[defangthewolf]

i run windows 8. never had severe problems with firefox until two days ago. out of the blue, it started to freeze constantly rendering it unusable. I've tried clean uninstall (using ccleaner)/reinstall, refresh firefox (troubleshooting information), remove malware with malwarebytes, tweaked settings using about:config within firefox, create new profile, no luck. the moment I load up the program, it freezes straight away and theres only a very brief moment where I can use it normally. any help appreciated.

 

something is occurring now as it was happening yesterday. when I load up windows, open firefox for the first time I get the error "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. The old Firefox process must be closed to open a new window." then this is followed by "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible."

Edited by defangthewolf, 27 February 2015 - 02:45 AM.

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Uninstall firefox and delete C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox directory for 32-bit Windows or delete C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox directory for 64-bit Windows. Type %APPDATA% into address bar of the Windows Explorer and press enter to open the hidden Roaming folder. Delete Mozilla directory and type %LOCALAPPDATA% into address bar of the Windows Explorer. Delete Mozilla directory. Scan your computer with AdwCleaner and HitmanPro programs to delete any malware infections.

 

AdwCleaner

http://www.bleepingc...oad/adwcleaner/

 

HitmanPro

http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro

 

thanks for the reply. after following all the steps above (adwcleaner and hitmanpro found nothing malicious), I reinstalled firefox but to my annoyance the program is still freezing regularly

[defangthewolf]

Uninstall firefox and delete C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox directory for 32-bit Windows or delete C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox directory for 64-bit Windows. Type %APPDATA% into address bar of the Windows Explorer and press enter to open the hidden Roaming folder. Delete Mozilla directory and type %LOCALAPPDATA% into address bar of the Windows Explorer. Delete Mozilla directory. Scan your computer with AdwCleaner and HitmanPro programs to delete any malware infections.

 

AdwCleaner

http://www.bleepingc...oad/adwcleaner/

 

HitmanPro

http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro

 

thanks for the reply. after following all the steps above (adwcleaner and hitmanpro found nothing malicious), I reinstalled firefox but to my annoyance the program is still freezing regularly

[Fusionbomb]

Hello defangthewolf... and

 

End Firefox processes

If Firefox did not shut down normally when you last used it, Firefox might still be running in the background, even though it is not visible.

Restart your computer to see if the problem goes away or try the following options.

Use the Windows Task Manager to close the existing Firefox process

1. Right-click on an empty spot in the Windows task bar and select Task Manager (or press Ctrl+Shift+Esc).
2. When the Windows Task Manager opens, select the Processes tab.
3. Select the entry for firefox.exe (press F on the keyboard to find it) and click End Process.
4. Click Yes in the "Task Manager Warning" dialog that appears.
5. Repeat the above steps to end any additional firefox.exe process, if more than one entry is found, then exit the Windows Task Manager.
6. Start Firefox normally.

Remove the profile lock file

If restarting the computer or ending the Firefox processes didn't help, it may be that Firefox previously exited without deleting the lock file.

1. Restart your computer. After it restarts, don't try to start Firefox.
2. Go to your Firefox profile folder - see Finding your profile without opening Firefox.
3. Delete the parent.lock file.
   • If you attempt to delete the parent.lock file and receive the error, "Cannot delete parent: The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable", restart the computer and check your drive for errors (see Check a drive for errors).

Check access rights

Firefox must also have the right to create files in the profile folder. The error can occur if you try to use a profile from a file system mounted with read-only permission (e.g. a remote Windows share which doesn't have "Allow network users to change my files" checked).

To check if the profile folder has the proper permissions:

1. Go to your Firefox profile folder - see Finding your profile without opening Firefox.
2. Go up one folder.
3. Right-click on your profile folder and select Properties.
4. Click on the General tab.
5. Make sure Read-only is not checked marked.
   
    

Restore data from a locked profile

If you are unable to unlock the profile using the above methods, use the Profile Manager to create a new profile and migrate your data from the locked profile to the new profile. For information on how to do this, see Recovering important data from an old profile.

Edited by Fusionbomb, 12 March 2015 - 10:03 AM.