406889 - Browser rapidly creates junk files filling up NPROTECT directory in my copy of Norton SystemWorks.

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: File Handling, defect)

Description

[Chuck Hastings]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.11) Gecko/20071127 Firefox/2.0.0.11
Build Identifier: Firefox 2.0.0.11

Rate of creation of these junk files has been 150Mbytes/day.  They have filenames like 00000005.MOZ.  I use Midnight Commander to check for them and delete them.  Is this really a bug, and if so is it fixed in Firefox 3.0?

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Load Firefox.
2.Access some, any, website.
3.Check the NPROTECT directory.

Comment 1

[Dan Mosedale (:dmosedale, :dmose)]

This strikes me as more likely to be a bug in Norton.  What makes you think the browser itself is creating these files?

Comment 2

[Steve R. Hastings]

The NPROTECT directory is the place where deleted files are kept by Norton Utilities, specifically the Norton Protected Recycle Bin (NPRB).  NPRB is a feature where files that are deleted for any reason are instead moved into a special directory (and this includes files deleted by overwriting, not just files that are specifically deleted).  Norton has a preferences dialog that allows control over what files will be kept in the recycle bin, and what files will simply be allowed to be deleted.

So, presuming that these are Mozilla files, they are files that are being created and then deleted.  Users who do not use NPRB would not notice these files.

This is not properly a bug in Mozilla, more like an unfortunate interaction between Mozilla and NPRB.  However, if Mozilla is indeed creating and destroying temporary files, perhaps Mozilla could do so in the designated temporary directory (as specified by environment variable TEMP) because I'm pretty sure that NPRB doesn't keep any files from that directory.

I am related to the original bug poster and I will go look at his computer this weekend.  If you would like me to check anything in particular, just ask and I'll look at it while I'm there.

Comment 3

[Steve R. Hastings]

The files in question were created with the extension ".moztmp" and they were not created in the system TEMP directory.  (I didn't write down the directory they were in, sorry, but it was somewhere in the user's profile tree.)

If these are pure temp files, they should be created in the system TEMP directory, and the subject of this bug should be changed to "temp files not created in TEMP directory".

Another possibility is to change the extension of these files from ".moztmp" to ".tmp", as Norton Protected Recycle Bin does not save ".tmp" files (this is an out-of-the box default for the product).

I went in to the preferences on Norton Protected Recycle Bin and added ".moztmp" to the list of extensions never to save, which solves the specific problem for Chuck Hastings.

Comment 4

[Steve R. Hastings]

Just to make it clear: Norton Protected Recycle Bin can specify files that should never be saved.  There are two ways to specify them: 0) by location, as in "never save files in C:\Windows\Temp"; 1) by file pattern, as in "never save files called *.tmp".  So, if Mozilla made the files in the temp directory, that would fall under case 0), and if Mozilla made the files with a ".tmp" extension, that would fall under case 1).

Comment 5

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

This bug was reported using Firefox 3.0 or older, which is no longer supported. The bug has also not been changed in over 500 days and is still in UNCO.
Reporter, please retest this bug in Firefox 3.6.10 or later using a fresh profile, http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/managing+profiles. If you still see this problem, please update the bug. If you no longer see the bug, please set the resolution to RESOLVED, WORKSFORME.

This is a mass search of unconfirmed bugs that have no activity on them, so if you feel a bug was marked in error, just remove the CLOSEME comment in the whiteboard within the next month.

Comment 6

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.12 or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.

Comment 7

[Steve R. Hastings]

Just go ahead and close the bug, please.  I still think that the right thing to do is to put Mozilla temp files in the official TEMP directory, but it's really a very low-priority fix.  This issue would only affect people with very limited hard disk space, and with Norton Protected Recycle Bin installed and enabled.

The computer upon which this bug was filed is no longer available for reproducing the bug.  (You could look at the source code for Mozilla and quickly tell whether temp files are being created in the TEMP directory or not.)  But we can't actually reproduce the bug on the same computer as it was filed.  (His new computer doesn't have Norton installed.)