Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Screen capture software won't work when Firefox is loaded/with Firefox

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by gkerby1952

more options

I use software like PicPick, Desktop Hunter, Screen Hunter and WebShot to capture parts of my computer screen (images, photographs, areas of text etc), save the captured area to a file or the clipboard and then load or paste it into a program like PowerPoint, Word or Excel.

None of these programs will work when I have Firefox open. This is the case even if I'm not trying to capture anything being displayed in the Firefox web browser. It's sufficient for Firefox to be open. If Firefox is open, but minimized and I try using say PicPick to capture part of a photograph being displayed in say Ashampoo Photo Commander, then the screen goes black except for the PicPick capture half rectangle.

The same thing happens when I try and capture any part of the screen in a Firefox tab.

The screen capture Firefox add-on Lightshot doesn't work either.

The only way I can use my screen capture software is by shutting Firefox down.

I wonder if anyone else has had this problem. It's annoying that every time I want to use screen capture software, I have to shut down Firefox. It's also annoying that I can't capture images being displayed in Firefox tabs.

So I'd be very grateful to anyone who could suggest what the problem might be.

My thanks for your suggestions i advance. I very much appreciate them.

I'm running Windows XP Professional on a Dell Dimension 8400.

I use software like PicPick, Desktop Hunter, Screen Hunter and WebShot to capture parts of my computer screen (images, photographs, areas of text etc), save the captured area to a file or the clipboard and then load or paste it into a program like PowerPoint, Word or Excel. None of these programs will work when I have Firefox open. This is the case even if I'm not trying to capture anything being displayed in the Firefox web browser. It's sufficient for Firefox to be open. If Firefox is open, but minimized and I try using say PicPick to capture part of a photograph being displayed in say Ashampoo Photo Commander, then the screen goes black except for the PicPick capture half rectangle. The same thing happens when I try and capture any part of the screen in a Firefox tab. The screen capture Firefox add-on Lightshot doesn't work either. The only way I can use my screen capture software is by shutting Firefox down. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem. It's annoying that every time I want to use screen capture software, I have to shut down Firefox. It's also annoying that I can't capture images being displayed in Firefox tabs. So I'd be very grateful to anyone who could suggest what the problem might be. My thanks for your suggestions i advance. I very much appreciate them. I'm running Windows XP Professional on a Dell Dimension 8400.

All Replies (4)

more options

Can you use the built-in Windows screen capture using the PrintScreen button? That used to work with Firefox, at least. You could paste the image into a graphics editor window, crop around the part of the image you want to keep, and save it. I used to do that all the time.

more options

Try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.


more options

Thanks for the suggestion. I could do this, but I don't need to. I can get my screen capture software to work with Google Chrome.

It's just that I use Firefox as my default browser and would like to continue doing so. It's also annoying have to close Firefox every time I wan to do a screen capture or go into Chrome when I want to capture an internet image.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. I very much appreciate your help and suggestion. Unfortunately, it's not the solution I'm looking for. Thanks again, though.

more options

Thanks for the suggestion. I very much appreciate your help.

I did what you suggested, but it didn't help.

I should have included in my problem statement that I have no problem using my screen capture software in Google Chrome. So it's definitely a Firefox problem.

I'm now wondering if it's anything to do with any of the add-ons I have installed.

Thanks again for your suggestion and help. I'm very grateful.