Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

White blurred browser when switching between Word and Firefox

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by AleksandrH

more options

Hello,

Recently, my Firefox has been a nuisance to me. If you'll take a look at the printscreens, you'll see that whenever I switch from Firefox to Microsoft Word and then back to Firefox (by clicking the Firefox button on my taskbar), for some reason the browser whites out some portions of the screen. Note that I did not white out my favorites bar for personal reasons -- the browser was like that when I took the screenshot. There have been times when the entire browser page will be white and I won't be able to see anything -- not even the menu bar, scrollbar, or the page itself. I have to minimize, maximize, minimize, then maximize the browser again in order for this white blur to go away (or resize the page, which instantly fixes the problem). This is getting ridiculous. What's going on, and is there any fix for it? Thanks.

-Aleksandr

Hello, Recently, my Firefox has been a nuisance to me. If you'll take a look at the printscreens, you'll see that whenever I switch from Firefox to Microsoft Word and then back to Firefox (by clicking the Firefox button on my taskbar), for some reason the browser whites out some portions of the screen. Note that I did not white out my favorites bar for personal reasons -- the browser was like that when I took the screenshot. There have been times when the entire browser page will be white and I won't be able to see anything -- not even the menu bar, scrollbar, or the page itself. I have to minimize, maximize, minimize, then maximize the browser again in order for this white blur to go away (or resize the page, which instantly fixes the problem). This is getting ridiculous. What's going on, and is there any fix for it? Thanks. -Aleksandr

Chosen solution

You can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

  • Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"

You need to close and restart Firefox after toggling this setting.

You can check if there is an update for your graphics display driver and check for hardware acceleration related issues.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (4)

more options

Hello,

In order to better assist you with your issue please provide us with a screenshot. If you need help to create a screenshot, please see How do I create a screenshot of my problem?

Once you've done this, attach the saved screenshot file to your forum post by clicking the Browse... button below the Post your reply box. This will help us to visualize the problem.

Thank you!


Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options)
key, and then starting Firefox. A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh).

Is the problem still there?


See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

more options

Here it is, sorry it failed to upload last time

Modified by AleksandrH

more options

Chosen Solution

You can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

  • Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"

You need to close and restart Firefox after toggling this setting.

You can check if there is an update for your graphics display driver and check for hardware acceleration related issues.

more options

Okay, so I unchecked "Use hardware acceleration when available". The issue repeated only once and then stopped, so I think it's fixed now, but I'm not 100% sure. I'll mark the question as solved for now, though. Thanks for your help, cor-el!