Firefox trouble...

[RodneyIsGodney]

I need help!

I'm getting this every time I open Firefox now:

Spoiler:

My bookmarks and history aren't working anymore, haven't for the last few days, and it's frustrating me to no end. I tried all the "fixes" that Firefox has and none of them have worked. I'm using Google Chrome right now, could that be the problem? I downloaded it a few weeks ago though and only use it for Photobucket because I have Adblock Plus on FF and it won't allow PB to work properly.


Anybody else experience this before? Anyone know what the hell to do?

[SoulReaver]

exit FireFox, then terminate all instances of FF via the Task Manager. relaunch FF to see if it works

[Mike.]

Did you try turning it off and on again ? Really, a PC restart does wonders.

If you really tried all the fixes (including what SoulRe@ver said) then some program is locking them.

- get Unlocker
- navigate to %appdata% (enter that in an Explorer window or in Run).
- find the Mozilla folder. Make sure that Firefox is closed (no firefox.exe in Task Manager)
- right click the folder and choose Unlocker

I should either:
a) tell you what program is locking the files - kill it and uninstall it. Firefox should work fine afterwards.
(If you kill explorer.exe and your taskbar temporarily disappears, don't worry, it's normal)
b) tell you that "no locking handle was found"

If (b) shows up the problem is in Firefox or a program that starts with it. Let's test that.
- start Firefox and choose the Unlocker command again.
- now you should definitely get a list.
I) If only Firefox entries appear on the list - the problem is in Firefox
II) if there's another program - that's the one that's causing the problem. Kill it and uninstall it. Firefox should work fine afterwards.

If I) is true - let's fix Firefox.
1. Reinstall it. Don't worry, this won't delete your bookmarks, passwords, extensions, etc. It just replaces the program components.
2. If step 1 didn't fix it, the problem in the customizations. The only way to be sure is to delete them all. (this wiil remove all your extensions, etc.)

- First if you want to backup your bookmarks find places.sqlite and bookmarks.html in %appdata%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxx.default\ and copy them somewhere. Similarly if you want to backup your saved passwords, copy all the files that start with "key" and "signons". If you don't want to save anything you can skip this intermediate step.

- When Firefox is closed (and not in Task Manager as firefox.exe) delete (or move somewhere else) the Mozilla folder in %appdata% .

Now when Firefox starts all the problems should be gone. If you want to restore your bookmarks and password backups copy the files mentioned above back where you found them.

[RodneyIsGodney]

exit FireFox, then terminate all instances of FF via the Task Manager. relaunch FF to see if it works

Tried that but there were no instances of FF via the task manager.

Did you try turning it off and on again ? Really, a PC restart does wonders.

Yep. Like I said, this has been a problem for the last three days...

If you really tried all the fixes (including what SoulRe@ver said) then some program is locking them.

Figured as much.

- get Unlocker
- navigate to %appdata% (enter that in an Explorer window or in Run).
- find the Mozilla folder. Make sure that Firefox is closed (no firefox.exe in Task Manager)
- right click the folder and choose Unlocker

Well, I downloaded Unlocker (and installed it) but I'm not seeing it when I right click on the Mozilla folder. I am seeing the little magic wand in my taskbar...so I downloaded and installed it correctly, yes?

[Pharaoh Atem]

personally switch to google chrome

[DigiFluid]

personally switch to google chrome

Damn, beat me to it

http://www.google.com/chrome

[Pharaoh Atem]

Damn, beat me to it

http://www.google.com/chrome

IMO it's only flaw is bad spell check but other then that it's super stable. i don't like FF anymore. it's changed to much

[DigiFluid]

I don't like Firefox because it's bloody slow. And now that Chrome has extensions, FF really has nothing over it anymore.

[Mike.]

During the setup make sure "Explorer extension" is checked. The rest doesn't matter.



And you should see this:

[Skydiver]

my biggest issue wtih google chrome, Google already collects a TON of personal data every time you use their search engine, I don't wanna give them more personal info about my browsing that they can collect and sell

they're becoming a dirty word in how much they pry into a person's privacy and online habits

I would wonder if you have a virus that's blocking firefox

I had one once and it wouldn't let me run msconfig or access 'my computer' until i started in safe mode and ran malbytes to delete it

[rarocks24]

In regards to Firefox, are you running the latest version and what addons are you running? Are they all up to date?

My big issue with Google is that they're hypocrites. They care nothing of turning over private information. The only reason they did that stuff with the Chinese was because the Chinese stabbed them in the back. They still catalog vast amounts of information about each and every user. Its intrusive.

As for Chrome, my main issue with Chrome is youtube's HTML5 videos appear gimped and pixelated, and a lack of a bookmark manager. Also, Chrome Adblock only blocks the ads after they're rendered, rather than Firefox blocking them before.

[Mike.]

My problem with Chrome is that it doesn't have truly powerful extensions. Most of them are just html and css cobbled together with a button added on the browser. Some act as GM users scripts , i.e. some pieces of javascript that get injected into pages. Truly lame.

Chrome doesn't allow extensions to access the core of the browser and modify it.
No real Ad block. The current hack just hides the ads. This does absolutely nothing to stop the ad servers from tracking you, the ads still get downloaded including the additional malware if the ad networks are not careful. No Downthemall - a real download manager that uses multiple connections for multi-chunk accelerated downloading, no DownloadHelper that can monitor http requests and detect and save videos under mountains of obfuscation. No FoxyProxy that can use several proxyes at the same time and send specific URL's through certain ones based on rules. No FoxyTunes to control any media player.

Sure, Chrome is very fast, but it can't do much else. Maybe the devs haven't had time to implement the APIs to allow deeper access, maybe it's intentional, no matter. Chrome is not ready, not for me.

Extensions FTW.

/This is not an attempt to start a browser flame war, just my opinion

[Skydiver]

IE is buggy as all get out and I only use it if i hve to
safari is slow, but sometimes it's a browser that works
firefox is my preference
google....on sheer principal alone i will not use their browser or install their toolbar. got enough spyware going on as it is