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Java script suddenly disappeared, nothing under content to reactivate it

  • 6 replies
  • 13 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cpickett

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I was not doing anything special, the browser locked up, closed, reopened to same page that was having difficulty (Evernote). A "this is embarassing" type page came up and it said you can try to close the offending page, I clicked the box and suddenly went to a completely unrelated screen somehow related to igoogle, but I could not get to any of my settings. Facebook, Pinterest indicate javascript is not enabled. I cannot figure out how to get it back as it is no longer under Content as Help indicates.

I am not a techie. If I have to reinstall a new version of my browser, how do I save all my bookmarks as I literally have hundreds of them.

I was not doing anything special, the browser locked up, closed, reopened to same page that was having difficulty (Evernote). A "this is embarassing" type page came up and it said you can try to close the offending page, I clicked the box and suddenly went to a completely unrelated screen somehow related to igoogle, but I could not get to any of my settings. Facebook, Pinterest indicate javascript is not enabled. I cannot figure out how to get it back as it is no longer under Content as Help indicates. I am not a techie. If I have to reinstall a new version of my browser, how do I save all my bookmarks as I literally have hundreds of them.

All Replies (6)

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The Enable JavaScript checkbox was removed from the Options dialog in Firefox 23. You can switch the settings between enable and disable using either:

  • The about:config preferences editor
  • One of many add-ons that create a handy toolbar button

However, you might not need either of those if Firefox's current state is temporary...

Is it critical to recover your session (open windows and tabs) from the time of your crash or would it be okay to exit Firefox and start a completely new session?

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If you have submitted crash reports then please post the IDs of one or more recent crash reports that have a "bp-" prefix:

  • bp-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

You can find the IDs of the submitted crash reports on the about:crashes page.

  • You can open the about:crashes page via the location bar, like you open a website, or open the crash reports page via "Help > Troubleshooting Information".

See:


The check boxes to enable/disable JavaScript and load images automatically have been removed from "Options > Content".

Some extensions that you can look at:

See also:

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One of the first things I did was to exit out, reopen. The third time I tried that, because it kept locking up at the same point, which I now believe was my Evernote clipper tool, is when I got the "this is embarrassing" error page.

I did not get a prompt to send a crash report.

I did manage to install QuickJava but did not know if this was stable/permanent. I don't know how to use the config area/would not delve into that.

Since installing that plugin, I should be fine now?

Also, for quite a while, I've had issues with the "continue/stop script" pop up at least daily. Was that an indication of an issue, will this crash/fix solve that as well?

Thanks for all your help.

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Hi cpickett, the QuickJava add-on will make it easy to turn JavaScript on and off when needed. But it's not a solution for other problems.

The slow script stop/continue dialog can appear for many reasons. Does it usually work if you let it continue? If you see a pattern, such as always getting it on the same site, that might be a clue to the specific issue.

One thing to try when you have problems with previously good add-ons is to check for updates. The built-in update check will search on the Mozilla Add-ons site, but if your got the extension with some other software on your computer, you might need to use that program's updater to check for updates to the extension.

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > "gear" button > "Check for Updates"

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First thing you might want to do is backup your bookmarks since you're so worried about loosing them. Press control+shift+B and back it up there. Just incase your screw up using about:config..

Then mess around with the stuff even thou the rumor is they removed the checkbox to prevent people from monkeying around... how ironic.

I still fail to see why we should be expected to use add-ons to do simple stuff.

Modified by Johndorian

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Thanks for those tips. I'd tried the update for both Firefox and plugins but everything is fine there. Yes, usually things return to normal whether I say stop or continue script so not sure what the deal is with that. Have not seen it yet today.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully I won't need any of you again for a long time :-)