how to force Firefox to shut down to uninstall it
two thumbnails are visible in Firefox but I cannot either open them or close them. I cannot open Firefox in safe mode. I cannot uninstall Firefox. i cannot clear the cache or cookies. I really need an answer otherwise I will just move on to another browser and not bother with Firefox anymore. Also cannot open the troubleshooting information because i'm having to use Internext Explorer
Chosen solution
Could you possibly post a screen shot of what you mean by two thumbnails? Perhaps these are the page thumbnails that appear on the new tab page (with blank spaces for the other 7 thumbnails that typically appear there)?
To terminate Firefox in memory, you can use the Windows Task Manager.
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch the Task Manager
- Review the items on the Applications tab for any obvious instances of Firefox (showing the program icon) and use End Task if the actual window is not visible (if the window is visible, go to that Window and use Exit)
- Review the items on the Processes tab for any instances of firefox.exe and use End Process to terminate them
Please note that uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox is useful to repair damaged program files, but often fails to cure other problems based on settings or files in your personal settings folder (AKA Firefox profile folder). There is a shortcut to cleaning up those kinds of problems... the Reset feature.
If you can terminate Firefox and restart to the Safe Mode dialog (hold the Shift key while launching Firefox), you could try the Reset feature. This duplicates certain key data from your active settings folder into a new one, bypassing some add-ons and custom settings. Your old settings will be archived to a folder on your desktop. (I recommend keeping that around for a few weeks in case you need to rescue anything from it.)
More details in this article: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings.
Does that make any difference?
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Chosen Solution
Could you possibly post a screen shot of what you mean by two thumbnails? Perhaps these are the page thumbnails that appear on the new tab page (with blank spaces for the other 7 thumbnails that typically appear there)?
To terminate Firefox in memory, you can use the Windows Task Manager.
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch the Task Manager
- Review the items on the Applications tab for any obvious instances of Firefox (showing the program icon) and use End Task if the actual window is not visible (if the window is visible, go to that Window and use Exit)
- Review the items on the Processes tab for any instances of firefox.exe and use End Process to terminate them
Please note that uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox is useful to repair damaged program files, but often fails to cure other problems based on settings or files in your personal settings folder (AKA Firefox profile folder). There is a shortcut to cleaning up those kinds of problems... the Reset feature.
If you can terminate Firefox and restart to the Safe Mode dialog (hold the Shift key while launching Firefox), you could try the Reset feature. This duplicates certain key data from your active settings folder into a new one, bypassing some add-ons and custom settings. Your old settings will be archived to a folder on your desktop. (I recommend keeping that around for a few weeks in case you need to rescue anything from it.)
More details in this article: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings.
Does that make any difference?
Thanks so much, I haven't been able to post a screenshot (although I have one sitting on my desktop!) I went to the Windows Task Manager to shut down the two windows that appeared to be open and were causing the problem, then opened Firefox in safe mode and reset it. I'm disappointed that tab grouping is gone, because that to me was a compellling reason to use Firefox. Oh well, can't have everything I guess!
You can copy the sessionstore.js file form the Old Firefox Data folder on the desktop to the current Firefox profile folder to restore the last saved session and it App tabs and Tab groups.
You can use this button to go to the Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder