Hi, hold down the Shift key when you start Firefox to start in Safe Mode. More - Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

If it works in Safe Mode, restart Firefox, then disable any theme and your extensions - 3-bar menu > Add-ons > Themes/Extensions and restart Firefox again; now if it's OK, re-enable them one by one until you find the culprit. You may need to restart Firefox after enabling some extensions.

If that doesn't help, it may be an issue with a security/anti-virus program, so try disabling to test. If it works, see if there are any updates available.

If your question is resolved by this or another answer, please help other users by marking the best reply as Solved. Thank you!

I have already done that and put the extensions and plug ins back. It made no difference. When you go into options you have a link which says "your browser is being controlled by your organization." If you click on that link it shows what appears to be a third party application or permissions page that pretty much blocks or gives control over all things including updates . If this is a firefox item I definitely need to get rid of firefox. This appears to be a list, not a page you can access or change. Attempting to turn off the security suite that controls my firewall is overidden. That is AVG iNTERNET SECURITY. just had a rather heated session with their call center in the Phillipines. It's hard to talk to their "Premium support Team" when they operate out of their home and have children breaking the sound barrier in the background. I'm looking at just setting up another computer with a different browser and OS. Maybe something with Linux. I know I don't want anything to do with Windows 10.

That probably means that a 'Policy' has been set up. If you don't know what that is - you didn't do it, but another program did! Type about:policies into the address bar and press Enter. You should see a page that says 'The Enterprise Policies service is inactive.' If there is anything else it should give information on what was created and may give a clue as to what did it. Avast has been known to do this, but it's possible that it's been created by your AVG. To remove it please see https://www.askvg.com/fix-your-organization-has-disabled-the-ability-to-change-some-options-in-mozilla-firefox/ Note, unless you are confident in making Registry changes, I would use 'Method 2.' For additional safety you might want to set up a Windows Restore Point first - Start Menu > Computer > System properties > System protection, then in the unlikely event that something goes wrong, you can roll back to before you made changes.

Keep in mind that you need to uninstall the program that is causing this before you attempt to remove the Policy, otherwise it will likely be created again.

My question appears to be marked as "solved". By whom ? I received a single response to my question which was basically routine practices straight from tutorials at Firefox Help. Those suggestions had already been tried by me prior to ever asking for help from the community. I know this problem has occurred with prior versions in years past. It's in the older questions. Those solutions are not applicable here with current players and system changes.

My apologies to Scribe. Even though it is shown as being posted prior to my last post your last reply was NOT here just prior to my last post. I believe you are correct in your solution to my problem. Now I just need to find a way to initiate it. I made a restore point and went into C drive Mozilla Firefox. There was no folder labeled Distribution so I looked in Browser {still in Mozilla} no Distribution folder there either. Found that the small keyboard I'm using has no Windows button. Went to search and typed in registry, registry editor, and several other variations and got zero results. Tried Administrative Tools and several other angles to no avail. Can't access my registry. Guess I'll start digging and see if I can find and old wired keyboard with the "magic" Windows button.

Yes I guessed our posts may have crossed - don't worry about it! You can type regedit into the Windows search box on the Start Menu.

There should be a distribution folder though - if in fact you have a Policy added.

It should also show in about:policies

In my haste to fix this problem I forgot your instructions even though I wrote them down. I was not able to find an about policies page in firefox options. Have not found a distribution folder in Mozilla Firefox however I did see one in my downloads folder. Could that be it ?

No it should not be in Downloads. I suspect your AVG Internet Security is causing this. You said you've tried to remove it unsuccessfully; have you followed instructions here? https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?l=en&urlName=Uninstall-AVG-Internet-Security&supportType=home

If that fails, try using https://www.revouninstaller.com/products/revo-uninstaller-free/

Microsoft's anti-virus should be all that you need - using more than one AV program can cause conflict problems. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17150/windows-7-what-is-microsoft-security-essentials

If you can successfully remove AVG, and since we are going round in circles with the possible Policy issue, try a Clean Reinstall; this means you remove your Firefox program files (including any 'distribution' folder), and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location. With Firefox closed, use another browser to download Firefox from https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/ and save the file to somewhere convenient on your computer.

Now delete the Firefox installation folder which should be in one of the following locations -

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox

You can now double click the file you previously downloaded to install Firefox.

Although that should remove any 'distribution' folder and thereby remove any Policy that was created, I think the Registry entry - if any, may remain, so to remove it, you would need to follow https://www.askvg.com/fix-your-organization-has-disabled-the-ability-to-change-some-options-in-mozilla-firefox/

Got into registry editor finally. No firefox listed. Have Mozilla , Mozilla.Org and Mozilla Plug Ins listed but nothing labeled firefox. Only thing under any of them is default under the Mozilla entry. Still no sign of a distribution file and I have yet to see an about policies page anywhere. As for AVG I was notified by email that they were going to a third party billing service and had "handed over" their customer's payment info and preferences to that party. This was just prior to the renewal date of my subscription for their software. The email was received after this was done. Upon further investigation, I found that my dashboard in my account had been eliminated along with my entire purchase history of almost 10 years Customers can no longer access their payment methods much less change them. Since my card was due to expire, I intentionally allowed it to because I had no intention of continuing any business with a company that employs these tactics.I even instructed the bank to decline any requests for payment by AVG or their new third party billers. I received emails from AVG right up until the date of renewal telling me they could NOT process my renewal. Three days later it showed up as PAID on my statement. I'd say I was hacked. They had no current card info on me. So yes I believe this was done by AVG because I dared to complain and refused to renew my subscription for their software. Their new biller changed the product I had to a basic version of internet security, charged me 79.95 for something you can buy online or at any retailer for twenty plus dollars AND signed me up for AUTO RENEWAL Yeah, I'd say I was targeted.

You can inspect the Mozilla and Firefox keys with the Windows Registry Editor in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and possibly in HKEY_CURRENT_USER with the Windows Registry Editor to see whether GPO policy rules are active.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\

Note that the mere presence of the "MozillaFirefox" key is sufficient to make Firefox display this notification, so if you have the Firefox key then remove it and only leave the Mozilla key or remove this key as well if it is empty.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\ =>
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\

Finally got into registry again this morning. Found three Mozilla keys. Deleted the Firefox key and closed the registry. Went to options on firefox menu and changed update back to auto. Allowed version 70.1 to download. Restarted and NO INTERNET CONNECTION. Did a restore point and now I have basic functions and connections but cannot update or stream. If I type in about:policies I am told that navigation to that page is BLOCKED. i also cannot download another browser. The browser download is allowed through but as soon as it's done and tries to connect it too is blocked. I would try setting up another computer but as soon as the new OS or browser tried to connect these b- stards would probably take it down. Maybe if I set up a VPN before I tried my first connection I could get past them.

Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware

Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.

Make sure you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
  https://www.malwarebytes.com/
• AdwCleaner:
  https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
  https://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml
• SuperAntispyware:
  https://www.superantispyware.com/
• Microsoft Safety Scanner:
  https://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx
• Windows Defender:
  https://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender
• Spybot Search & Destroy:
  https://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
• Kasperky Free Security Scan:
  https://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

• Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
  https://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/disinfection/5350

https://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/utility

All of the tools offered like all of the anti virus and malware tools I used previously found no root or malware culprits. Policies are definitely in place, but I am being blocked from accessing them. I'm also blocked from uploading other browsers and updates. The list under the "your browser is being controlled by your organization" has just about everything listed as being blocked or denied. I have a computer with windows 10 on it and a basically empty hard drive. I'm afraid to access the web with only defender. These b*stards will probably nail me as soon as I open the browser.