Firefox - numerous issues

[Speedo1968]

It started when Firefox would not load properly and having to close and retry, eventually it stopped loading altogether.
I deleted anything I could find related to Firefox ( I am not a techie so probably missed things ).
I installed again, still having same problems.
Any ideas and yes I have tried Brave but find it strange to work with ?

[Andy from Kent]

Brave  is different to work with than Firefox?     How so?

[samsensam]

i've long liked firefox, from a purely user point of view, but the recent update of the tablet app was awful, it was really un-userfriendly so i deleted it and use crome, which, imho, is not as good as the old firefox but is better than the new! so many 'improvements' in technology actually result in a worse use experience.

 

however the new firefox on my notebook seems fine and not to different, from a user point of view, to the previous version.

[lungbing]

Opera browser works well for me.

[bendejo]

Assuming you are using Windows, most likely the problem is somewhere in

C:\Users\[your_user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

 

where [your_user_name] is your Windows login.  For whatever reason FF settings tend to go south after a while, it's been this way for ages.

The easiest way to clean it up is delete the contents of the directory, then start FF, all clean as new, and will create a new subdirectory in Profiles.  The consequence of doing this is all your specific settings and add-ons will be gone.  I am suggesting this brute force method because you said "I am not a techie."  I'm sure others can give you more involved ways to troubleshoot this.  But you can at least backup your bookmarks (Bookmarks->Show all bookmarks->Import and backup->Backup) and restore them after the cleanup.

 

 

[farang51]

18 minutes ago, bendejo said:

The easiest way to clean it up is delete the contents of the directory, then start FF, all clean as new, and will create a new subdirectory in Profiles. 

Deleting the profile will also delete user names and passwords; thus, before doing that, try starting Firefox in Safe Mode:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems

 

 

[Speedo1968]

4 hours ago, bendejo said:

Assuming you are using Windows, most likely the problem is somewhere in

C:\Users\[your_user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

 

where [your_user_name] is your Windows login.  For whatever reason FF settings tend to go south after a while, it's been this way for ages.

The easiest way to clean it up is delete the contents of the directory, then start FF, all clean as new, and will create a new subdirectory in Profiles.  The consequence of doing this is all your specific settings and add-ons will be gone.  I am suggesting this brute force method because you said "I am not a techie."  I'm sure others can give you more involved ways to troubleshoot this.  But you can at least backup your bookmarks (Bookmarks->Show all bookmarks->Import and backup->Backup) and restore them after the cleanup.

 

 

Thanks bendejo for your suggestion.
I am not a techie but followed the C Users as far as Roaming but no folders for Mozilla.   ( Sorry don't know how to show reverse hash sign after C ).   I deleted as much as I could find relating to Mozilla or Firefox.
If I remember Firefox was pre-installed when I bought the Acer laptop.
Had no problem for about 3 years then Firefox began not fully loading and still the same now.    It used to work well.

Will try and download the basic Firefox without all the added programs, e.g. it changed my video app from VLC to something else.
Will come back to you later if I may.

[Speedo1968]

4 hours ago, farang51 said:

Deleting the profile will also delete user names and passwords; thus, before doing that, try starting Firefox in Safe Mode:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems

 

 

Thanks farang51 for your warning.
I finally deleted every file I could find relating to Mozilla or Firefox ( not worried about losing user names etc.
Will try loading basic Firefox again without the added apps and see what happens.

 

[Speedo1968]

13 hours ago, lungbing said:

Opera browser works well for me.

Tried it years ago may be worth a try again.
Have used Torchbrowser in the past for many years seemed to work well then but not sure how safe it is now.

[steven100]

You should try Slimjet browser.  Fast, secure lightweight and does everything as needed. 

[bendejo]

You can try the portable version

https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

 

The nice thing about this is everything to do with FF will be in the directory that you install it in (and subdirs beneath it).  But do not install it in the old FF directory.

I suspect you may have been using a version of this that the dealer put on the laptop.

 

 

[SpaceKadet]

11 hours ago, Speedo1968 said:

Thanks farang51 for your warning.
I finally deleted every file I could find relating to Mozilla or Firefox ( not worried about losing user names etc.
Will try loading basic Firefox again without the added apps and see what happens.

 

You could always use MozBackup.It's old but it still works fine, it will backup all your add-ons and bookmarks and such.

Personally, I'm using Firefox ESR release that doesn't update unless you force it. The new and updated FF always brakes my really good and old add-ons that I use a lot.

BTW, Opera includes a free VPN that works pretty good here.

[farang51]

9 minutes ago, SpaceKadet said:

You could always use MozBackup.It's old but it still works fine, it will backup all your add-ons and bookmarks and such.

One can also use Firefox Sync. It is not meant as a backup; thus, there is no guarantee - but it works fine. Sync can synchronize bookmarks, logins, settings, add ons etc.

[Speedo1968]

14 hours ago, SpaceKadet said:

You could always use MozBackup.It's old but it still works fine, it will backup all your add-ons and bookmarks and such.

Personally, I'm using Firefox ESR release that doesn't update unless you force it. The new and updated FF always brakes my really good and old add-ons that I use a lot.

BTW, Opera includes a free VPN that works pretty good here.

Thanks again, for now I have download Firefox without the bells and whistles, is working ok for now.
I used to use Torch many years ago was very good, now is trying to put many addons so I have deleted it, wont use again.