This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

I refreshed Firefox - now it thinks every site is untrusted

  • 5 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

I refreshed Firefox - now every site ( including Moxzilla) are untrusted. Asking for an exception does not sole the problem. I tried to re- download and that site is untrusted. I need step by step instructions to install new version or fix this issue. I do not have Avasti.

I refreshed Firefox - now every site ( including Moxzilla) are untrusted. Asking for an exception does not sole the problem. I tried to re- download and that site is untrusted. I need step by step instructions to install new version or fix this issue. I do not have Avasti.

All Replies (5)

more options

What security software (firewall, anti-virus) do you have?

You can check the date and time and time zone in the clock on your computer: (double) click the clock icon on the Windows Taskbar.

You can retrieve the certificate and check details like who issued certificates and expiration dates of certificates.

  • Click the link at the bottom of the error page: "I Understand the Risks"
  • Let Firefox retrieve the certificate: "Add Exception" -> "Get Certificate"
  • Click the "View" button and inspect the certificate and check who is the issuer.

You can see more details like the intermediate certificates that are used in the Details tab.

Who is the issuer of the certificate?

more options

Do you have Bitdefender, ESET, or Kaspersky? Those also may intercept secure connections and cause this issue.

Refresh moves your old profile folder to the desktop, inside an Old Firefox Data folder and creates a new profile with your bookmarks and selected other bits of data. One thing you could try is to copy your old certificate file to your new profile. Here's how (for Windows 7):

Step 1: Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Step 2: Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename cert8.db to something like cert8.old.

Note: Windows hides the .db extension, but there's only one cert8 file, so you can rename it cert8old if you can't see the .db extension. Or unhide file extensions using the steps in this article: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions

Keep this folder open.

Step 3: Double-click into Old Firefox Data and into your old profile folder inside. Find cert8.db and right-click > Copy it. Then go back to your current profile folder, and right-click a blank area and Paste. This should drop a copy of the old cert8.db file into the folder.

Start Firefox back up again. Can you visit secure sites?

more options

I just want to uninstall it and start over but it won't stop running and let me uninstall

more options

I'm not sure what you mean by "start over". Do you want to get rid of your personal data like bookmarks and saved passwords, too? Normally uninstalling and reinstalling preserves your data, but if you select the option to remove personal data when uninstalling then it really would be like starting over from scratch.


If Firefox does not exit from memory properly, you can terminate it using either of these methods:

  • shut down Windows and start up again
  • use the Windows 7 Task Manager to "kill" Firefox

For that second one, you can call up the Task Manager using Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Click the Processes tab and look for firefox.exe. If the numbers such as memory usage are changing, Firefox still might exit normally. However, if it seems frozen, you can crash it by right-clicking firefox.exe and choosing End Process.


To download Firefox 38.0.5 again, if you do not still have it handy, you can get the full installer from this page (scroll down to your preferred language):

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/

more options

What Windows OS are you using?

You posted the question with a mobile device.

Can you attach a screenshot that shows the certificate viewer window?

  • Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
  • Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB