Having difficulties with Firefox

[icedgreentea]

I recently downloaded and installed firefox 1.5.7 though my problems started as of last night. When I double click on my icon on the desktop, the browser does not start though it is listed in the taskmanager as one of the processes. The only way I can get it to run is on safe mode though even then, after I close it, my icon does not work and neither does the shortcut on my start menu bar, I still have to resort to safe mode... any suggestions on what I can do to resolve this?

[christopher_wolf]

Uninstall Firefox, including what is left behind from the last install and any preferences it leaves behind in the Applications folder under your user folder. Then clean the registry and reinstall 1.5.7 from scratch and not an update and see what happens.

It does sound to me like a problem with the target line for the shortcut on the menu bar or a registry issue. Both of which would be solved most effectively by a deep uninstall of FF and reinstall.

HTH

[icedgreentea]

thanks so much chris though I am not sure how to clean my registry of firefox. Is there a program that will ferret out the registry files for me or must I do it manually?

[christopher_wolf]

Is there a program that will ferret out the registry files for me or must I do it manually?

Manually? UhhhHHHHhhHhHh....No, I believe that is classified as a torture method.

Rather, get something like CCleaner or Registry First Aid Pro/Platinum and then scan and clean your registry of all startup and shortcut type links to Firefox; this should happen by default as, after the uninstall, they usually pop up as invalid references and can be safely removed. Also just skim the reports they generate about the registry and see if there are any other problems that you may want to fix.

That should do it; if it doesn't, it is probably a deeper problem but still related to the way firefox installs itself on your system.

[icedgreentea]

Uninstall Firefox, including what is left behind from the last install and any preferences it leaves behind in the Applications folder under your user folder.

HTH

I don't have an applications folder... or is that an offhand term for some other kind of folder?

[princeatul]

Don't know if deep uninstall would help solve your problem, but if you want to manually
attempt to clean up Ffox stuff:
0. Close/Kill firefox

1. Go to your \Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\
o Delete everything

2. C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Mozilla
o Delete everything
(user_name is your login name. This dir might not be visible through explorer. Click Start -> Run and type in that address)

3. I have NOT checked this registry stuff personally, so use at your own risk. Take a backup of registry before you tinker.

Start > Run > Regedit) and delete the following keys
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxHTML]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\firefox.exe]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mozilla]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MozillaPlugins]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\mozilla.org]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins]

Some keys might be missing, don't worry.

I recommend NOT touching registry first. Do step 3 only if your problem persists after deep uninstall. Hope this helps.

[christopher_wolf]

There is, repeat, *no need* to mess with the registry keys by hand. Simply do the following;

1.) Uninstall Firefox
2.) Clean out the Firefox preferences under "C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Application Data\Mozilla" by deleting the contents of that folder completely.
3.) Run CCleaner or Registry First Aid to clean up what the Firefox uninstall left behind (i.e. invalid shortcut references in the registry, invalid file links, etc)
4.) Reboot
5.) Reinstall Firefox from scratch and don't load any extra modules, add-ons, extensions, plugins, what have you until you can verify that it is working from the shortcut as it should.