A few people have asked me a some questions about solving problems with the browser Mozilla Firefox. I think Firefox is a terrific browser: it’s safer than Internet Explorer; it’s faster; and it’s got innumerable options, themes, and addons available. However, when it has problems, it’s usually more complex than the basic Internet Explorer crash. The good news is that Firefox is easier to fix. 
Problems with Firefox are usually due to incompatible or buggy addons. If you experience problems with Firefox, such as sudden a sudden crash, or Firefox will not start up or “hangs” unexpectedly, here’s what you can do.
First, manually end the Firefox process
Task Manager is a small Windows tool that helps you to, well, manage tasks! It’s a great way to close out buggy problems if you cannot close the program through the program itself. Be careful with your use of Task Manager, however. Programs that are required for your Windows operating system are listed there, too. If you close out a necessary program, it will cause your computer to crash.
1. Right-click on an open area in your taskbar (that long strip at the bottom of your screen between the Start Button to the left and the clock to the right). In the menu that appears, select “Task Manager.” It may take a moment or two to open up.
2. Click the “Processes” tab.
3. Scroll down the list and look for “firefox.exe.” If it is there, click it once to highlight.
4. Press the “End Process” button. A confirmation window will appear, asking you if you are sure. Click “End Process” again. Firefox will close.
5. Close out Task Manager.
Open Firefox in Safe Mode
Firefox has a “safe mode,” designed specifically for solving problems. The safe mode is a barebones, stripped down version of the browser. Safe mode disables all adons, themes, and other doodads. By loading Firefox into safe mode, you can determine if Firefox itself is the problem, or if it is an addon or other file that is causing the problem. Use the process of elimination to figure out the source of the problem.
1. Go to Start > All Programs > Mozilla Firefox. Select Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode).
2. A dialog window will appear. Safe Mode will give you three options:
- Clicking the Exit button cancels your attempt to get into Firefox’s Safe Mode.
- Clicking the Continue In Safe Mode button starts Firefox in its Safe Mode. While you are in Safe Mode, your extensions and themes will be disabled, and any toolbar customizations will be reverted back to their defaults. These changes are not permanent – when you leave Safe Mode and start Firefox up normally, your extensions, themes, and settings will return to the state they were in before you entered Safe Mode.
- The Make Changes and Restart button is only enabled if you select one of the boxes above it.
3. Don’t select anything in the check list– just click the button “Continue in Safe Mode.” Firefox will run without addons for this session only. Does it open up right away? If there are no problems, then it’s an addon problem. You’ll have to uninstall an addon.
4. To figure out which addon is causing the problem, you will have to permanently disable all addons, and enable them one by one. This should help you determine exactly which addon is causing the problem. It’s best to start with the most recent addon you installed (if you remember) and work your way back chronologically.
Uninstall an Addon
1. In the Firefox broswer, go to Tools > Addons.
2. Find the addon and click “Uninstall.”
3. Restart Firefox.
If your problem is still not solved, as a last resort, you can uninstall Firefox and reinstall it. Mozilla has a good support forum, too. Use the search feature to search for your problem, to see if it has been addressed previously. If it hasn’t, start a new thread and hopefully a moderator will assist you.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I have been facing this issue with firefox and I would love to try the tips.Thanks for the help. Just stumbled this post.. so enjoy the traffic.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Hello, Neel. I am very happy that you found my post useful! And I am very, very grateful for the Stumble.
March 21st, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Hi, good advice for firefox, I have a slightly different problem and you may be just the man to ask. Firefox works perfectly on most sites i vist except my bebo page, when on bebo it often doesnt show a button or box i need to click on to change items. I have updated my addons and plugins to see if that helped but made no difference. Have you any suggestions where to look next?
Also have a problem using ronnies.com site to order parts, it mostly works perfectly except for the box where the schematics are to be shown, i just get strippy lines moving as if page loading but it never does.
Any help is much appreciated,
Thanks,
Paddyman
March 25th, 2010 at 6:07 am
Hi Paddy. The first thing to do is to diagnose the cause of the problem. Can you view your bebo page and other websites in Internet Explorer or Opera with no problems? If the websites are fine in other browsers, then your problem may be a Firefox issue. If you have the Ad Blocker or NoScript plugins for Firefox, try disabling them– these plugins may be blocking either the button/badge images or the scripts on the pages.
April 1st, 2010 at 9:28 am
Hi, Many thanks for your suggestions, the adblocker was the problem it seems. I disabled it and restarted firefox and the websites I was having problems with started working properly again. Although now I know what it is I can disable it when needed, its a handy add-on the rest of the time.
Cheers for your help,
Paddyman
April 1st, 2010 at 9:33 am
Hi Paddy. I’m glad you were able to find the cause of the problem. The nice thing with Ad Block is that you can customize it! So you don’t have to disable it completely! You’ve inspired me to write a tutorial that will help others with this same issue. Please check back in a day, and I will have some advice on how to manage your Ad Blocker settings.
April 5th, 2010 at 7:27 am
Many thanks for your excellent tutorial on adblock. I had time over the weekend to experiment with the adblock filters and found I only needed to disable one of the filters for my bebo page to work properly again. I cant remember the exact name but it was ended something like bebo.com/img/* After selecting disable this filter the page loads properly and the header buttons are visible again.
Once again, thanks for your help and a very useful guide to adblock
Cheers,
Paddy
April 5th, 2010 at 10:22 am
I’m very glad to hear you worked it out, Paddy! And thank you for your kind words.