Basic Firefox Troubleshooting

Basic Troubleshooting Tips for Firefox

You should always use the latest version of Firefox that is compatible with your Operating System, earlier versions are less secure and can be exploited to infect your computer.

From time to time, some of you will experience problems with Firefox, and the purpose of this article is to introduce you to a few basic techniques for troubleshooting them. It is not meant to be a guide to resolving all Firefox problems.

• Clear out your History Files
• Troubleshoot Firefox Add-ons
• Reset Firefox to Default Settings

Clear out your History Files

To improve website rendering times, Firefox stores copies of webpages, images, videos etc. and unless you flush them out from time to time, they build up, and can have a noticeable effect on Firefox's performance.

So if Firefox is running slowly, and/or erratically, then the first thing to try is to empty your History files ....

• Click History > Clear Recent History

• Which will bring up the following Window ....

• In the Time range to clear section, ensure you select Everything from the drop down menu.
• Check all items in the list that you wish to remove (you must include Cookies and Cache as a minimum).
• Click on Clear Now to delete your History files.

Troubleshoot Firefox Add-ons

Firefox allows the installation of Extensions and Add-Ons which extend its capabilities. Most of these are legitimate, some come bundled with "free" programs and are installed when you install the program, and some are installed as a result of Malware.

Good, indifferent or malicious, they can all potentially affect the performance of Firefox, and it's useful to be able to isolate them, to determine which (if any) might be the cause of any problems you're having.

Firefox can be run in Safe Mode with all the extensions and add-ons disabled.

To do so ....

• Click Help > Restart with Add-Ons Disabled
• You will be asked if you're sure you want to disable add-ons, click Restart
• When Firefox restarts you will be prompted with the following ....

• Do not check any of the boxes, just click on Continue in Safe Mode

If Firefox appears to be running better, then the next stage is to try and determine which of your add-ons is causing the problem.

• Re-start Firefox in normal mode.
• Click Tools > Add-ons to bring up the Add-ons Manager
• Click on Extensions

• Click the Disable button for the first of your Extensions.
  
• Repeat to disable all your Extensions.




• Click on Plug-ins
  
  • Disable all plug-ins in a similar manner to the Extensions.

Next

• Enable one of your add-ons and re-start Firefox.
• If Firefox is still working OK, enable the next one and re-start Firefox.

Repeat this process with all your add-ons, until you find the add-on or add-ons that were causing the problem.

Reset Firefox to Default Settings

If everything we've tried so far has failed to resolve any problems you have with Firefox, then you may want to consider setting Firefox back to its factory default settings.

To do this ....

• Start Firefox.
• Click Help > Restart with Add-Ons Disabled
• Restart Firefox.
• On restart the following window will open ....

• Check Reset all user preferences to Firefox defaults
• Click on Make Changes and Restart to reset Firefox back to default.