a very important Favorites Bar url link no longer works.
An important url link no longer works. The Icon I used was working for years. Is it possible it is blocked? I use the required link to login to my IRA and I get a blank screen with a note - Try Again. The link works in Private Browsing window. I can get it to work on my cell phone, Windows Explorer also.This link is very important to me. I have searched to no end to see if it was blocked. Is it safe to use Private Browser? I do not know how to setup Private Windows. What do I do to get the link working again from my Favorites bar?
Chosen solution
Hi Neons, a private window in Firefox is very similar to a regular window, except that the cache, cookies, and history of the window are temporary and not retained after all private windows are closed.
So that leads to a thought: perhaps there is a problem in Firefox's cache or in the cookies it has saved for the site. When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.
(1) Clear Firefox's Cache
See: How to clear the Firefox cache
If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes.
(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, click the lock icon at the left end of the address bar. After a moment, a "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button should appear at the bottom. Go ahead and click that.
In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites.
Then try reloading the page. Does that help?
Another difference between regular and private windows is that add-ons do not run in private windows automatically, you have to give them an extra permission. So there can be differences in what is blocked between the two. Firefox's Content Blocking/Tracking Protection feature, and extensions that counter ads and tracking, may break websites that embed third party content (meaning, from a secondary server).
(A) Do you see a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar, near the lock icon? More info on managing the Tracking Protection feature in this article: Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop (before Firefox 70: Content Blocking).
(B) Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix should provide toolbar buttons to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you may need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site.
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Chosen Solution
Hi Neons, a private window in Firefox is very similar to a regular window, except that the cache, cookies, and history of the window are temporary and not retained after all private windows are closed.
So that leads to a thought: perhaps there is a problem in Firefox's cache or in the cookies it has saved for the site. When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.
(1) Clear Firefox's Cache
See: How to clear the Firefox cache
If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes.
(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, click the lock icon at the left end of the address bar. After a moment, a "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button should appear at the bottom. Go ahead and click that.
In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites.
Then try reloading the page. Does that help?
Another difference between regular and private windows is that add-ons do not run in private windows automatically, you have to give them an extra permission. So there can be differences in what is blocked between the two. Firefox's Content Blocking/Tracking Protection feature, and extensions that counter ads and tracking, may break websites that embed third party content (meaning, from a secondary server).
(A) Do you see a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar, near the lock icon? More info on managing the Tracking Protection feature in this article: Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop (before Firefox 70: Content Blocking).
(B) Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix should provide toolbar buttons to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you may need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site.
In severe cases you may have to use "Forget About This Site".
You can remove all data stored in Firefox for a specific domain via "Forget About This Site" in the right-click context menu of an history entry ("History -> Show All History" or "View -> Sidebar -> History").
Using "Forget About This Site" will remove all data stored in Firefox for this domain like history and cookies and passwords and exceptions and cache, so be cautious. If you have a password or other data for that domain that you do not want to lose then make sure to backup this data or make a note.
You can't recover from this 'forget' unless you have a backup of involved files.
If you revisit a 'forgotten' website then data for that website will be saved once again.
I have cleared the Cache, checked the shield and found no references to the site shown as blocked. I used Forget the Website. It looks like it will be a lot of searching to restore the link. I used the switch on the link to use a Private Website and it was an easy way around the problem. I will do that in the future as it it easy and I can visit the website easily. . There is nothing to save there that will get lost. I use the site as a monitor of my broker info.
Thanks for the excellent quick replies. You are all a great team.
Neons