[gui-talk] Firefox and Webvisum

[Gerald Levy]

Following is a message I posted last Thursday on another list that explains 
how to get Webvisum to work with Firefox 43, which introduced a new feature 
that disables unsigned, third-party add-ons:


For those of you who depend on Webvisum to solve image captchas in the 
absence of sighted help, read on.  The recently-released Firefox 43 
introduced a new feature that blocks unsigned third-party add-ons like 
Webvisum and prevents them from working.  So if you update to Firefox 43 
either intentionally or accidently, Webvisum will no longer work unless you 
apply the temporary work around described below.  This is only a temporary 
fix that will no longer work after Firefox 44 is released early next year, 
because this work around will be disabled or unflagged in Firefox 44.  And 
if you buy a new computer next year after Firefox 44 is released and then 
download and install it, Webvisum will no longer work at all, no matter what 
you try.  So if you still have an older version of Firefox with a working 
version of Wevvisum already installed, do not update to Firefox 43 or else 
Wevvisum will no longer work unless you apply the temporary work around 
described below.  The reason that Webvisum no longer works starting with 
Firefox 43 is that Mozilla now requires all third-party add-ons to be signed 
to comply with their security standards.  Unfortunately, Webvisum has not 
been maintained by its developers for years, and they no longer even respond 
to email inquiries.  So Webvisum is an unsigned add-on that is not approved 
by Mozilla.  If you do update to Firefox 43,you can get Webvisum to work by 
following these steps:

1.  Open Firefox 43 and in the address bar, type the below line as seen
with no spaces:
about:config
2.  You will get a Firefox warning saying: 'This may void your
warranty.' Click on  the button that sardonically says: 'I'll be
careful, I promise.'
3.  tab once to the list of 700 or so items and press the letter X. You
are looking for the below item:
xpinstall.signatures.required
4.  When this item is highlighted, press the context keyh or right click
and choose toggel or press T (same thing.)
5.  The highlighted value should change to false as in:
xpinstall.signatures.required;false
6.  Press Control-W to close the Firefox window and then relaunch it. 
Webvisum should now work.


The only alternative to Webvisum for solving image captchas is a paid 
service called Rumola which is a signed, third-party extension approved by 
Mozilla, so it will work with Firefox 43 and later.  But the bottom line is 
clear.  Webvisum’s days are apparently numbered.  Maybe it’s time for the 
software team at Freedom Scientific to give serious consideration to adding 
a captcha-solving feature to JAWS.  Hope you guys find this information 
helpful.  For more information about the disabling of unsigned add-ons in 
Firefox 43, check out the following article from the GHacks Technology News 
site:

 http://www.ghacks.net/2015/12/16/what-you-do-when-firefox-disables-installed-add-ons/Gerald-----Original Message-----From: Dave Marthouse via gui-talkSent: Sunday, December 20, 2015 11:10 PMTo: gui-talk at nfbnet.orgCc: Dave MarthouseSubject: [gui-talk] Firefox and WebvisumI just installed the latest version of Firefox.  It seems it disabledWebvisum.  If I can't can I downgrade Firefox to get that addon back.Boy I love program updates that arbitrarily disable or change customconfigurations!  NOT!!!Any assistance would be appreciated.--Dave Marthousedmarthouse at gmail.com_______________________________________________gui-talk mailing listgui-talk at nfbnet.orghttp://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk_nfbnet.orgTo unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info forgui-talk:http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk_nfbnet.org/bwaylimited%40verizon.net