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middle click opens a separate window with flash video

Firefox Troubleshooting
cor-el replied
pegasusl
pegasusl

I run Win7 64bit, and have just updated to FireFox 28.0

Now when I use middle (mouse wheel) click to open a link as a new tab in the background, for some reason a flash video window opens up externally to Firefox in the top left corner of my screen, which I have to close. ITS REALLY annoying.... Any ideas for a fix guys?

I can add screen shots or a screen recording if it helps and someone tells me how to attach them to this post.

Many thanks

Chris

I run Win7 64bit, and have just updated to FireFox 28.0 Now when I use middle (mouse wheel) click to open a link as a new tab in the background, for some reason a flash video window opens up externally to Firefox in the top left corner of my screen, which I have to close. ITS REALLY annoying.... Any ideas for a fix guys? I can add screen shots or a screen recording if it helps and someone tells me how to attach them to this post. Many thanks Chris

All Replies (5)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

Do you think it is related to the site you're opening, i.e., a popup window from that site? Or does it seem to occur randomly or on every site?

In case one of your extensions is involved, could you test the page in Firefox's Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic tool to deactivate extensions and some advanced features of Firefox. More info: Use Troubleshoot Mode in Firefox.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled (Flash and other plugins still run)

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset)

Any difference?

pegasusl
pegasusl Eieren av spørsmålet

Thanks for the quick reply!

It seems to happen "randomly" but very commonly. I'll try the safe mode and see how I get on

Will update as soon as I have tried.

pegasusl
pegasusl Eieren av spørsmålet

Ok that is definitely progress. It doesn't happen with safe mode on so I assume that means its a plug in issue?

Also I have noticed that the video window that appears when not in safe mode, is always a video from the page I am currently on when I click the mouse wheel on a link to open in a new tab.

Will slowly turn off plug ins until I find the culprit......

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

On the Add-ons page, look in the Extensions category; Safe Mode allows Plugins to run, so the problem isn't a plugin.

Another thought: Safe Mode deactivates Firefox's use of hardware acceleration. Although I've never heard of this particular glitch, certainly odd graphical behavior can occur when Firefox is not completely compatible with your graphics card drivers. This feature can be separately disabled, so you might want to try that first if you have a lot of extensions.

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced

On the "General" mini-tab, uncheck the box for "Use hardware acceleration when available"

This will kick in after you exit and restart Firefox.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator

In Firefox Safe mode these changes are effective:

  • all extensions are disabled (about:addons)
  • default theme is used (no persona)
  • userChrome.css and userContent.css are ignored (chrome folder)
  • default toolbar layout is used (file: localstore-safe.rdf)
  • Javascript JIT compilers are disabled (prefs: javascript.options.*jit)
  • hardware acceleration is disabled (Options > Advanced > General)
  • plugins are not affected
  • preferences are not affected