1

I use Firefox as my default browser. IE and chrome are used as secondary browsers. Apart from these, I need to have a alternate browser. I tried opera, but when installing it, opera automatically imported all my bookmarks and other profile data from Firefox folder. I really had a hard time safely deleting these files that opera made a copy, without harming the original files which Firefox uses. I don't want this to happen.

Here's the situation: Now, I want to install other browser or re install opera. How do I make the Firefox profile folder to be accessed only by firefox.exe and me(the administrator)? Can this be done via security tab under folder properties?

Improve this question
  • 1
    unfourtunately you cannot do this with standard windows file security, because Apps can't be assigned privileges, only the user account that executes them. that means you would have to create another user to run opera with (and deny them permission to the FF folder) or just lock down the FF folder so noone can get to it until after you have installed and launched opera for the first time. then you could set FFs folder permissions back to default. – Frank Thomas Dec 11 '12 at 15:27
  • Okay. In that case, i've to forget about my privacy i think. Thank you for the reply. – pras92 Dec 11 '12 at 15:41
  • I can't vote for answers for my question here? Because, i don't see a up/down thumb button against your answer. – pras92 Dec 11 '12 at 15:42
  • I can post it as an answer, but I kinda felt like this was more of a comment. – Frank Thomas Dec 11 '12 at 16:23
1

unfortunately you cannot do this with standard windows file security, because Apps can't be assigned privileges, only the user account that executes them. that means you would have to create another user to run opera with (and deny them permission to the FF folder) or just lock down the FF folder so no one can get to it until after you have installed and launched opera for the first time. then you could set FFs folder permissions back to default

Improve this answer
  • 1
    Might be worth mentioning that you can use runas to run Opera using the secondary user account on the current desktop, saving you from logging off & on. You may have meant that already, but it wasn't clear :) – Graham Wager Dec 11 '12 at 16:27
  • good point, no, I was more focused on theory than practice – Frank Thomas Dec 11 '12 at 17:04
1

Another option for you is to use a tool like Sandboxie. If you run the offending program inside of Sandboxie it can read the hard drive like normal, however when it attempts to write the files out the writes will be transparently redirected in to a folder Sandboxie assigns. It does the same thing with Registry write too.

From the application's point of view the file got written where it thought it was and can read it back from the expected location. However, for any program outside of Sandboxie the write never happened.

enter image description here enter image description here

Improve this answer
  • I believe that this doesn’t answer the question — prashanth wants Opera not to be able to read his Firefox profile. Or are you suggesting running Firefox in the sandbox? Would writes to the sandbox (e.g., new bookmarks) persist across login sessions and reboots? If not, then whichever browser runs in the sandbox, it won’t be able to save profile updates, download files, etc. – Scott Dec 11 '12 at 17:32
  • 1
    @Scott I agree it is not a answer to the original question but I was more trying to answer the question of "I really had a hard time safely deleting these files that opera made a copy, without harming the original files which firefox uses." from the cleanup side of the equation. Running opera in the sandbox would fix the 2nd part of his question. However, for the first part of the question as frank said, there is no easy way to do this with standard windows security. – Scott Chamberlain Dec 11 '12 at 18:09

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.