-- 
Best Regards
Glyn Davies