The USPTO has numerous sites. Which one is it, exactly -- can you give a URL? Then volunteers can test for comparison.

Also, what is the error message you get in Firefox? If the error page has an Advanced button, click the button to find more information about the problem and paste the description and any error codes here.

Next to your post, Question Details > More System Details shows numerous extensions that look suspiciously like ad-injecting malware. I suggest cleaning that up before using Firefox for any work involving sensitive information -- such as your online payment accounts.

Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons and other hijackers. I know it seems long, but it's really not that bad.

(For Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10; XP is somewhat different)

(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.

(2) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
• in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
  firefox.exe "about:addons"

In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. All extensions are optional; none come with Firefox.

Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.

Any improvement?

(3) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.

Hi, Thank you for the help so far. I had my computer cleaned and lost my fav. game from King-CandycrushSoda. And my problem was not solved by doing the cleaning job. The USPTO electronic system still will not connect with the Firefox browser. I am not sure what you are asking about the URL which I thought was , ".epf" . jim

By URL, I mean the address of the page you cannot load. USPTO has numerous sub-sites on different servers.

Also, what is the error message you get on that page? If the error page has an Advanced button, click the button to find more information about the problem and paste the description and any error codes here.

When I search about .epf files, they seem to be certificates issued to users that you load through the site's Java applet. Does that sound like where the problem is occurring?

Have you tried updating your Java to Update 77? If using the Java Control Panel doesn't work for that, you can use the "Windows Offline" installer from the following page:

https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

Note: Firefox uses the 32-bit version, so you can ignore the Windows Offline (64-bit) installer for purposes of Firefox.

You can remove all data stored in Firefox from a specific domain via "Forget About This Site" in the right-click context menu of an history entry ("History > Show All History" or "View > Sidebar > History").

Using "Forget About This Site" will remove all data stored in Firefox from that domain like bookmarks and history and cookies and passwords and cache and exceptions, so be cautious. If you have a password or other data from that domain that you do not want to lose then make sure to backup this data or make a note.

Can't recover from this 'forget' unless you have a backup of involved files.

If you revisit a 'forgotten' website then data from that website will be saved once again.

Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support to see if that has effect in case security software is causing problems.

• http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/
• http://www.7tutorials.com/4-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-10

Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware

Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.

Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
  http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
• AdwCleaner:
  http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
  http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml
• SuperAntispyware:
  http://www.superantispyware.com/
• Microsoft Safety Scanner:
  http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx
• Windows Defender:
  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender
• Spybot Search & Destroy:
  http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
• Kasperky Free Security Scan:
  http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

• Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
  http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446

See also:

• "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked

Hi, Java has told me I have the latest Java as standard on Windows 10 which has been cleaned and reinstalled yesterday. I don't see it my control panel now although Java was on the control panel prior to the cleaning.

Hmm, turns out there was a Java update today, beyond Update 77. What's your Java version in Firefox now? You can check using my plugin lister page:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/plugins.html