hello, under normal circumstances extensions should get totally removed when you perform a reset.

could you go to firefox > help > troubleshooting information, copy the contents of that page and paste them here into a reply on the forum? this might give us a clue what is going on...

Do you mean extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or plugins (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Plugins)?

If you reset Firefox then you shouldn't have extensions installed possibly apart from extensions that are installed globally. Most of those are like added by security software and others by other software. You would however have to confirm installing those extensions.

Plugins are always installed automatically and most found via a registry scan.

I am talking about plugins. When I click on this item it says the status of the plug-ins is unknown and then a another item on each line says research!

The plugin check page only detect a few common plugins like Flash and Java.
If there are a lot of lesser known plugins installed like in your case then the plugin page isn't going to give useful advice for plugins that aren't recognized.
For those plugin you either need to check their website or see if the program that adds the plugin has an update available.

So how do I find out what programs the plug-ins are used with?

Which plugins are you asking about? These are shown in your More System Details.

    Shockwave Flash 11.8 r800
    Google Update
    Next Generation Java Plug-in 10.25.2 for Mozilla browsers
    The QuickTime Plugin allows you to view a wide variety of multimedia content in Web pages. For more information, visit the QuickTime Web site.
    5.1.20513.0
    iTunes Detector Plug-in
    RealJukebox Netscape Plugin
    RealNetworks(tm) RealPlayer Chrome Background Extension Plug-In
    RealPlayer(tm) HTML5VideoShim Plug-In
    RealPlayer(tm) LiveConnect-Enabled Plug-In
    RealPlayer Download Plugin
    MapsGalaxy Installer Plugin Stub for 32-bit Windows
    wpidetector
    npapicomadapter
    Office Live Update v1.5
    NPWLPG
    Zylom Plugin
    CANON iMAGE GATEWAY Mycamera Plugin
    Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) plug-in for Mozilla browsers
    DRM Netscape Network Object
    Npdsplay dll
    DRM Store Netscape Plugin 

 

Most describe the program with which they are associated. Most of the others can identified via a search.

Thanks for help- I have a better understanding now. Dave