That is really severe.

Does it make any difference if you start Firefox in its Safe Mode? Hold down the Shift key when launching Firefox. In the small dialog that appears, choose Start in Safe Mode.

Could you test with the network connection off (either pull the Ethernet cable or disable the wi-fi) and see whether Firefox still freezes? Trying to figure out whether this is related to a network request or continues to happen when Firefox is offline.

If Firefox is not actually crashing, there might not be any internal record of what is causing the problem. Still, you might check the support article "Firefox Crashes" (especially the last section) for steps to find crash IDs, and then post any relevant ones here.

Yes, I'm about to blow my laptop up! Haha, it's severe.

When I start Firefox in Safemode it still freezes.

I tried using Firefox without the network Connection off. I am not 100% sure but this time nothing happen. It didn't freeze.

That's true, it doesn't actually crash and there's no crash reports/crash IDs to be found :(

Yes, I'm about to blow my laptop up! Haha, it's severe.

When I start Firefox in Safemode it still freezes.

I tried using Firefox without the network Connection off. I am not 100% sure but this time nothing happen. It didn't freeze.

That's true, it doesn't actually crash and there's no crash reports/crash IDs to be found :(

Firefox makes several internet connections at startup. Perhaps one of those is the problem. Maybe something in this article will help: How to stop Firefox from making automatic connections.

Also, in case it's a Flash problem, if you haven't already, try disabling the Protected Mode feature. The following pages provide different ways to disable that feature:

• Adobe support article under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?

• Manual steps: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/968190?page=5#answer-509209

• Batch file to automate the manual steps: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/982093#answer-518078

Flash needs to completely unload from memory before this would take effect. (If Firefox isn't running, that would take care of it.)

This makes me crazy :( Flash doesn't work at all in IE, though it's "in built" in that IE version and Win 8.

Will try the network Connection thing as well.

I guess I haven't time for this, will save my files and reinstall the OS instead. Hopefully the problem won't appear again.

The first article, maybe I'm missing it all but how to actually stop FF from auto connecting to the internet connection? It doesn't say?

Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.

• http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/

I can't access the Internet in Safe Mode. So when I start FF it doesn't freeze. But as soon as I'm connected and I visit a website FF does freeze within less than 1 minute :(

Hi angryzilla, regarding "how to actually stop FF from auto connecting to the internet connection": The article describes individual ways to turn off particular connections. As far as I can tell, Firefox does not have a built-in feature to start up in "work offline" mode. Perhaps there is an add-on or external software solution for that.

Actually, based on your latest post, that probably won't help, the problem isn't limited to startup connections.

Hm, will try anyway. But is there anything else I could try? Else I'll have to change browser (IE and Flash don't work so gotta be some other browser).

As another diagnostic, could you try installing the NoScript extension? NoScript blocks all JavaScript and plugins on a site until you approve it to run. This would help distinguish between a problem caused by simply rendering the text and images in a page, or connecting to the servers with those resources, and retrieving/running scripts and plugin content.

You can install from here: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/noscript/

When you get to a page, the toolbar button will list all the hosts that have scripts in the page. Note that after you approve individual servers, more may appear on the list the next time you check as those pull in scripts from yet other servers. Anyway, the exercise is to try to separate the issues. Although NoScript needs to be trained to allow scripts on sites you trust, it has the side benefit of removing a lot of junk from your browsing experience.

Our messages crossed. There probably are many browsers for Windows 8, but only one other one that I've used myself. If you haven't tried Google Chrome, you probably should install it now as a backup in case your other browsers lose more functionality. You can decline the suggestion to make it your default browser. Although Chrome encourages you to be logged in to your Google account 24x7 (to help personalize your experience), you skip that and use it logged out if you prefer not to have that level of tracking.

Ah, when I use the add-on I can surf the web without FF freezing. Of course not much material is viewable :)

I'm not sure if I did the right thing, but as soon as I allowed Adobe Flash, FF froze totally, again, and I had to kill the process.

I mean, every website with Flash content will make FF freeze. (Which is basically every site I've visited, haha).

I think disabling the protected mode feature of the Flash Player plugin has the highest success rate for resolving Flash freezes. Were you able to do? (Links in this post)

This error message appears as well. (This appeared when I tested which Flash Player was installed/inbuilt with IE). Also appears when trying to open documents in Word, I noticed.

So something has turned corrupt? I don't know what this files is/does but after a web search this error message seems to occur on several different occassions.

'C:\Windows\System32\mscms.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support. "

status; 0xc000012f

It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.

Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full, unrestricted, access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Server+not+found
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Firewalls

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/fix-problems-connecting-websites-after-updating

The fp_ax_cab_installer64.exe is not for Firefox (ax indicates ActiveX, which only runs in IE).

The suggested approach from Microsoft's forums for the mscms.dll error is to try the built-in file repair utility: Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files.

In the old days, sfc required a CD of Windows OS files, but I think on modern versions a local folder on your hard drive is used so hopefully it's simple to run.

For reference: mscms.dll not designed run Windows contains error site:answers.microsoft.com - Google Search

I tried that and it found corrupte files, which it couldn't repair. Dunno if it's related to the FF and Flash problem at all though.

Will try the other solutions tomorrow, such as disable protected mode.