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Firefox freezes in normal mode, but works fine in private browsing

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  • Last reply by cor-el

umaringles
umaringles
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When I open Firefox, sometimes it tries to do session restore and freezes, sometimes I get the firefox home page as normal, but then I try to go to a site and it freezes. However, in private browsing mode, it seems to work fine. In addition, sometimes I can't download files: instead of asking where to save the file to, the download just says failed. Both of these problems are intermittent. Safe mode doesn't make a difference. I've also had an unknown error in sync, but I reset that did the other sync troubleshooting stuff, and no change. Sometimes it's better after a restart, but not always. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox, updated Adobe Flash, disabled addons, turned off my antivirus, uninstalled spybot, searched the forums and am at a loss.

I have windows 8 on an Acer Aspire.

When I open Firefox, sometimes it tries to do session restore and freezes, sometimes I get the firefox home page as normal, but then I try to go to a site and it freezes. However, in private browsing mode, it seems to work fine. In addition, sometimes I can't download files: instead of asking where to save the file to, the download just says failed. Both of these problems are intermittent. Safe mode doesn't make a difference. I've also had an unknown error in sync, but I reset that did the other sync troubleshooting stuff, and no change. Sometimes it's better after a restart, but not always. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox, updated Adobe Flash, disabled addons, turned off my antivirus, uninstalled spybot, searched the forums and am at a loss. I have windows 8 on an Acer Aspire.

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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In Private Browsing mode Firefox doesn't use the cookies from regular mode and also doesn't use the disk cache.

Does this also happen if you disconnect from Sync or exclude the Tabs from sync?

Try to clear the cache and remove cookies only from websites that cause problems.

"Clear the Cache":

  • Firefox/Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"

"Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:

  • Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > "Use custom settings for history" > Cookies: "Show Cookies"

You can check for problems with the sessionstore.js file in the Firefox profile folder that stores session data. Deleting sessionstore.js will cause App Tabs and Tab Groups and open and closed (undo) tabs to get lost and you will have to recreate them (make a note or bookmark them if possible).

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder: