Recent Problem with Firefox

LLNelson · Jun 10, 2019

In recently week(s) when I open Firefox (67.0.1 64-bit, latest version) by using a link, it loads a slighly different version of FF. If I open it first and then input the link, it opens properly. I've been using FF for several years and I've never seen this happen before.

I tried to contact FF support but after 30 minutes of trying to scroll though all the posts, I finally gave up. It was obvious it was going to take a couple of hours to scroll through the thousands of posts before I could get to a blank area to post my problem.

Does anyone know what could be causing this?
TIA.
Laurie

Stancestans · Jun 10, 2019

When you click a link from a non-browser program, for example Microsoft Word, that link will open using the default browser on your computer. From what you describe, it seems Firefox IS NOT the default browser on your computer. To fix this, you need to set Firefox as the default browser. This article explains how to do this. There's a link to a video on the same if you prefer watching than reading.

The above article describes how to do it from Firefox's settings. You can alternatively accomplish the same via Control Panel. The video below shows you how.

LLNelson · Jun 10, 2019

Stancestans said:
When you click a link from a non-browser program, for example Microsoft Word, that link will open using the default browser on your computer. From what you describe, it seems Firefox IS NOT the default browser on your computer./QUOTE]

Firefox is my default browser. I also have it set to check to be sure it is when I open it. I also have a program called LinkStash where I keep all my bookmarks because I don't like the way Firefox or any other browser handles bookmarks. In this program I have Firefox set as my default browser but recently when I open a link from this program, I have the same problem. Again this all started a few weeks ago (maybe 2-3 weeks?). I wonder if it's because Firefox was updated then.

Stancestans · Jun 10, 2019

I'm not familiar with that program. Post a screenshot of the browser that starts when you open a link from that program. Is this affecting links from other programs/files as well or just this one program?

LLNelson · Jun 10, 2019

Here is a screenshot (Firefox 1.jpg) of a link from LinkStash. This is the Firefox I get when I click ANY link from anywhere--LinkStash, an email, etc.

I've also posted a screenshot (Firefox 2.jpg) of the way Firefox comes up when I open it from my tray.

Stancestans · Jun 10, 2019

On both versions, type or copy and paste about:support into the address bar and load it. The troubleshooting information window will open. Click the Copy text to clipboard button then open a blank Notepad window and paste that inside it. Save the text files and upload them in your next reply. You can also just copy that information directly into your next reply, although separate text files is neater.

LLNelson · Jun 10, 2019

I see a couple of differences in these two in the Web Content Processes and the extensions installed, but I don't understand why. Thank you for helping me understand what could be the problem.

LLNelson · Jun 11, 2019

Hope you'll be able to look at these tomorrow & tell me what to do about Firefox.

LLNelson · Jun 12, 2019

Stancestans, I hope you'll be able to reply to me soon now that I've followed your suggestion to post the information re Firefox.

Thanks in advance.
Laurie

Stancestans · Jun 12, 2019

I've done a side-by-side comparison of the two files and saw significant differences between them:

Firefox 1

Code:

[PLAIN]
Extensions
----------

		   
			   
			 
							   

							   
				  
			 
										  

					  
				 
			  
								

													  
			  
			  
					   

							  
			  
			  
									 

Name: Soda PDF Desktop Creator
Version: 2.0.4
Enabled: false
ID: [email protected]


Important Modified Preferences
------------------------------

							   
accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
browser.cache.disk.capacity: 1048576
browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
browser.cache.disk.hashstats_reported: 1
											  
							  
									   
								  
browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20190529130856
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20190529130856
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 67.0.1
									
							   
browser.urlbar.placeholderName: Google
									  
browser.urlbar.timesBeforeHidingSuggestionsHint: 0
dom.forms.autocomplete.formautofill: true
dom.push.userAgentID: 0ed26e45a6cb40a7a40b128a5869d6a2
												
extensions.lastAppVersion: 67.0.1
								  
font.internaluseonly.changed: false
									 
								  
							 
								
gfx.crash-guard.status.wmfvpxvideo: 2
gfx.crash-guard.wmfvpxvideo.appVersion: 67.0.1
gfx.crash-guard.wmfvpxvideo.deviceID: 0x9874
gfx.crash-guard.wmfvpxvideo.driverVersion: 22.19.678.1
									  
layers.mlgpu.sanity-test-failed: false
							
								   
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.abi: x86_64-msvc-x64
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1558635512
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.8.1
media.gmp-manager.buildID: 20190529130856
media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1560119881
media.gmp-widevinecdm.abi: x86_64-msvc-x64
media.gmp-widevinecdm.lastUpdate: 1558635516
media.gmp-widevinecdm.version: 4.10.1146.0
media.gmp.storage.version.observed: 1
media.hardware-video-decoding.failed: false
								
								  
network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
										   
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 112348
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf
									  
privacy.sanitize.pending: [{"id":"newtab-container","itemsToClear":[],"options":{}}]
							
										 
security.remote_settings.intermediates.checked: 1560194640
security.sandbox.content.tempDirSuffix: {56bde994-048e-4f61-bbe7-5232484bef42}
security.sandbox.plugin.tempDirSuffix: {af09e1d6-8b60-46f3-80ca-365c349be882}
										   
							  
services.sync.engine.addresses.available: true
signon.importedFromSqlite: true
							 
							
											 
ui.osk.debug.keyboardDisplayReason: IKPOS: Touch screen not found.
[/PLAIN]

Firefox 2

Code:

[PLAIN]Extensions
----------
Name: Honey
Version: 11.3.5
Enabled: true
ID: [email protected]

Name: Sticky Password extension
Version: 8.3.0.256
Enabled: true
ID: {ecb80162-dfbd-4d91-a8da-17b35ba4707a}

Name: HTTPS Everywhere
Version: 2019.6.4
Enabled: false
ID: [email protected]

Name: PureVPN Proxy - Free VPN to Unblock with Privacy
Version: 3.3.5
Enabled: false
ID: [email protected]

Name: Soda PDF Desktop Creator
Version: 1.4.1
Enabled: false
ID: [email protected]

Name: Soda PDF Desktop Creator
Version: 2.0.4
Enabled: false
ID: [email protected]


Important Modified Preferences
------------------------------

accessibility.force_disabled: 1
accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
browser.cache.disk.capacity: 1048576
browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
browser.cache.disk.hashstats_reported: 1
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
browser.download.folderList: 2
browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 8
browser.search.useDBForOrder: true
browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20190529130856
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20190529130856
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 67.0.1
browser.tabs.loadInBackground: false
browser.tabs.warnOnClose: false
browser.urlbar.placeholderName: DuckDuckGo
browser.urlbar.suggest.openpage: false
browser.urlbar.timesBeforeHidingSuggestionsHint: 0
dom.forms.autocomplete.formautofill: true
dom.push.userAgentID: 910ef4949b974446a86837dae78178fd
extensions.formautofill.addresses.enabled: false
extensions.lastAppVersion: 67.0.1
font.default.x-western: sans-serif
font.internaluseonly.changed: false
font.name.sans-serif.x-western: Arial
font.name.serif.x-western: Verdana
font.size.fixed.x-western: 12
font.size.variable.x-western: 13
gfx.crash-guard.status.wmfvpxvideo: 2
gfx.crash-guard.wmfvpxvideo.appVersion: 67.0.1
gfx.crash-guard.wmfvpxvideo.deviceID: 0x9874
gfx.crash-guard.wmfvpxvideo.driverVersion: 22.19.678.1
idle.lastDailyNotification: 1560054293
layers.mlgpu.sanity-test-failed: false
media.benchmark.vp9.fps: 174
media.benchmark.vp9.versioncheck: 5
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.abi: x86_64-msvc-x64
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1558631985
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.8.1
media.gmp-manager.buildID: 20190529130856
media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1560144353
media.gmp-widevinecdm.abi: x86_64-msvc-x64
media.gmp-widevinecdm.lastUpdate: 1544901360
media.gmp-widevinecdm.version: 4.10.1146.0
media.gmp.storage.version.observed: 1
media.hardware-video-decoding.failed: false
network.cookie.lifetimePolicy: 2
network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
places.database.lastMaintenance: 1559873724
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 129989
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf
privacy.donottrackheader.enabled: true
privacy.sanitize.pending: [{"id":"newtab-container","itemsToClear":[],"options":{}}]
privacy.sanitize.timeSpan: 4
privacy.trackingprotection.introCount: 20
security.remote_settings.intermediates.checked: 1560186756
security.sandbox.content.tempDirSuffix: {1557c30d-fdd3-4556-a67c-bb37168958c0}
security.sandbox.plugin.tempDirSuffix: {52bc4646-8372-4d95-9a39-08bbbeccd81f}
security.ssl.errorReporting.automatic: true
services.sync.declinedEngines:
services.sync.engine.addresses.available: true
signon.importedFromSqlite: true
signon.rememberSignons: false
storage.vacuum.last.index: 1
storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1558906569
ui.osk.debug.keyboardDisplayReason: IKPOS: Touch screen not found.
ui.osk.enabled: false
[/PLAIN]

As you can see, Firefox 2 has several extensions being loaded, and many modified settings that are not present in Firefox 1. The blank spaces in the Firefox 1 code box above represent the missing settings and extensions that are loaded in Firefox 2.

It seems you have two different Firefox profiles. The logs you attached do not say, but we can find out by loading aboutrofiles in the address bar of each browser session. This page doesn't have the option to copy its contents to the clipboard, but you can select everything (Ctrl + A) and copy-paste them into a notepad then upload them here. Alternatively, you can take a screenshot of the Firefox pages and upload both of them in your next reply.

Note: both Firefox 1 and 2 are version 67.0.1 64-bit, so this rules out multiple versions on the same system, unless you initially had an older and a newer version on the same system, and both of them have now updated to 67?

LLNelson · Jun 13, 2019

Thank you for the reply, Stancestans. I'm attaching the profile for each instance of Firefox. Firefox2 is the instance I want to keep. How do I remove the other one?

Stancestans · Jun 13, 2019

Close Firefox 1. From Firefox 2, open the aboutrofiles page if it isn't already open then remove the two extra profiles using the Remove button below each of them. It should be straightforward at this point. Just so we're clear, you wish to remove the following profiles:

Profile: default-release
Profile: default-release-1

The outcome should be only one profile (named default). If you do it from the Firefox 2 instance, the default profile should be in use and the one you want to keep, hence not removable. As the only profile left, Firefox should use it in all circumstances.

LLNelson · Jun 13, 2019

Thank you so much. That worked perfectly, of course. :smile:

Am I the one who marks this thread solved or do you or someone else do it?
Laurie

Deejay100six · Jun 13, 2019

Good to hear you got it fixed!

Please mark your thread solved in Thread Tools at the top of the page.

Stancestans · Jun 13, 2019

We prefer you mark it yourself. You're welcome!

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