There is a possibility it is hanging rather than crashing, look for any instance of the process firefox.exe or plugincontainer.exe that is still running and kill them before checking again. Safe mode does not prevent plugins running. You will need to disable them, or in some cases uninstall them. Starting in Windows own safe mode by using the F8 key could help. There is also the possibility it is a malware problem. The standard troubleshooting step is to create a new profile, but you are having problems with that. There is a standalone Profile manager you could try. I think you will need to start with a clean reinstall, but before you do that copy your existing profile; including sub folders and files; somewhere safe outside the Firefox program and profile paths (such as onto the Vista Desktop). Then delete the Firefox program folder or uninstall using Windows control panel. Before proceeding to reinstall restart the computer and check the program files have not been restored by any security or backup applications. See also *[[basic troubleshooting#w_8-make-a-new-profile ]]_8-make-a-new-profile * [[backing up your information]] * [[firefox hangs]] * [[is my firefox problem a result of malware]]