You can check for issues caused by a corrupted or incomplete Visual C++ installation that is missing runtime components (Redistributable Packages) required by Firefox, especially VCRUNTIME140_1.dll. See "Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022": *https://docs.microsoft.com/en-US/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist *https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe *https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x86.exe You may also have to install the Visual Studio 2013 Redistributable Package. You need to reboot the computer. ----- It is possible that your firewall or other security software blocks or restricts Firefox without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox application. Remove all rules for Firefox from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full, unrestricted, access for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process. See: *https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/server-not-found-connection-problem *https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Firewalls *https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-problems-connecting-websites-after-updating ---- Do a clean reinstall of the current Firefox release and delete the Firefox program folder before installing a fresh copy of the current Firefox release. *download the Firefox installer and save the file to the desktop<br>*https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release If possible uninstall your current Firefox version to cleanup the Windows Registry and settings in security software. *do NOT remove "personal data" when you uninstall the current Firefox version, because this will remove all profile folders and you lose personal data like bookmarks and passwords including personal data in profiles created by other Firefox versions Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer. *(64-bit Firefox) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\" *(32-bit Firefox) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\" *it is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling Your personal data like bookmarks is stored in the Firefox profile folder, so you won't lose personal data when you reinstall or update Firefox, but make sure NOT to remove personal data when you uninstall Firefox as that will remove all Firefox profile folders and you lose your personal data. If you keep having problems then you can create a new profile as a quick test to see if your current profile is causing the problem. <hr> *https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data *https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles Reinstall Firefox *https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-and-diagnose-firefox-problems

The section on fixing problems after updating Firefox sent me to helpful pages and it worked for awhile. Has gone back to blacking screen after a few minutes. Will keep investigating this area with my Avast security, to see if the same principle holds as it did for Windows security. Otherwise, back to the drawing board. Thanks for your help.