Considering how irritating it is when your favourite browser crashes repeatedly for no particular reason, my first piece of advice is probably to remain calm. After you have stopped screaming, there are actually a number of easy to understand possible reasons behind these interruptions to your surfing pleasure.
Extensions
Due to the wealth of extensions available for Firefox, crashes resulting from extensions are pretty common. To determine whether or not an extension is the cause of the crash, attempt to open Firefox in safe mode. If your browser does not crash while in safe mode, enter the extension manager and disable all extensions. Then restart Firefox in regular mode and if no more crashes occur, the problem is one of your extensions. Through trial and error, you should subsequently be able to establish which extension is causing the issue.
Other Installed Software
There are a number of types of software that have been known to cause problems with Firefox in the past. These include, but are not limited to, Mcafee Antivirus, NVIDIA Network Access Manager, Roboform, Spector Pro, Threatfire, Trusteer Rapport, and Zonealarm Forcefield. If you currently have any of these installed on your computer, you should first ensure that all have the latest drivers and updates installed. If this does not work, you should uninstall them one at a time.
Malware
There is a wide variety of malware that can cause Firefox to crash by attempting to redirect you to various sites. While many people assume that their anti-virus software keeps them safe from malware, no anti-virus software is perfect. Therefore an essential part of diagnosing Firefox crashes is running a malware scanner and ruling out malicious code as the cause.
Windows XP Compatibility
If you are running Firefox on Windows XP, Firefox has been known to crash if it is not running in Windows 2000 Compatibility mode. To change your version of Firefox to Windows 2000 Compatibility mode, simply right click on the Firefox desktop icon and select "Compatibility."
Video Drivers
Outdated video drivers have also been known to cause havoc with Firefox so make sure that all of your video drivers are up to date.
Mismatched Firefox Files
Finally, it is possible that some of the files within the Firefox installation itself are to blame. This is a particularly frequent occurrence for users who have recently used Windows System Restore. This problem can be rectified by simply reinstalling Firefox.
In conclusion, while Firefox is considered to be one of the most stable browsers on the market, it is by no means perfect. Thankfully, due to its popularity, there is a wealth of online resources including forums full of people who are likely to have experienced the exact same problems as you. If this article has not resolved your issue, such forums are an excellent next step.
Anne Envisonite - Having graduated from University in Journalism, I am now a full time freelance writer with a passion for I.T. You can follow some of my ...
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