Hello,

Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache. In order to try to fix these problems, the first step is to clear both cookies and the cache. Note: This will temporarily log you out of all sites you're logged in to. To clear cache and cookies do the following:

1. (Firefox 57 and above) Click the Library button and choose History.
   (Click the menu button and choose History in older Firefox versions.)
2. In the History menu, choose "Clear Recent History...".
3. Under "Time range to clear", select "Everything".
4. Now, click the arrow next to Details to toggle the Details list active.
5. From the details list, check Cache and Cookies and uncheck everything else.
6. Now click the "Clear Now" button.

Further information can be found in the Delete browsing, search and download history on Firefox article.

Thank you. I did as suggested, but this did not solve the problem. The problem seems to be specific to Microsoft Office, all other sites work OK. My Thunderbird is configured to log into Office's email, and this works OK. Firefox is picky about things related to security, Thunderbird is not, so I assume that something in Office changed in the last couple of days that either makes Firefox unhappy with Office, or vice versa..

what version of firefox you are using ?

Firefox ESR 52.9.0 (32-bit)

update it.

• how to update: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-version

• latest version: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/

Because I use Windows XP, no further updates are available, Firefox ESR 52.9.0 (32-bit) is apparently the end of the line. I have too much important legacy software, however, to abandon XP. In the past I have had to turn off some protection features in Firefox, the latest related to downloading PDFs from some of the scientific journal sites I visit whose certificates Firefox was unhappy about. This was a few weeks ago, so presumably not related to the problem with Office.

try portable version, works in windows xp <strike>https://www.downloadcrew. com/article/27680-firefox_extended_support_release_portable</strike>

Edit: The link is to 60.2.0 ESR and is not the official site to get portable Firefox which is https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Downloaded and installed it (twice), but it won't run. The logo screen opens for a moment and then closes. In the Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs this is not listed (I guess that is what portable means).

I.F. said

Downloaded and installed it (twice), but it won't run. The logo screen opens for a moment and then closes. In the Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs this is not listed (I guess that is what portable means).

Did you delete the Mozilla folder as well?

I installed Firefox Portable on the desktop. For each retry at installation I first deleted the Firefox Portable folder and the Installer (both on the desktop), and then went though the download and install procedure again. The end result was always the same, the logo window opens momentarily, and then closes, and nothing further happens.

if you can install windows 7 beside xp thats good so you can use latest version of firefox, but if you can't you must let go of windows xp.

My thanks to all respondents for their detailed, rapid response. The original problem resolved itself this morning on its own - at least for now (Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh, ...),. Apparently just another one of the endless glitches in Microsoft's crappy, bug-ridden software. Can Firefox Portable generate an error report that could help in getting it to run on my machine? Thanks again, I.F.

FFus3r said

update it.

• how to update: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-version

• latest version: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/

FFus3r said

try portable version, works in windows xp (to portable Firefox 60.2.0esr)

As the OP stated the Firefox 52.9.0 ESR is the latest version to run on Windows XP (and Vista) as Firefox Releases from 52.0 to current including 62.0 Release and 60.2.0esr requires Windows 7, 8, 10 to run.

So the portable Firefox 60.2.0esr you linked to on the not official download place for it does not run on Windows XP and Vista.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/end-support-windows-xp-and-vista

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/52.9.0/system-requirements/ https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/52.0/system-requirements/ https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/53.0/system-requirements/ https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/60.2.0/system-requirements/ https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/62.0/system-requirements/

I.F. said

I installed Firefox Portable on the desktop. For each retry at installation I first deleted the Firefox Portable folder and the Installer (both on the desktop), and then went though the download and install procedure again. The end result was always the same, the logo window opens momentarily, and then closes, and nothing further happens.

Firefox 60.2.0esr whether from mozilla.org or the portable version does not run on Windows XP and Vista.

Short of installing Windows 7, 8 (8.1), or 10 or installing or dual booting a light 32-bit Linux distro, you can only run (32-bit) Firefox 52.9.0esr on Windows XP.

http://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/52.9.0esr/win32/ https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-legacy-52

Thank you. I downloaded Firefox 52.9.0 Portable, which works fine. It may prove useful if problems arise again with the standard version. There are probably other XP holdouts (possibly many) who use Firefox and would benefit from an occasional security update to the std/portable version. A last question. An annoying feature (bug?) is that closing the Firefox window leaves something running in the background that prevents reopening Firefox for some time ("Firefox is running but not responding ..."). Can anything be done about this?

I.F. said

An annoying feature (bug?) is that closing the Firefox window leaves something running in the background that prevents reopening Firefox for some time ("Firefox is running but not responding ..."). Can anything be done about this?

I think normally Firefox creates a side "watchdog" process that will kill Firefox if shutdown runs longer than a particular time, such as 60 seconds. That should then pop up the Mozilla Crash Reporter.

Does yours run longer than that?

Could you check something in the Windows XP Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc). On the Processes tab, on the View menu (probably), Select Columns, can you add the command line? This will help distinguish between Firefox running from the normal program folder versus a different folder, just in case there is some rogue software running its own installation of Firefox (malware sometimes does this).

No, not longer than 60 seconds, usually less. But, say half a minute seems like a long time to wait between shutting down, say, email, and bringing up, say, news. And. 1/2 minute seems excessive for shutdown, can this be speeded up, say, by turning off features never used? A workaround is to open firefox, minimze the window, and just leave it alone. Then one can close and reopen other instances of firefox with no delay and no "firefox is running but not responding".

"command line" does not appear as an option in my taskmanager processes/view/select columns menu. When firefox is runnng only one "firefox.exe" appears in Task Manager, with typical memory usage ~200K.

Yes, you can keep Firefox running between different pages you visit to avoid all the extra time of shutdown cleanup and startup. I habitually use Alt+Tab to switch back to the last application, I don't even minimize things unless I need to see the desktop. I suppose it might have been different on XP; that was a long time ago now.