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Everytime I use firefox to connect to the internet I get an alert saying that firefox could not initialize the applications security component. What does this mean and how do I fix it?

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When I use firefox to get on to the web I get the following message everytime: "Alert: Could not initialize the applications security component. The most likely cause is problems with files in your applications pforfile directory. Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard disk is not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the application and fix the problem. If you continue to use this session, you might see incorrect application behaviour when accessing security feactures." Once I click the "OK button" at the bottom of the alert box firefox starts but does not act right. For instance it will not let me look for software updates. When I click on "Check for Updates" from the "Help" drop down menu I get a message stating: "There were problems checking for, downloading, or installing this update. Firefox could not be updated because: Update XML file malformed (200). You can update firefox manually by visiting this link and downloading the latest version."

When I use firefox to get on to the web I get the following message everytime: "Alert: Could not initialize the applications security component. The most likely cause is problems with files in your applications pforfile directory. Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard disk is not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the application and fix the problem. If you continue to use this session, you might see incorrect application behaviour when accessing security feactures." Once I click the "OK button" at the bottom of the alert box firefox starts but does not act right. For instance it will not let me look for software updates. When I click on "Check for Updates" from the "Help" drop down menu I get a message stating: "There were problems checking for, downloading, or installing this update. Firefox could not be updated because: Update XML file malformed (200). You can update firefox manually by visiting this link and downloading the latest version."

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I am running snow leopard and firefox 3.6.13. I found the kb on deleting the cert8.db and that resolves the problem. However, this keeps happening. Why does the cert8.db keep getting corrupted?