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Can someone tell me if they're having problems relating to Links.com?

  • 13 replies
  • 6 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Xircal

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Everytime I try to open Firefox, it would give me three taps: 1. the page that said it couldn't load the pages from last time, 2. What I think might be the problem, Links.com, which is a website I'd never visted or heard of until it started wreaking havoc on my browser, and I suspect it's the culprit. 3. A mysterious third page that firefox says that it can't load. EVERY. TIME. Then Firefox, which is usually pretty fast for me, will slow, freeze or stop randomly when I'm browsing. I've tried to fix the problem by restarting, a hard reset, and thus far the only thing that seems to fix it even temporarily is downloading Firefox all over again! I've scanned for viruses and the like, and had no luck in fixing the problem. Please, someone help me! This is driving me up a wall, and it's all the more frustrating because I can't even begin to guess what the problem is.

Everytime I try to open Firefox, it would give me three taps: 1. the page that said it couldn't load the pages from last time, 2. What I think might be the problem, Links.com, which is a website I'd never visted or heard of until it started wreaking havoc on my browser, and I suspect it's the culprit. 3. A mysterious third page that firefox says that it can't load. EVERY. TIME. Then Firefox, which is usually pretty fast for me, will slow, freeze or stop randomly when I'm browsing. I've tried to fix the problem by restarting, a hard reset, and thus far the only thing that seems to fix it even temporarily is downloading Firefox all over again! I've scanned for viruses and the like, and had no luck in fixing the problem. Please, someone help me! This is driving me up a wall, and it's all the more frustrating because I can't even begin to guess what the problem is.

All Replies (13)

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That site seems to be up for grabs: http://whois.domaintools.com/links.com

Can you do the following please.

  • In the location bar at the top, type about:config and hit Enter
  • In the filter at the top, type keyword.URL
  • Double click it and replace the current setting with http://www.google.com/search?q= (since it's a link, right click it then choose "Copy Link Location", then CTRL+V to paste it: saves you having to type it all)
  • Close Firefox via File | Exit and then restart it again.

To set your home page, go the site you want to have and then drag and drop the URL onto to the Home button.

You can also do it this way if you prefer.

Go to the site you want to set as your homepage.

  • Go to Tools | Options | General.
  • Make sure it says "Show My Homepage" in the first dropdown menu.
  • Click the button called "Use Current Pages" to set the homepage to the one you have on the screen.
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Wow, this looks great! But... What will it do, exactly...? It's just that I've never done anything to my settings before and I'm nervous about changing something.

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Any changes you make to about:config can be undone easily, so don't worry.

All you're doing with the above setting is to make Google your search engine. This means that if you type a query in the location bar and hit Enter, it will be Google which does the search.

After you set your home page, whenever you launch Firefox, that's all you should see.

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...Nope, sorry. Same problem. Any other suggestions? (Now it's Files.com , if that makes any difference)

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Sounds sketchy. You might want to supplement your regular 24x7 antivirus coverage with some additional well-regarded scanners:

SuperAntispyware http://www.superantispyware.com/index.html

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

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Try running Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode. If it functions properly in that configuration, then one of your add-ons is the culprit.

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Thank you! I've run them both, but they haven't fixed it. I did, however, find a bunch of stuff my other scanner missed, so thank you!

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...THAT DID IT! Thank you so much! It's still randomly stopping while everything else runs fine, but I'm finally free of Files.com ! Thank you! ...So... Does this mean I have to keep it in Safe Mode from now on?

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Safe Mode is a diagnostic tool. Since Firefox works normally in Safe Mode, it suggests that one of your settings or add-ons is the problem.

Depending on your level of patience, you could experiment with enabling/disabling different add-ons, or you could start clean with a new Firefox profile and copy over just the most important stuff for now, and gradually add back other add-ons as you find you want/need them.

First, make a backup of your computer for safekeeping. To back up Firefox, see Backing up your information.

To create a new (blank) Firefox profile, see: Managing profiles.

The random stopping could be related to massive history or cache in your existing profile. Does that improve with a new profile?

To move key settings like bookmarks from your damaged profile to the new profile, see: Recovering important data from an old profile.

Hope this helps.

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Safe Mode disables all your Add-ons. So one of those is the responsible culprit if you don't get the problem after that. What you have to do here is to restart in Safe Mode again, but this time checkmark "Disable All Add-ons". Then click Make Changes and restart"

Next re-enable them one by one until the problem recurs. Then remove the offender.

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That did it! That did it! Thank you so so so much! YAAAAAY! Thank you!

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Thank you. You helped me out a lot when this was freaking me out, and I am very grateful! Thank you!

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You're welcome.