Table of Contents
What is a plugin?
A plugin is a piece of software that displays internet content that Firefox is not designed to display. These usually include video, audio, online games and presentations that are made in patented formats. Plugins are created and distributed by the companies that make those patented formats. Some common plugins are Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime, and Microsoft Silverlight.
What is a crash?
A crash happens when a piece of software abruptly stops working. Plugins sometimes crash for various reasons, and cause Firefox to crash along with it. For more information about Firefox crashes, see Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly). Some plugins load separately from Firefox, allowing Firefox to stay open if the plugin crashes.
What information is sent in a crash report?
Crash reports only include technical information to help Firefox developers determine what went wrong, and how to fix it. These reports do not include personal information. The information sent in a report includes:
- what webpage you were on
- version of Firefox you were using
- your operating system
- installed plugins
- installed extensions
- and more technical info.
This information is subject to the Firefox Privacy Policy.
How do I keep plugins from crashing?
Many problems with plugins can be solved by updating to the latest version of the plugin.
The name of the plugin that crashed can be found in the error message.
Where can I get more info about Adobe Flash crashes?
See Adobe Flash plugin has crashed - Prevent it from happening again.
Developing for Flash with Flex?
Breakpoints can trigger Firefox's hang protection. You can disable hang protection by setting dom.ipc.plugins.timeoutSecs to -1. See the Mozilla Developer Network documentation for details.