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firefox locks up when picking options

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I just moved to windows 7 and I had Firefox 18 that I loaded. When I pick options, my menu came up, but when I went to click the general tab firefox would freeze up. So I downloaded 19 thinking that would solve my problem. Now when I click options, firefox freezes up. Please Help, I miss using Firefox.

I just moved to windows 7 and I had Firefox 18 that I loaded. When I pick options, my menu came up, but when I went to click the general tab firefox would freeze up. So I downloaded 19 thinking that would solve my problem. Now when I click options, firefox freezes up. Please Help, I miss using Firefox.

All Replies (5)

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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!

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That did not fix the problem. I even tried going through the Help/Restart with Add ons disabled. That didn't work either. At the top of the window it just says Not Responding.....

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Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe mode start window or otherwise make changes.

Try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

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I restarted it in Safe mode, clicked Firefox/Options and it hung with a message of Not Responding for over an hour. I also downloaded and ran Microsoft Safety Scanner, which it came up clean. The only thing I see is under plugins, it gives me a warning about Java Platform SE 6 U35 is known to be vulnerable. Use with caution, message. Even if I disable it, it still locks up. I have no add ons running, 1 extension IDS_SS_name ID_SS_Version is disabled, Default Appearance Theme 19.0.2, see pic for my plugins...Even if I disable them all, it still locks up......

I can't disable the hardware acceleration in Firefox, as soon as I hit Options, it locks up...........

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You can try to set the Boolean pref layers.acceleration.disabled to true on the about:config page.

You need to close and restart Firefox.

You can also look at layers.accelerate-* prefs.


You can check for problems with preferences and try to rename or delete the prefs.js file and possible numbered prefs-##.js files and a possible user.js file to reset all prefs to the default values.


Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.