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How to remove unwanted plugins (and no I don't want to read any unrelated articles that never answer your question)?

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I want to clear out the unwanted plugins in Fire Fox . One plugin even has a warning about not using it (Java Deployment Toolkit). But every time I ask "how to remove a plugin?" , I am redirected to an article that doesn't answer the question. And then the circular argument begins again without ever actually answering the question.

IS IT NECESSARY TO UNINSTALL FIREFOX TO REMOVE A PLUGIN??????

I want to clear out the unwanted plugins in Fire Fox . One plugin even has a warning about not using it (Java Deployment Toolkit). But every time I ask "how to remove a plugin?" , I am redirected to an article that doesn't answer the question. And then the circular argument begins again without ever actually answering the question. IS IT NECESSARY TO UNINSTALL FIREFOX TO REMOVE A PLUGIN??????

Modified by 4646tm

Chosen solution

Hello 4646tm I understand your frustration. Here's how to remove a plugin: Click menu and then click add ons, which looks like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

    Type about:plugins into the Location bar and press Enter to display the About Plugins page.
   Each entry in the About Plugins page will have "File:" and "Path:", showing the name and location of the plugin file. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder shown for the plugin you want to remove.
   Rename the file to add an X in front of the filename (for instance, npswf32 becomes Xnpswf32). 

You said you didn't want links but I'm gonna give you a couple just in case you don't want to uninstall plugins manually. These links will be to pages that tell you how to run the uninstaller please feel free to tell me if you think they aren't helpful.

Uninstall Adobe Flash--Windows

Uninstall QuickTime--Windows Vista/7

Follow the instructions on: Get Silverlight Microsoft (Also uninstall instructions)

I just put a couple of the common ones out there, if you have a specific plugin that you don't want please tell me and I can dig up the page for it, also you can do the manual uninstall that I gave you.

Have a great day!!

Jon

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All Replies (6)

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Chosen Solution

Hello 4646tm I understand your frustration. Here's how to remove a plugin: Click menu and then click add ons, which looks like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

    Type about:plugins into the Location bar and press Enter to display the About Plugins page.
   Each entry in the About Plugins page will have "File:" and "Path:", showing the name and location of the plugin file. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder shown for the plugin you want to remove.
   Rename the file to add an X in front of the filename (for instance, npswf32 becomes Xnpswf32). 

You said you didn't want links but I'm gonna give you a couple just in case you don't want to uninstall plugins manually. These links will be to pages that tell you how to run the uninstaller please feel free to tell me if you think they aren't helpful.

Uninstall Adobe Flash--Windows

Uninstall QuickTime--Windows Vista/7

Follow the instructions on: Get Silverlight Microsoft (Also uninstall instructions)

I just put a couple of the common ones out there, if you have a specific plugin that you don't want please tell me and I can dig up the page for it, also you can do the manual uninstall that I gave you.

Have a great day!!

Jon

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Plugins like ex Flash and Java etc are not installed in Firefox like Extensions and Themes are. They are on system and Firefox has found and is making use of them. This is why you can only activate/deactivate which tells Firefox to make use of that Plugin on system or not.

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HI Jon, Your trick of renaming the file with an x in front worked. I didn't think at first that it did. I closed Fire Fox and restarted it, but the plugin was still there. I retyped the about:plugins command. And it showed the plugin with the modified name. So, I restarted the computer, and this time the plugin is gone.

Thanks

Incidentally , how do you get to this forum from Fire Fox? I responded to the email to get here.

Modified by 4646tm

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Hi James, That s good to know. I would have thought they were in the Fire Fox account. I renamed the .dll flile name for the Java Deployment Toolkit plugin as Jon described above. At least that one is gone.

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That is frustrating. Btw here is the link to the Firefox Support forum https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/firefox .

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You firstly need to check your Add-ons section in the Firefox. Then you need to find it by going over to the Firefox > Add-ons > then Extensions. In best cases the there is the button to [removed blog link remove a particular extension] is present and clickable on the right side. If the button is greyed out, the Browser might need to be restarted in safe mode firstly you need to go over Firefox > Help > Restart Firefox with Add-ons Disabled.o uninstall extensions manually then you need to remove it directly from the folder where they were installed. To navigate it you need to open the “profile” window by going over the Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting information. Then under the "Application Basics"-section, click on the Button "Show Folder" to open your user data folder for Firefox.

Modified by James