I’m trying out WW 5.6.6 under Win98SE. Seems simple enough with two exceptions:
Can the maps be animated? I’ve been using ForecastFox in Firefox and I’m used to the animated satellite/radar images.
WW uses script and ActiveX controls to display and update info. I do not use IE6 for anything and so I’ve locked down permissions for scripts and ActiveX; to facilitate WW I placed the two sites it seems to contact – image.weather.com and desktopfw.weather.com – into my Trusted Sites zone and allowed scripts and ActiveX for those sites. However, on startup and update WW still pops up a permissions dialog for both. This is an annoyance and possibly more, because if WW uses the IE rendering engine I’ll have to consider it a liability [xx(].
So the question is, what permissions that are specific to WW need to be granted for it to function without my intervention?
Yes maps can be animated, but only the ones that has “(Animated)” at the end of the title.
As far as I know, WW uses no ActiveX, but I’m afraid I don’t know enough about the app (or maybe IE’s security settings) yet to tell you how to solve this problem.
JLJ, Weather Watcher does not use ActiveX controls to display and update the weather information. It does use Javascript if you are using the Splendid forecast skin. Other than that, certain IE security settings could be causing your problems.
The best thing to do is undo any custom IE settings one-by-one until you figure out what is causing the problem.
I believe you can use a format like *.weather.com for your Trusted site entries which will make it more convenient to maintain and may even solve your problem.
Another thing you could try is to use Tray Icon and Forecasts Icons other than Classic. Classic icons are pulled from weather.com, the other icon options are stored in the Weather Watcher folder.
As pointed out previously WW uses Jscript/Javascript for it’s Splendid forecasts, but the Jscript is in webpages, html files, that are located on your harddrive not some remote server. As such your security should only need to pertain to the Local Internet zone of IE I would think.
I don’t normally use IE either, as such I’ve kept the default config except for changes antispyware apps have made to it. Since you say that you don’t use it changing it’s settings isn’t helping you to be more secure. Running antispyware, antivirus and firewall apps is a better approach to security and since many are free there’s no excuse not to. [:)]
Animated maps depend on how they are animated. Some maps are animated gifs (http://66.28.250.180/data/640x480/2xradara5_anim.gif[/url]), some require Java apps (http://www.goes.noaa.gov/GSSLOOPS/ecir.html), and some are animated using javascript code ([url=http://www.weather.com/weather/map/14616?name=northeastdopplerradar1800_large_animated&day=1]http://www.weather.com/weather/map/1461 … ated&day=1)</font id=“size1”>. GIFs can be displayed directly. The other two require the whole webpage that normally displays them, or some clever html coding if you’re capable, to be used.
Thanks all for your replies. Having placed the two relevant URLs into my Local Intranet Zone and enabled scripts within that zone, I’m still having the permission dialog popup when WW starts and/or refreshes – see http://img455.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ww4sq.jpg for ActiveX/plugin alert.
I’m extremely hesitant to play around with my IE settings any more than this, so I may have to keep looking for a weather app. Shame, I like WW’s interface and relatively low RAM usage.
Well, good luck in your search. Thanks for trying WW.
I’ve never seen a popup like that before, it appears be from some security sw you’re running rather than IE itself. And since WW doesn’t use ActiveX or plugins it’s a bogus warning. In fact it may be being issued by a spyware type of app.
Perhaps that’s a clue as to what WW needs to run? Is there a way to find out a step-by-step list of the scripts and/or controls it’s trying to access/execute? I’d really like to get it working.
No spyware here, my paranoia is part of the problem!
Ahh, well, this looks to me like you’ve got the bundle version, with the additional “WhenU SaveNow” software, so I’d say you might solve this by uninstalling the software…
It’s the only solution i can think of right now…
Not so – I DL’d the non-bundled version, at least according to (1) the link itself, and (2) install monitoring, which did not pick up any additional components. The WhenUSave reg entry is part of the standard SpywareBlaster config, and was “killed” as part of enabling SB protection prior to installing WW. The mystery continues. JLJ
In response to your request to see the scripts Weather Watcher uses I was going to suggest you look at the html files that Weather Watcher creates. But I’m not sure that would have shown you the WhenU connection. I’m not familiar with it myself since I never download anything that intentionally displays popup ads.
Supposedly you can disable/remove WhenU via the Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs icon. That should be your 1st step. If the problem is resolved your done. If not I recommend you uninstall Weather Watcher also. And delete it’s folder since the uninstall doesn’t. Not sure if it clears out the Registry either but you may want to leave that part alone. Then reboot, then download the unbundled version of Weather Watcher from Mike’s site here. Is this where you downloaded WW from initially?
As an experiment, it might be interesting to loosen up your controls on IE and see what kind of ads WhenU pops up. Supposedly it only shows ads for products/items related to your use of IE. In that your only use of IE is for weather I wonder what kind of ads you would see. Competing products maybe, such as WeatherBug? Rain gear? Sun tan lotion?
Not so fast --some mysteries are best left to deepen [}:)].
I think the WhenU connection is a red herring: AFAICT I did NOT install any WhenU software: I did not select the bundled download; I was not notified of any such components during installation; I can find no trace of WhenU anything in my Registry, and I know how to check pretty thoroughly; and none of my spyware detectors have found a trace of it. There are also no visible ads within the WW interace and no contact with any sites outside of the weather.com domain.
Further, important to note that the killbit for WhenU was set PRIOR TO installation of WeatherWatcher – but even more further and even more importantly, removing the killbit via SpywareBlaster and reinstalling WW did NOT solve the problem.
It is likely that removing my custom IE restrictions and working back towards imposing them would flag the one(s) responsible, but I’m extremely hesitant; finally, everyone claims that ActiveX is NOT involved in the WW function, yet that’s the popup that appears. So something’s screwy somewhere.
I’ll probably wipe every trace of WW and reinstall one final time. I hate to let software win in these situations [8D].
Check the Control Panel’s Add/Remove applet and see is WhenU is listed. If so see if the date installed is shown. It is in XP.
When the popup appears, do a C+A+D and see what tasks are running.
It would be interesting to find what is issuing the popup warning. Once identified it would be interesting to know if there are any updates to it. It is possible that the error is being mistakening triggered by WW’s jscripting.
Would also be interesting to see if WW generates the error if the Classic Forecasts skin is used instead of Splendid’s. I don’t believe Classic uses any Jscripting.
First, there is no WhenU on my system and as far as I know there never has been.
Second, here (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ww36km.jpg) is a screencap of two moments: on reinstall when selecting Classic interface across the board; identical with reloading WW using Classic and requesting weather update.
quote:[i]Originally posted by JLJ[/i]
First, there is no WhenU on my system and as far as I know there never has been.
Second, here (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ww36km.jpg) is a screencap of two moments: on reinstall when selecting Classic interface across the board; identical with reloading WW using Classic and requesting weather update.
The mind reels. JLJ
PS: The key lies somewhere in the fact that the popup dialog title is “Internet Explorer” not “Weather Watcher” – WW is reading some setting or function in IE which has been set to “prompt” instead of “enable” or “allow” – but I need to identify which specific item this is to see if I can enable it securely for WW only.
IMO There is no quarantee the popup msg is being issued by IE either.
In reviewing WW’s Classic Current.html file I see that it does indeed use JScript the same as the Splendid skin’s version. At an insignificant level but used never the less.
With my XP IE I have it configured to allow Local internet, ie webpages on my hard drive, free access to the 'net. In addition to webpages I create and those of utilitites I run that create webpages for their output it most likely includes WW’s webpages also. You might try that approach.
And with so many weather apps to choose from it would probably be easier/quicker to find something different that fits your pc restictions and gives you piece of mind.
quote:[i]Originally posted by EdP[/i]
In reviewing WW's Classic Current.html file I see that it does indeed use JScript the same as the Splendid skin's version. At an insignificant level but used never the less.
Javascript is only used to correct the wind image when it is set to N/A. If Javascript was disabled, it would not affect the look of the skin.
quote:If Javascript was disabled, it would not affect the look of the skin.
That's not the point. It's presence would still trigger the warning that [b]JLJ[/b] is experiencing. Unfortunate but true. [:(]
Back to the original question,
quote:what permissions that are specific to WW need to be granted for it to function without my intervention?</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”> I think the answer is to set to Enable the scripting Security Options, rather than set them to Prompt, for the Local Internet zone items.
Well, not one to be a quitter, I reviewed the version history for WW 5.6.6 and had a hunch that an earlier version would work. So I downloaded 5.6.5 from Majorgeeks and…
… it runs!! – with no problems, no errors, no jscript/ActiveX permission requests, even with Splendid forecast skin enabled.
Perhaps that will allow determination of the cause of my 5.6.6 errors, if you think there’s any benefit to be gained from bothering.
Interesting. And a happy ending is always nice to read. [:)]
If you would like to narrow the problem further try this approach;
Copy WW.exe to WW565.exe
Copy the Skins\Splendid folder to Skins\Splendid565
Exit 565
Do a fresh download and install of WW 566
In the WW folder, dbl click on the WW565.exe file to start 5.6.5
In the Options/Skins tab select the Splendid Forecasts, Apply, OK
Refresh the weather. Note presence of popups
In the Options/Skins tab select the Splendid565 Forecasts, Apply, OK.
Refresh the weather. Note presence of popups
The above determines if your problem is in the skins.
Exit WW
In the WW folder, dbl click on the WW.exe file to start 5.6.6
In the Options/Skins tab select the Splendid Forecasts, Apply, OK
Refresh the weather. Note presence of popups
In the Options/Skins tab select the Splendid565 Forecasts, Apply, OK.
Refresh the weather. Note presence of popups
The above determines if your problem is in the WW program itself.
The 5.6.6 version of WW.exe solved the shifting WW window problem. The 5.6.6 version of the Splendid forecast skin I think introduced the colored thermometer options. I don’t see a Readme file listing the changes per version in the WW folder so I’m not sure what else changed between the versions. You can probably live without the 5.6.6 skin’s change but the WW.exe change I find most useful.
![http://66.28.250.180/data/640x480/2xradara5_anim.gif[/url]](http://66.28.250.180/data/640x480/2xradara5_anim.gif%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
