At Ease 4.x & 5.x: Setting Up Internet Preferences For Netscape 4.x

Symptom:

I have At Ease 4.x/5.x installed and am using Netscape Navigator/Communicator 4.x. I have set At Ease to save Internet preferences but am having problems. When a user launches Netscape it will randomly lose the path to the user's Netscape preferences. It asks the user to locate the folder but At Ease prevents access to the System Folder where the preference file resides. What is causing this and how do I prevent this from happening?

Solution:

With the release of the 4.x versions of Netscape software the way the preferences are stored has changed. This leads to Copy Internet Preferences not working at all in At Ease 4.x and issues with At Ease 5.x. The main cause of issues in a reconfigured At Ease 5.x is the User Profiles preferences file. If an At Ease user logs into a computer and the hard drive name is not the same as the hard drive of the computer used previously, Netscape loses its link to the Netscape Preferences folder for that user. This article outlines a setup that prevents this preference file from being moved and therefore links are not lost. It also conforms to Netscape's previous preferences format and so it works with At Ease 4.x.
Step 1: Preparing Netscape

While running in Full Finder install and launch Netscape 4.x. You will be prompted for some basic information needed to create a Netscape user. Since everyone using At Ease will use the same Netscape user profile we'll call this user 'Internet User'.

At this point you may want to configure default preferences that will be the same for everyone (such as mail and news server addresses, default home and search pages, bookmarks, and so forth.)

Quit Netscape.

Step 2: Revert Netscape 4.x Preferences to a Netscape 3.x Format
Netscape has now created a Netscape Users folder in your computer's Preferences folder which is located in the System Folder. Open the Netscape Users Folder. There should be a file titled User Profiles and a folder titled Internet User. Rename the Internet User Folder. The new name will be Netscape ƒ. Create the ƒ character by pressing and holding the Option key and typing the letter f. Now move the Netscape ƒ folder out of the Netscape Users folder to the root level of the Preferences folder. When opening the Preferences folder you should now see Netscape Users and Netscape ƒ.
Step 3: Locate the Netscape ƒ Folder from within Netscape
Launch Netscape. You should get a dialog box asking you to locate the Prefs Folder for Internet User. Navigate to and select the Netscape ƒ folder. Quit Netscape.

Step 4: Distribute the new Netscape preferences across the Network

Using Network Assistant copy the Netscape ƒ folder to 'Same relative location' on all workstations. Mount your At Ease Server. Locate the At Ease Items WG folder. Inside the At Ease Items WG folder on your server you will find a Default Prefs folder. Copy the Netscape ƒ folder from your Preferences folder into the Default Prefs Folder.
Step 5: Set At Ease Preferences.

At Ease 4.x
At Ease 4.0 users need to update to 4.0.1. Launch At Ease Admin. From the Security menu choose System Settings. Make sure Copy Internet user preferences is selected.

At Ease 5.x
At Ease 5.0 users should update to 5.0.1. Launch At Ease Admin. From the Options menu select Internet Preferences. Check the box 'Save and Restore Internet Preferences'. Check the list for the entries ':Netscape ƒ:Cache' and 'Netscape ƒ'. If present check both boxes and click 'OK'. If not you must add them. Click the Add Item button. Change the first pop-up menu from File to Folder. Type Cache in the blank. The Location pop-up menu should be set to Preferences Folder. Type Netscape ƒ in the next blank (next to 'In the folder:'). Set the Perform pop-up to Empty Folder. Click OK. Click Add Item again. Change the first pop-up menu from File to Folder and type Netscape ƒ. Set the Location pop-up menu to Preferences Folder. Leave the In the folder blank empty. Set the Perform pop-up menu to Copy and Delete. Click OK. Click OK in the Internet Preferences Window. Quit At Ease Administration.
Step 6: Test Client Computers

Now log in on client computers. Computers whose hard drive does not have the same name as the Admin computer's hard drive may still ask the user to locate the preferences folder for the Netscape User. If so, quit Netscape and log out. Log in as the Administrator to a Finder workgroup. Launch Netscape and point it to the Netscape ƒ folder in the Preferences Folder. Logout. Log in once more as an At Ease user and test. You are done!
These articles can help you locate the software update mentioned here:

• Article 14724: "Where To Find Apple Software Updates" - Lists online services for free Apple software updates.