Hello,

The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information. Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.

To Reset Firefox do the following:

1. Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
2. Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
3. Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
4. Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.

Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

Hi there and thanx for your help,

I have tried the reset facility earlier, and I thought it had worked and so i hoped that was the end of this problem. i then downloaded Google Chrome again and that seemed to be working OK too. It didnt last long because this Amazon.com : Online buying website started doing the same thing on both browsers..... Im not sure what can be doing this , its particularly that its Amazon.com and not other websites. I dont usually go on Amazon.com, I tend to use Amazon.co.uk as I am a UK resident. I am at the last resort of this now as the only thing I can do is to revert my laptop back to factory settings. i dont know if its a virus ( the scan has showed nothing ) or is it malware.........?

Roy

hey roy, this will usually be caused by adware on your pc. please go to firefox > addons > extensions & remove any suspicious entries (toolbars, things that you have not installed intentionally, don't know what purpose they serve, etc). also go to the windows control panel / programs and remove all toolbars or potentially unwanted software from there and run a full scan of your system with the security software that you have in place and different other tools like the free version of malwarebytes & adwcleaner.

Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

Hi Philipp,

Thanks very much for the help here, here' s whats happened since your reply:

I went to firefox / addons / extensions and the only i found I didnt think was anything I had installed, was CortonExt 0.1 by Cortons Inc. There was no way of getting any information about what this was. When I went to Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall Program I found this CortonExt 0.1 had been installed today 22-04-13, and it was nothing I had installed myself. I removed it from Programs in Control panel. and also disabled it in Add Ons in Firefox..... but everytime I rebooted the laptop, it was back there !! I dont know for sure that this add on, is that is causing this problem. Even though I removed it, when I went back on Firefox, the problem persisted, I looked back at Control Panel and it was back there in Program List... I removed it again..... and downloaded Malware bytes and used it to carry out a scan, but it found no malware and this problem is still happening, so now I dont know whats causing it, so if you have any ideas, I'd be grateful. Somebody else told me it might be adware but I cant seem to detect it unless I need another adware checker perhaps.......

Roy

This might not totally remove it, but to prevent amazon.com from being on the new tab page, you can install an add-on such as New Tab King, etc. allowing you to customize your new tab page. This would change the new tab page from being amazon.com. To change your homepage go to Orange Firefox button (or Tools button) > Options > General tab. There should be an option to choose your homepage there.

please also go to firefox > help > troubleshooting information, copy the contents of the page into the clipboard & post it into a reply here on the forum, maybe this will give us some more insights...

it should be possible to disable this unknown extension in firefox > addons > extension at least until you'll find a way to totally remove it. please also try the adwcleaner utility mentioned above, it also can detect & remove lots of adware that is affecting browsers.

Hi ThunderLion,

Thanks for your help here... The trouble is, I have several times in the manner you have explained, to change my homepage to the one i want it to be as in bbc.co.uk instead of amazon.com, but as soon as i come off Mozilla and return to it later, it has replaced my own homepage, as Amazon.com.

I have removed this 'CortonExt 0.1' which I think might be causing this problem, but it returns again. How I can delete something for it to become un-deleted minutes later !! I have got to the point when I think it might be easier for me to recover my laptop back to factory settings, and start all over again, Windows Updates etc , programs everything......I think my laptop has been 'messed around with' somehow, but I cant explain how..... Yes, Adware, or Malware ....... this is weird !!

Philipp,

Can you advise me what contents of what page do you want we to copy onto the clipboard ? I am not 100% what you mean here , so if you can give me some more information here please. Thank You !!  :)

there should be a button labelled "copy raw data to clipboard" - simply press that, it will copy all the contents of the page...

Also, I have had the same problem on Firefox as i did have as well on Google Chrome. Just a thought......

Roy

sorry Philipp but I click on the button 'Copy Raw Data to Clipboard' but there is nothing there..... ?? Maybe I'm doing something incorrect here .

Roy

this should already have done the first part - afterwards you can just right-click in the reply box here on the forum and select "paste" to fill in all the content.

{

 "application": {
   "name": "Firefox",
   "version": "20.0.1",
   "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:20.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/20.0",
   "supportURL": "http://support.mozilla.org/1/firefox/20.0.1/WINNT/en-US/"
 },
 "modifiedPreferences": {
   "browser.cache.disk.capacity": 358400,
   "browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run": false,
   "browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max": false,
   "browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value": 358400,
   "browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion": 4,
   "browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone": "20.0.1",
   "browser.startup.homepage": "http://www.bbc.co.uk/",
   "browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID": "20130409194949",
   "dom.w3c_touch_events.expose": false,
   "dom.mozApps.used": true,
   "extensions.lastAppVersion": "20.0.1",
   "gfx.direct3d.checkDX10": false,
   "network.cookie.prefsMigrated": true,
   "places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages": 104858,
   "places.database.lastMaintenance": 1366656267,
   "plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types": "application/pdf",
   "privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs": true
 },
 "graphics": {
   "numTotalWindows": 1,
   "numAcceleratedWindows": 1,
   "windowLayerManagerType": "Direct3D 10",
   "adapterDescription": "Intel(R) HD Graphics",
   "adapterVendorID": "0x8086",
   "adapterDeviceID": "0x0046",
   "adapterRAM": "Unknown",
   "adapterDrivers": "igdumd64 igd10umd64 igdumdx32 igd10umd32",
   "driverVersion": "8.15.10.2559",
   "driverDate": "10-21-2011",
   "adapterDescription2": "",
   "adapterVendorID2": "",
   "adapterDeviceID2": "",
   "adapterRAM2": "",
   "adapterDrivers2": "",
   "driverVersion2": "",
   "driverDate2": "",
   "isGPU2Active": false,
   "direct2DEnabled": true,
   "directWriteEnabled": true,
   "directWriteVersion": "6.2.9200.16492",
   "webglRenderer": "Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics)",
   "info": {
     "AzureCanvasBackend": "direct2d",
     "AzureFallbackCanvasBackend": "cairo",
     "AzureContentBackend": "direct2d"
   }
 },
 "javaScript": {
   "incrementalGCEnabled": true
 },
 "accessibility": {
   "isActive": false,
   "forceDisabled": 0
 },
 "libraryVersions": {
   "NSPR": {
     "minVersion": "4.9.5",
     "version": "4.9.5"
   },
   "NSS": {
     "minVersion": "3.14.3.0 Basic ECC",
     "version": "3.14.3.0 Basic ECC"
   },
   "NSSUTIL": {
     "minVersion": "3.14.3.0",
     "version": "3.14.3.0"
   },
   "NSSSSL": {
     "minVersion": "3.14.3.0 Basic ECC",
     "version": "3.14.3.0 Basic ECC"
   },
   "NSSSMIME": {
     "minVersion": "3.14.3.0 Basic ECC",
     "version": "3.14.3.0 Basic ECC"
   }
 },
 "userJS": {
   "exists": false
 },
 "extensions": [
   {
     "name": "avast! WebRep",
     "version": "8.0.1483",
     "isActive": true,
     "id": "wrc@avast.com"
   },
   {
     "name": "CortonExt",
     "version": "0.1",
     "isActive": true,
     "id": "CortonExt@ext.com"
   },
   {
     "name": "HP Smart Web Printing",
     "version": "4.51",
     "isActive": false,
     "id": "smartwebprinting@hp.com"
   },
   {
     "name": "UnFriend Status",
     "version": "1.0",
     "isActive": false,
     "id": "unfriendstatus@unfriendstatus.com"
   }
 ]

}

I think thats what you wanted to do I guess...... !!

Just a question, Do you think that the Firefox Add-On, 'CortonExt 0.1' is a genuine add -on, because it has appeared back in Firefox Add-On, so maybe I have been looking at the wrong thing here perhaps.... i assumed it was that because it had been added on today 24-04-13.......

I appreciate the help youre giving me here you guys, thank you !!

Roy

thanks for providing the data - everything except for this addon looks normal... it is almost certainly not genuine, since a google search for its ID reveals not hits & it shouldn't get into your profile without any interaction of you in the first place... did you already try to disable it - will it keep disabled?

in addition you can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

• Microsoft Safety Scanner
• Kaspersky Security Scan
• TDSSKiller - AntiRootkit Utility

if you cannot remove the malware by this means, i'd recommend contacting one of the forums specialised on malware which are mentioned at the end of Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware (or in the worst case to reset your operating system & start from scratch).

Yes I did disable it from Firefox > Add-Ons and have removed it from Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall Programs but it keeps returning back to Programs and back to Firefox Add-Ons, even if I uninstall Firefox Mozilla completely and download Firefox Set Up 16.0.2 completely again. It returns to haunt me and my laptop. Not sure how to proceed now, but will shortly carry out another scan of other software and see if it shows up. So without any doubt this "CortonExt 0.1" is a bit dodgy and may be causing this issue yes ? But Im not sure how it is effecting Google Chrome or if that is being affected by another adware / malware. I will try other things you have suggested to remove this from Firefox, but if I cant it will be easier to revert my laptop to factory settings as I have backed everything up anyway........

Any idea whether this 'crooked' add-on CortonExt 0.1 that is causing this problem, is it a virus or a malware / adware, or other, and are you aware anybody else has had this with the same add on on Firefox, causing silmilar problems i have had ??

i've forwarded the information you've provided to the firefox addon guys & they will blocklist the addon from now on - that means it will get disabled by default even if it reinstalls.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/blocked/i336

Thats a good idea and I hope thats the end of this problem, but I really wont know until I download the set up file again for Firefox, and reinstall it. Fingers crossed it will be OK now as its been blocked at the browser. Im not sure there is a similar cause with Google Chrome or even if the same add-on has been added onto that browser, which would make the URL for Amazon.com do the same thing it did on Firefox. I will have to download Google Chrome again, and look more into that. If Firefox is now running again with no problems, I will stay with Firefox as Ive never had any trouble with it for a number of years. As for carrying out several scans with different scan providers, no malware or virus' has shown up so far. I did get a virus this morning, but my antivirus software blocked it and deleted it immediately. Many thanks !!