Hello,

Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache. In order to try to fix these problems, the first step is to clear both cookies and the cache. Note: This will temporarily log you out of all sites you're logged in to. To clear cache and cookies do the following:

1. Click the menu button , choose History, and then Clear Recent History....
2. Under "Time range to clear", select "Everything".
3. Now, click the arrow next to Details to toggle the Details list active.
4. From the details list, check Cache and Cookies and uncheck everything else.
5. Now click the Clear now button.

Further information can be found in the Clear your cache, history and other personal information in Firefox article.

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

Thank you.

I ALWAYS clear both cache and cookies when I sign out of Firefox. It is set to do that and I do it with another method as well, so this is not the source of the problem. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Hello,

Thanks for responding back.

Please Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings, disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

• In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button , click Help and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
• In previous Firefox versions, click on the Firefox button at the top left of the Firefox window and click on Help (or click on Help in the Menu bar, if you don't have a Firefox button) then click on Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:

• On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
• On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
• On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
  (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.

I will try that, but I have always found it difficult to identify where a problem lies when using SAFE MODE and then attempting to start other items.

I have another problem that I haven't figured out using that method. Every day, my screen freezes for about 30 seconds when on a page with a video or an ad. It doesn't happen after that until the next time I start the computer up. I don't know if that issue is related to the AOL problem, but isolating Flashplayer, Java or Shockwave for Director have not resolved it.

I will see if they resolve this one. I don't see how they can affect AOL mail or password input on websites, though.

Hi Windowman, Safe Mode doesn't disable the Flash, Java, or Shockwave for Director plugins (or any other plugins), but it will disable any extensions you have installed. It also disables some advanced feature of Firefox.

If you prefer to review your extensions individually, you can do that on the Add-ons page. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions.

I'm grateful for the advice, but I do disable add-ons through the toolbar. I may not be an expert, but I'm not a novice.

Hi Windowman, it's hard to know whether extensions, specifically, are having any influence on this problem. Safe Mode is one way to get at that. Another is to disable them all manually on the Add-ons page (usually you need to restart in order for that to take full effect). If neither makes any difference, then that would suggest it's something else.

I will have to do that. I will let this page know the results of my investigation after I have gone through it, but I don't have time tonight. Thanks, though.

I have disabled all add-ons and the problem remains. It doesn't make sense to me that when I attempt to write an email on aol, it won't let me do it properly until I reload the page. Then it works. What changes when I reload a page?

Hi Windowman, when you reload a page, Firefox checks whether the page has "expired" from the cache and in that case will retrieve it fresh from the server. If the page is not expired, Firefox will ask the server whether it has been updated since the last time it was retrieved. Since any complex web page also links in style sheets, scripts, and images, those will be checked as well.

In the process, Firefox will exchange cookies with the server, which can have the effect of refreshing your mail session or requiring you to log in again, depending on how long your session has been inactive.

If the page that needs to be reloaded was accessed in one of the following ways, it's possible that Firefox has lost a bit of it:

• Back button from another page
• Restored from a previous session after starting up

Are either of those a factor?

Neither of those is a factor. I could have AOL.com as the only page open and not have navigated anywhere else... only tried to compose, reply or forward an email... but the email window does not look completely normal since it does not have my signature at the bottom of the body of the mail window or the content of the email I am replying to. When I click DELETE, it asks if I want to LEAVE PAGE or not. It doesn't respond to my answer to that question and keeps asking it. If I click on the RELOAD tab above, it asks me if I want to LEAVE PAGE and then, when I click LEAVE PAGE it allows me to and reloads and I end up being able to write a normal email, forward or reply to one.

Hi Windowman, many sites use the "leave page" dialog to prevent you from losing work in progress when closing or reloading a page. That doesn't seem strange. But I don't know why the message is incomplete when you first click compose/reply/forward. I don't have an AOL account myself to experiment.

Well, thanks for trying. The whole thing is just crazy, like computers can be. I don't know how long it will take me, but I will figure out how to remedy these problems.