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Browser plug in not working

I looked in the forum archive and didn't find an answer to this.

I input our choir's songs into NWC and send them out to the members so we can learn new music/parts.  One member is telling me that she double clicks on the file and it won't open on her machine.  I sent her a message about associating file types etc, thinking that was her problem.

I also set up the browser on my work pc so I could try to emulate the problems/questions my choir members have and help them out.  Last week NWC plug-in was working on my machine.  Now, it is not.

The one thing -- BIG THING -- that has changed on my machine is that I went out to MS and loaded with Windows Service Release 3.  MS announced last week that there was a HUGE security hole in IE that would allow a hacker to completely take control of your machine and do anything they wanted.  (Sounds kinda like the browser plug in?)  So, I had downloaded the SR3.  Now the plug-in doesn't work.

Has anyone else experienced this?  Is there any way around it?

Thanks for your help.

Ann Scharpf

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #1 –
Hi Ann, sounds like ya gots a problem.  Seems like I read somewhere (perhaps on the news group) that some virus checkers and perhaps the new windows security systems that come with upgrades think that NWC files are viruses and treat them accordingly.  Dunno if this could be your problem, but you might look into it.

Have fun - Hank Robertson

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #2 –
If all else fails, try using a non-IE browser. The reason is that the IE plugin technology is different from those of other browsers. Whatever you do: browser must be installed first, plugin second.

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #3 –
From your e-mails into support, it is clear that the problem you are having is specifically with the opening of NWC files on your local computer using IE and the plug-in. I gather that you are able to view online (Internet) NWC files, such as those in our samples area.

I searched the Microsoft site and could not find anything titled Windows Service Release 3. Microsoft updates are confusing anyway, so perhaps you could elaborate on your system (exact Windows version, exact IE version).

Among the many other system configurations that we have tested, we have just completed a test of the plugin on Windows XP with all available updates applied. This system should represent the very latest Microsoft has to offer (current as of ten minutes ago). With the NWC plug-in installed, there is no problem dragging and dropping NWC files onto an open IE window. The browser accepts the file and shows it using the NWC browser plug-in.

Have you checked your security settings and other options? These are found in Tools|Internet Options|Security and Advanced tabs. Perhaps you have a setting that is messing your system up (there are options that can be made to break plug-ins).

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #4 –
One week I was able to open .nwc files by double clicking on them in Windows Explorer.  (I HAD gone into the Folder options and associated the .nwc extension with Internet Explorer.)

The next week I was unable to open local .nwc files by ANY method.

The only significant thing that changed on my machine in the intervening days was that I loaded the service release I mentioned.  Here is the link for the service release:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS02-052.asp

This service release SPECIFICALLY addresses hackers' using internet explorer to take over a user's PC.  It sounds to me like the mechanism a hacker would use must be similar to the hooks that your company used to create the plug in.

I suggest you isolate one machine at your site; download this SR3 and then see if you can still use the plug-in with internet explorer.  I am betting it will not work any more.

Ann Scharpf

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #5 –
Your link is just to a Microsoft Security Bulletin, specifically Flaw in Microsoft VM JDBC Classes Could Allow Code Execution. Again, no mention of something called Service Release 3. It did, however, point to Windows Update to get the patch. This is exactly where we updated our Windows XP machine with all of the latest security patches. The plug-in continues to work, with all security patches applied. I should also point out that a Microsoft patch to JDBC Classes is not in the realm of something that would impact the NWC plug-in.

I don't know what else to add. You still have not indicated your Windows and IE version, which might be of some use in discussing this further. The current plug-in works on all of our test systems, and we cannot fix that which is not broken, or at least not reproduceable.

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #6 –
Hmm...that seems to blow my theory.

I am using Windows 2000 with I.E. 6.0.28.

I've done software support, so I know you can't fix what you can't reproduce.  I am pretty sure that the other person in my choir who's experience this problem is also on the same versions I specified.

Ann

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #7 –
That is the exact version that we tested, but on Windows XP.

We'll test a Win2k with this version shortly.

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #8 –
I'm wondering what happened when you tested this on a Win2k machine...

I have not been able to resolve the problem on my end.

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #9 –
OK. After applying all security updates on a Win 2000 box with the browser plug-in already installed, the behaviour of the browser did, in fact, change. Before the updates, a local NWC file could be drag and dropped onto the browser, and the file would appear in the browser using the NWC plug-in.

After the update, attempts to drag and drop a local NWC file onto an IE browser window:

  • first, issues a warning about the safety of opening files
  • then, opens the NWC file using the default Shell Open association, which in my case was setup to open in NWC
It appears as though, after applying the update, IE refuses to open a local copy of an NWC file in the browser using the plug-in.

However, on the thought that Microsoft may have messed up the registry somewhere during the security update, I then did the following:

  • I uninstalled NWC, NWP, and the browser plug-in
  • I rebooted the machine (this is very important)
  • I used regedit to make sure that all traces of the NWC file associations were gone (in my case, they were, but if you manually made some of your own, your case might differ)
  • I installed the latest copy of the NWC browser plug-in from our web site
Now, I can successfully drag and drop local NWC files onto an open IE browser window and they appear in the browser, using the NWC browser plug-in.

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #10 –
Ah, I am not enough of a techno-weenie to have thought of the registry thing!  I will try this on my machine at work and then with the other choir member who's having a problem.

Thanks for your help.

Ann
 

Re: Browser plug in not working

Reply #11 –
duh . . . why do you use a plugin for something which would work just fine for your choir if they simply downloaded the NWPlayer and used that to open the nwc files?

I have had numerous of my own plugin problems, but this one is easy; you have a simple and elegant solution.

A second option, and a far better one, is for your choir members to pop for a copy of NW Composer so they can SLOOOOW down the song and learn the notes one by one while not being rushed, and then speed it back up again to the tempo used by the choir director for practice. I just stopped off at a local church to acquaint the choir director there with Noteworthy so she could use it for learning new music, and she told me she had a program but her members couldn't all buy it because it cost $300 . . . when I told her about Noteworthy, she wasn't off the phone before coming to their web site.

What I'm going to have to do with IEx users for my sites is give them a zip file with all my nwc files in it and let them download it and then play the songs with NWPlayer. It's not cool like being able to click on the name of the song and see it play instantly, but it gets them the song, and that is the important thing after all. Indeed, I may create a "playlist" for them which runs NWPlayer.exe and goes through the whole song list . . . and then teach them how to make their own playlists.

there is always a way . . . no matter what Mickeysoft does to us . . . we can have our music!

Sam