Support NeoGAF

[Bowser]

For the past two days, my Firefox has been acting up. I open Firefox, and when I'm done I close the browser. But then if I try to open it again it won't. I go to the Task Manager and go to processes and try to end "firefox.exe" but it doesn't end. Restarting the computer doesn't fix the problem either. The only way I got it to work was restoring my computer to an earlier date, but it happened again and I had to do the System Restore again. Anyone know why it's messing up?

 

[GSG Flash]

I'm not sure what the exact problem is but it happened to me to. I ran a couple of SPyware programs, destroyed some spyware and then it started working fine again.

 

[Bowser]

I'm not sure what the exact problem is but it happened to me to. I ran a couple of SPyware programs, destroyed some spyware and then it started working fine again.

Can you give me some spyware software I should look into? I tried running Spybot, but it freezes up everytime. Should I try Ad-Aware?

 

[GSG Flash]

Can you give me some spyware software I should look into? I tried running Spybot, but it freezes up everytime. Should I try Ad-Aware?

Yeah, Ad aware is the one I use most often. Also try the MS Spyware program.

 

[Anthropic]

This is much more likely to be a profile problem than a spyware problem. Just back up your info, kill your Firefox profile, and then create a new profile and put back your stuff.

Instructions on finding your profile can be found here:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/releases/1.0.4.html#profilefolder

After you delete your profile, reinstall Firefox, and then open it up. That should make a new, clean profile. Then you can put your bookmarks back.

BTW, if you want to save more than just your bookmarks, than you can also save these files from your profile folder:

# bookmarks.html — Bookmarks.
# prefs.js — Current user preferences.
# user.js — User-added preferences (overrides prefs.js every startup).
# cookies.txt — Cookies.
# hostperm.1 — Cookies permissions, image permissions, and extension website install permissions list.
# signons.txt — Saved passwords. Requires the "key3.db" file to work.
# key3.db — Supplements password file.
# cert8.db — Needed for key3.db file

 

[Bowser]

This is much more likely to be a profile problem than a spyware problem. Just back up your info, kill your Firefox profile, and then create a new profile and put back your stuff.

Instructions on finding your profile can be found here:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/releases/1.0.4.html#profilefolder

After you delete your profile, reinstall Firefox, and then open it up. That should make a new, clean profile. Then you can put your bookmarks back.

BTW, if you want to save more than just your bookmarks, than you can also save these files from your profile folder:

Umm, I know this sounds stupid, but could you like, walk me thorugh this? I don't want to fuck up and lose everything if I can save my stuff. I did Ad-Aware, and removed the stuff it found, but it still didn't fix the problem.

edit: I can get to my profile, I know how to do that, but backing up the things I need to keep and reinstalling everything might get a little confusing for me.

 

[Sagitario]

Firefox takes a lot of time (sometimes like 20-25 seconds) to open a new windows (when I click a link or something on GAF for example) and while I'm waiting for the new windows to open I can't do anything (Firefox freezes).

Am I the only one having this problem?

 

[Anthropic]

Umm, I know this sounds stupid, but could you like, walk me thorugh this? I don't want to fuck up and lose everything if I can save my stuff. I did Ad-Aware, and removed the stuff it found, but it still didn't fix the problem.

edit: I can get to my profile, I know how to do that, but backing up the things I need to keep and reinstalling everything might get a little confusing for me.

You don't reinstall. Basically, find those files in your profile folder, and copy them to somwhere else. Then delete the profile folder. When you restart Firefox the next time it will automatically create a clean, fresh profile. Then, you close Firefox and copy back the files from your profile folder. When you start Firefox the next time, all of your bookmarks, settings, passwords and such should be back.

 

[Anthropic]

Firefox takes a lot of time (sometimes like 20-25 seconds) to open a new windows (when I click a link or something on GAF for example) and while I'm waiting for the new windows to open I can't do anything (Firefox freezes).

Am I the only one having this problem?

One thing to try would be deleting the XUL.mfl file in your profile folder. That seems to clear up a lot of problems. The purpose of that file is to try to speed up the interface by precompiling some of the XUL that makes up Firefox's GUI, but sometimes it can become corrupted and Firefox starts acting weird.

 

[Bowser]

You don't reinstall. Basically, find those files in your profile folder, and copy them to somwhere else. Then delete the profile folder. When you restart Firefox the next time it will automatically create a clean, fresh profile. Then, you close Firefox and copy back the files from your profile folder. When you start Firefox the next time, all of your bookmarks, settings, passwords and such should be back.

Thanks man, I think it worked. It was still going a bit slow, so I deleted that XUL or whatever file and it seems like it's all fine now. Again, thanks for the help.