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I can only go to a website if I open a private window. Regular windows won't allow me to go anywhere at all.

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  • Last reply by cor-el

yuvaltaylor1
yuvaltaylor1
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I just migrated Firefox from one computer to another and when I type a website in the address bar and press enter nothing happens and when I click on a link after Googling something nothing happens but when I open a private window everything's OK. I tried signing in and signing out and switching accounts and none of that helped.

I just migrated Firefox from one computer to another and when I type a website in the address bar and press enter nothing happens and when I click on a link after Googling something nothing happens but when I open a private window everything's OK. I tried signing in and signing out and switching accounts and none of that helped.

Chosen solution

This sounds like it could be an issue with a browser add-on you have installed on Firefox. By default, browser add-ons can't run in Private Browsing windows, which could be why everything is working there.

To test, try running Firefox in Safe Mode and see if that makes a difference. That will temporarily disable your browser add-ons.

If the issue still occurs in Safe Mode, you should try clearing your cache and clearing your cookies. Your cache and cookies are not carried over into Private Browsing sessions, which could also explain why everything works fine there.

Hope this helps.

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Wesley Branton
Wesley Branton
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Chosen Solution

This sounds like it could be an issue with a browser add-on you have installed on Firefox. By default, browser add-ons can't run in Private Browsing windows, which could be why everything is working there.

To test, try running Firefox in Safe Mode and see if that makes a difference. That will temporarily disable your browser add-ons.

If the issue still occurs in Safe Mode, you should try clearing your cache and clearing your cookies. Your cache and cookies are not carried over into Private Browsing sessions, which could also explain why everything works fine there.

Hope this helps.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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You can try these steps in case of issues with web pages:

You can reload web page(s) and bypass the cache to refresh possibly outdated or corrupted files.

  • hold down the Shift key and left-click the Reload button
  • press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" (Windows,Linux)
  • press "Command + Shift + R" (Mac)

Clear the Cache and remove the Cookies for websites that cause problems via the "3-bar" Firefox menu button (Options/Preferences).

"Remove the Cookies" for websites that cause problems:

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data: "Manage Data"

"Clear the Cache":

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data -> Clear Data -> Cached Web Content: Clear

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
  • do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window

You can remove all data stored in Firefox for a specific domain via "Forget About This Site" in the right-click context menu of an history entry ("History -> Show All History" or "View -> Sidebar -> History").

Using "Forget About This Site" will remove all data stored in Firefox for this domain like history and cookies and passwords and exceptions and cache, so be cautious. If you have a password or other data for that domain that you do not want to lose then make sure to backup this data or make a note.

You can't recover from this 'forget' unless you have a backup of involved files.

If you revisit a 'forgotten' website then data for that website will be saved once again.