P.S. How should I know the post form doesn't recognize normal <enter> line breaks? My question was meant to have three short paragraphs, not one.

I tried some of the games, no problem.

Use this link to check that your plugins are up-to-date. If any are listed as unknown or research, do not worry about them.

I had not heard of Shikaku before, but the small puzzle on the following page works for me:

http://pl.puzzle-shikaku.com/

Because I use the NoScript extension to block unnecessary scripts, and I have Flash set to "Ask to Activate" and only allow it where it's actually necessary, I cannot exactly tell you that the site would work without these settings. Also, I do not have a login on the site, and that could change some things.

As a test, I suggest temporarily blocking Flash on that site. Here's how:

Open the Page Info dialog to the Permissions panel using any of these methods (it can be any page on the site):

• right-click the page and choose View Page Info > Permissions
• (menu bar) Tools menu > Page Info > Permissions
• click the globe icon to the left of the site address > More Information > Permissions

Toward the top of the list you should see "Adobe Flash". Change that temporarily to Block and then close the Page Info dialog.

Reload the page. Any difference?

I updated the plugins and tried the flash blocking solution. No result. :((((((((((( What else can I do? I'm getting really worried. Can I downgrade Firefox (how?)?

In theory, yes, you can install an older version of Firefox and it should pick up your existing settings. However, since it works for two other people in Firefox 40, I don't think that's going to help.

Could you test in Firefox's Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic tool to deactivate extensions and some advanced features of Firefox. More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
• Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

No difference, it seems. :((((

Maybe the update corrupted Firefox's program files. This seems to happen occasionally, cause strange, inexplicable problems. The best solution for that is pretty quick:

Clean Reinstall

We use this name, but it's not about removing your settings, it's about making sure the program files are clean (no inconsistent, corrupted, or alien code files). As described below, this process does not disturb your existing settings. Do NOT uninstall Firefox, that's not needed.

(A) Download a fresh installer for Firefox 40.0.2 from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ to a convenient location. (Scroll down to your preferred language.)

(B) Exit out of Firefox (if applicable).

(C) Rename the program folder, either:

(64-bit Windows folder names)

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox

to

C:\Program Files (x86)\OldFirefox

(32-bit Windows folder names)

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox

to

C:\Program Files\OldFirefox

(D) Run the installer you downloaded in (A). It should automatically connect to your existing settings.

Any improvement with the puzzle?

Note: Some plugins may exist only in that OldFirefox folder. If something essential is missing, look in these folders:

• \OldFirefox\Plugins
• \OldFirefox\browser\plugins

Do the other puzzles work?

Do you see a black or red (Shift) selection rectangle when you drag inside the puzzle area?

cor-el said

Do the other puzzles work? Do you see a black or red (Shift) selection rectangle when you drag inside the puzzle area?

I can create a rectangle, but it doesn't leave any mark on the game field.

jscher2000 - could you explain it once again? (Note that I'm definitely no computer specialist.) I should rename the folder containing Firefox? And then where should I save the new installation? I would be unhappy to lose my cookies and have to restart all games I play...

Eva-filia-Magdalenae said

I should rename the folder containing Firefox? And then where should I save the new installation?

Rename the old folder by adding .old to it. When you run the new installer, it will create a new Firefox folder. This is done when it is suspected some files were corrupted.

If it's the new Firefox that opened now - it didn't help. :((((((( Help!!! When will there be a new Firefox update? Perhaps the puzzles will work after this one... Actually, I do have one way out: using this site in Internet Explorer. But I would prefer not to. I hate IE, it works very slowly and I can't even get an adblock for IE (probably it is so slow because it has ads...).

By the way - if all my add-ons and cookies have connected to reinstalled Firefox, can I delete the backup?

Thank you for doing the clean reinstall. If you are not missing any plugins, then yes, you can delete the old folder (either OldFirefox or Mozilla Firefox.old, whatever you named it).

In reviewing this whole thread, I don't see that we suggested clearing Firefox's cache, which is Firefox's version of IE's "Temporary Internet Files". This article has the steps: How to clear the Firefox cache. If you have a large hard drive, this may take a minute or two to finish.

Using Internet Explorer, open this link for AdBlock for IE. https://adblockplus.org/

jscher2000 said

In reviewing this whole thread, I don't see that we suggested clearing Firefox's cache, which is Firefox's version of IE's "Temporary Internet Files".

Won't it make my cookies and progress in some games disappear?

Eva-filia-Magdalenae said

jscher2000 said

In reviewing this whole thread, I don't see that we suggested clearing Firefox's cache, which is Firefox's version of IE's "Temporary Internet Files".

Won't it make my cookies and progress in some games disappear?

Cookies are not stored in the cache, they are stored in a completely separate database. Game progress, I think, is stored either on the website or in a Flash local storage object, or in a cookie.

The article I linked to has you go into Options > Advanced > Network mini-tab and that "Clear now" button is only for the cache.

If you were instead to go to the History menu and Clear Recent History, that expands to have numerous checkboxes for different categories of data and using that method you could delete your cookies as well as the cache. So I suggest not using Clear Recent History for this.

Clearing the cache won't affect cookies and you can remove individual cookies in the Cookie Manager and use the search bar to limit the display to cookies from a specific domain.

"Remove Cookies" only from sites that cause problems:

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > "Use custom settings for history" > Cookies: "Show Cookies"

I'm getting completely desperate. Neither clearing the cache nor the site's cookies did help. These puzzles just don't respond to my actions since Sunday, it's as if I was clicking on a picture.

This site seems a little flaky: 3 out of 6 times it seems fine, but sometimes I get no lines, another time there was a corner of the puzzle where I couldn't draw lines. I didn't see any error messages during the time it had a problem, so I'm not sure what was causing it. Reloading usually helped, but then I got a different puzzle...

You may need to use a different browser for this site if it's not reliable in Firefox.

Just letting you know that it suddenly started working again. I have been playing those puzzles in IE for the last two days, and now they are working fine again in Firefox. Perhaps the true reason was a virus: yesterday I ran a full disk scan (difficult, because it lasts several hours and my computer, as a laptop, overheats easily so it's a bit risky to do anything else during the scan) and removed some bad stuff such as adware, be it eternally damned... I'm just theoretizing, because again - the scan is the only thing that changed...