Firefox crashes
Firefox crashes when I go to a lot of websites: e.g.: news.google.com, nytimes.com. Other websites are ok (e.g. google.com). It crashes when I'm in safe mode also. It crashes when I'm logged into a different user on the PC. It doesn't submit any crash reports and when I look at "about:crashes" none are listed more recent than a year old. I have checked my computer for Malware/Viruses and there are none reported. I have all recent updates for Windows (XP SP3) and graphics drivers. Disabling hardware acceleration and WebGL doesn't help. I've tried completely removing and reinstalling Firefox and it also doesn't help.
What can I do to help diagnose and resolve my problem?
All Replies (9)
No, that wasn't it. I'm running Avast as my anti-virus software. I'm using the built-in firewall that comes with Windows XP. I:
1) Disabled Avast 2) Uninstalled Firefox 3) Removed the C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox folder 4) Downloaded Firefox again 5) Reinstalled Firefox 6) Launched Firefox
It crashed (my home page includes news.google.com).
7) Tried launching in a command line with:
firefox -safe-mode www.google.com
It launches OK, opening www.google.com. Enter the URL www.nytimes.com, it crashes.
8) Launched in Safe Mode again ("firefox -safe-mode www.google.com") 9) Go to "about:crashes". Nothing there.
Do a malware check with some malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
You need to scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
- http://www.superantispyware.com/ - SuperAntispyware
- http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Microsoft Safety Scanner
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx - Windows Defender: Home Page
- http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Spybot Search & Destroy
- http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php - Ad-Aware Free
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
I ran the following there was no malware or spyware found:
- http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
- http://www.superantispyware.com/ - SuperAntispyware
- http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Microsoft Safety Scanner
You can also try to disable all the plugins in Tools (Alt + T) > Add-ons > Plugins.
It also crashes in safe mode. My understanding is plugins are disabled in safe mode, right?
No, plugins are not disabled automatically. I think it used to be that way in one previous version.
It still crashes when all plugins and extensions are disabled.
You can try a fresh install after completely removing Firefox. Please see this for taking a backup of important personal data. When uninstalling choose to delete everything. Also, manually delete any Mozilla/Mozilla Firefox/Firefox folders in %appdata%, %programfiles%, and %localappdata% (or My Computer > ?:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data). To open, type for eg. %appdata% in the Run box (Windows key + R).
Modified by Vivek