Hi EllieJo, it does sound as though you have tried pretty much everything.

The following results seem important, but I can't figure out why it should matter, what is Norton doing:

Remove “C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” from Norton firewall; then Add it back. I also Removed and then Added CrashReporter.exe and MaintenanceService.exe. I then did a re-boot. After that, FireFox worked cleanly for about a day. The next day, it again resumed crashing every time I clicked the “+” sign.

I did find "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\updater.exe" on my hard drive. On 7/24/16, I Added this file to the firewall screen. After that, FireFox worked cleanly for about a day. The next day, it again resumed crashing every time I clicked the “+” sign.

When this problem occurs, does Firefox freeze immediately upon clicking the + button, or does Firefox display a tab and appear to be loading the new tab page when it freezes?

To blank out the new tab page, could you try this:

From the Windows 7 Start menu, type the following into the search box and press Enter to run it:

firefox.exe -new-window "about:config"

(1) When the new window opens, click the button promising to be careful, assuming you can.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newt and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtab.preload preference to switch it from true to false

(4) Double-click the browser.newtabpage.enabled preference to switch it from true to false

(5) Double-click the browser.newtabpage.enhanced preference to switch it from true to false

Then, if you click the "+" button, any improvement?

Hi, jscher2000. Thanks for your prompt and detailed response.

Your instructions asked me to change the “browser.newtab.preload” setting from TRUE to FALSE; this setting was already set to FALSE. I changed the other settings as you instructed. As you described, the new tabs that open now are blank. More notably, they are not freezing! This is good news. Unfortunately, some of the changes I made previously have also solved the problem, but it came back again after about a day, so I will watch this over the next couple of days to confirm that the freezing has stopped. If indeed this does fix the problem, should I leave the settings as they now stand, with the blank new pages?

You asked about the changes I made to the Norton FireWall. I had read that Norton could interfere with FireFox, if the firewall settings become corrupted. The suggestion to resolve this problem was to remove FireFox.exe from the list of programs allowed by the Norton firewall, and then to add it back. Just to cover all bases, I did the same process for the other FireFox files which were included in that list. These changes were made on a screen titled ““Create custom Internet access for individual programs.”

You also asked about the timing of the problem. When I click the “+” sign, a new tab does open, however, it never progresses to the point where a new web page is opened. It freezes in approximately 5 – 10 seconds after I click the “+” sign.

On a separate note, I should mention that my computer has had some other problems in the past week or so. I will mention them here, in case there is some connection to the FireFox problem.

• Since FireFox has been freezing so much, I have used Internet Explorer a few times in the past week. That has also frozen a couple of times, with a “Not Responding” status. This has not been as consistent as the FireFox freezing, and I have not observed any pattern. For example, it does not freeze when I click to add a new tab.

• Adobe reader also went into a “Not Responding” state, any time I attempted to open a .PDF file by clicking on it in Windows Explorer. I had Disabled the FireFox Plugin for Adobe Acrobat, as part of my efforts to fix the FireFox problem. When I reinstated it, the Adobe problem was resolved. Is it possible that the FireFox Plugin for Adobe Acrobat is required for me to open .PDF files, even if I am opening them directly from Windows Explorer, without FireFox?

• Norton has popped up a couple of messages asking me to re-boot to continue removing security threats.

Thank you so much for looking into this matter for me.

EllieJo

Hi EllieJo, that sounds promising so far. The new tab page has some conveniences but they are not essential.

I don't use Norton, so I don't know the details of how their firewall works. I thought it asked you whether you trusted a program and would store that information indefinitely. However, manually refreshing that information was a good idea. If you need to do that often -- more often than Firefox updates itself -- I would be concerned about whether the program has been changed by some other software.

Regarding the other issues with IE and Adobe Reader (you shouldn't need the plugin), could you supplement your Norton protection with some additional cleanup? Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons and other hijackers. I know it seems long, but it's really not that bad.

(For Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10; XP is somewhat different)

(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help surface undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.

(2) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and do not replace Norton. They generally take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.

Hi, jscher2000.

I will wait a couple of days before closing out this inquiry, to ensure that the problem doesn’t re-surface.

In the meantime, I will work on cleaning out the PC, as you recommend. I guess I have my work cut out for me!

Many thanks for all your help!

EllieJo