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Firefox has a blackbox on the righthand corner. I have tried the fixes outlined for Windows 7 users to get rid of it but nothing works. Any other ideas?

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 16 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I have the most recent version of Firefox and updated version of Adobe and Shockwave. I tried changing the Shockwave file, refreshing Firefox, disabling the add ons. I would welcome any other ideas for getting rid of the blackbox. Thank you.

I have the most recent version of Firefox and updated version of Adobe and Shockwave. I tried changing the Shockwave file, refreshing Firefox, disabling the add ons. I would welcome any other ideas for getting rid of the blackbox. Thank you.

All Replies (4)

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Can you attach a screenshot?

  • Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
  • Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB

Did you try to run Firefox in Safe Mode and possibly disable all the plugins?

Try to set plugins to "Ask to Activate" on the "Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Plugins" page

In Firefox Safe mode these changes are effective:

  • all extensions are disabled (about:addons)
  • default theme is used (no persona)
  • userChrome.css and userContent.css are ignored (chrome folder in profile folder)
  • default toolbar layout is used
  • JavaScript JIT compilers are disabled
  • hardware acceleration is disabled (Options > Advanced > General)
  • plugins are not affected
  • preferences are not affected

Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.

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I see that my reply is marked as unhelpful.

Did you try a new profile folder?

If a new profile doesn't work then try a clean reinstall and do a malware scan.


Do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before (re)installing a fresh copy of the current Firefox release.

If possible uninstall your current Firefox version to cleanup the Windows registry and settings in security software.

  • Do NOT remove "personal data" when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because this will remove all profile folders and you lose personal data like bookmarks and passwords including data in profiles created by other Firefox versions.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

  • (32 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\"
  • (64 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\"

Your bookmarks and other personal data are stored in the Firefox profile folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure NOT to remove personal data when you uninstall Firefox as that will remove all Firefox profile folders and you lose your personal data.

If you keep having problems then also create a new profile.



Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer. Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.

Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

See also:

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I completed a new profile and did a clean re install but I still have the problem. I have Symantic antivirus and I suspect some interaction there. Is there anyone aware of a problem with Symantic?

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Can you attach a screenshot?

  • Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
  • Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB