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.

Will it keep my bookmarks?

Yes it will

I have followed the troubleshooting solutions, reset, no add-ons etc.. even full uninstall & reinstall. Nothing has worked to resolve the issue.

FF hangs with Not Responding is frequent, while this is hung, it locks up my entire PC and I cannot do anything including opening Task Manager.

My Workstation Specs:

OS: Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64-bit

CPU: AMD FX-8350 Vishera 32nm Technology

RAM: 32.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24)

MB: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. M5A99X EVO R2.0 (Socket 942)

Graphics: 47LV4400 (1920x1080@60Hz) 2048MB GeForce GTX 660 (ASUStek Computer Inc)

HDD: 224GB TOSHIBA MKNSSDCR240GB ATA Device (SSD)

699GB Seagate ST750LX003-1AC154 ATA Device (SATA)

BluRay: PIONEER BD-RW BDR-208D ATA Device

Audio: Realtek High Definition Audio

I've reset it and it seems ok for now. It still hangs up frequently. If WhiteStar_Magic is having the same issue with that fast of a computer, I think the problem is Firefox!

@ CrossBones: It is certainly FF current version 20.0.1. I rolled it back to 19.2. and did not experience the issue with such severity but due to security features etc and desiring to stay as secure as possible, I really have not much option. PS: Those are the Speccy Specs of the machine I use as my primary development platform & workstation, not a slouch ;-) .

I get NONE of these issues with MSIE 10.0.4 on Win-8 exclusively but it recently developed a glitch which affects some Multimedia that I require, so in order to accomplish what I must, I have to use FF. No Other browsers are acceptable by a long shot.

This lock up issue has been going on of months and months and the best advice you can give us is to reset to base settings...you have got to be kidding. You have bench tested it you KNOW what the issue is,please be honest and tell us what your gonna do about it!!

Download Sandboxie http://www.sandboxie.com/ and install. Then open sandboxie under "Run Web Browser Sandboxed" Then follow Tylerdowner's remedy above to reset FF.

I received the option from sandboxie to recover several items that were downloaded with the FF reset but DID NOT opt to recover any (bookmarks appeared to remain intact anyway). After reviewing the items that were corralled by sandboxie, it appears a lot of stuff was trying to load back onto FF, some of which was even for Chrome...? Really?

So far, FF is not heating my CPU like it used to, and appears to be "clean and new" again. Your mileage may vary. Good luck!

FF hangs with Not Responding is frequent, while this is hung, it locks up my entire PC and I cannot do anything including opening Task Manager.

Same issue here.

Don't know if it's a problem with JavaScript, but I reinstalled NoScript and so far, so good.

Update: Turning off hardware acceleration in Firefox Options may have done the trick.

Would like to distinguish 2 SEPARATE FF issues that I have experienced in the last several months, and that I think may be being confounded in this thread:

. FF shuts down ENTIRELY for approx 20 seconds (I've timed these "freezes"). The screen shows some other application you are running. Another version of this is that the session tab freezes, with the blue-circle (ie. hourglass) churning, the screen still showing the FF session-tab contents. In either case, the system does not respond (not even Ctl_Alt-Del) until the spasm is over. THIS ISSUE IS ADOBE-FLASH RELATED. I eventually learned that uninstalling Adobe Flash clears up 99% of the spasm-freezes. I install Adobe-Flash only if I absolutely must, to see desired content, then uninstall it as soon as there is another freeze. [And, yes, I tried every "solution" that Mozilla and Adobe have suggested - and they help NOT AT ALL. I have concluded that AF and FF are just incompatible, and cannot be used together, at least not consistently.]

. Lately there is a different problem, though maybe even more maddening. After every few seconds, FF spasms for a few seconds. The "Not Responding" msg comes from the O/S (W7 in my case), and keystrokes or mouse-moves are lost until the spasm is over (1-3 seconds). Shutting down and re-starting FF works for a while (maybe 15 minutes), until the cycle recommences. This fact makes me suspect memory management issues. Certain compute-intensive sites, eg. Yahoo Message Boards, SeekingAlpha, also seem to hasten entry into the spasm period. Observing the Task Manager list during the spasms (other apps WORK during these spasms, unlike with case 1 above), Firefox is taking upwards of 50% of the CPU. I FOUND - SO FAR - THIS PROBLEM IS INDEED COMPLETELY SOLVED BY THE FF RESET .

I have the same problem with FF 19.0 running on MacOS 10.6.

One of the replies mentioned turning off hardware acceleration (Preferences->Advanced->General), and this seemed to help a lot.

Curiously, I still experience the slowness when writing this message, but not in general. That ought to be a clue. What is running when interacting with this forum?