Hi, if it works in Safe Mode then it is a Extension that is possibly the issue.

This one I would think : PAYBACK Internet Assistent Google search with Firefox plus above turns up a Report Abuse Page which you never see and the word Assistant is spelled wrong, plus this was mostly for Linux.

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

Please give your self a scan : https://www.malwarebytes.com/

It seems to have fixed itself after being a problem all weekend. I will keep watching it and have disabled the Payback Internet Assistant. I would imagine the wrong spelling is due to it being a German program. I have been using it for some time with no problem. I also run Malwarebytes regularly. Seems like the problem first started after a GeForce Driver update but I might be wrong on that. Let me watch it a day or so and see how it goes and I will let you know. Thanks for your prompt reply!

Hi, that is possible about your driver and for the extension. I have never seen the abuse page listed when searched for a Extension before.

The problem returned. As long as I open a new tab manually, by clicking on the "+" tab and then going to a bookmark everything works normally but if I am on the Firefox homepage and attempt to open a bookmark - it locks up and has to be restarted. Sometimes even a computer restart is required to get out of Firefox.

Also, if I click on a link in an email for example and have not opened a new blank tab in Firefox it will lock up. Have waited as long as 15 minutes and the page does not open.

Very strange as I have been using Firefox for years without any problem at all.

Please advise -

David Schaffnit

It is doing it again - when I attempt to open a new page from the homepage it looks up unless I open an empty tab first. As long as there is an empty tab open things seem to work as they should. Any ideas?

Thanks again -

David Schaffnit

Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location.

To do a clean reinstall of Firefox, please follow these steps: Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu and click the close button ).
3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
   • Windows:
     • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
     • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
   • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
   • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
   1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
   2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.

WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.

Please report back to say if this helped you!

Thank you.

Thanks for your prompt reply. I had already tried this but went through it step by step as you described and the problem still exists. Everything is OK as long as I open a tab in advance (with the "+" in the menu bar. But, like before if I attempt to open a bookmark without previously opening a tab it locks up and I have to close Firefox from the bottom bar and a right click followed by "Close Window". Then I get a message that Firefox is running when I attempt to reopen it. Used to work great so not sure what the problem might be. I recently added Zoolz backup and an update for my GeForce driver. Had to install the GeForce driver several times before it took. After I closed the Zoolz app in task manager I was finally able to install the GrForce update. So, that might point to a problem?

see this answer:

• https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/1216095#answer-1107461

Seems to be working now but I will watch it closely for a couple of days. Thanks for the help!