Troubleshooting Firefox issues- Hanging and Crashing
Although there are few problems with Firefox 3, the good news is that, these issues can be easily resolved. Here are some troubleshooting methods that will help you to solve the problem.
If your browser is crashing frequently then you should run the software application in safe mode. When you run Firefox browser in safe mode, it runs without extensions and add-ons. If the extensions are incompatible or buggy then Firefox crashes often. That is why, running in the safe mode is the best option.
If the browser no longer crashes in safe mode then obviously the extensions and plugins are the problem. An obvious solution to the problem is to disable the plugins. For disabling the plugins, perform the following steps: Click on tools menu and then select the Add-ons option. You have to then go to Plugins tab and disable the plugins that you don't require or to completely remove the problem, disabling all of them is a wise decision.
Disabling unnecessary extensions: Performing the same steps as above, you can disable extensions. If in safe mode, the crashing of Firefox doesn't occur, you must disable the extensions. If safe mode doesn't solve the problem then the best thing to do is use the compatibility mode and then uninstall the browser completely and then reinstall it.
Clear out private data: Another reason why Firefox crashes is, some time the download history gets corrupted. This happens when downloading files. For clearing out the cache, you need to select ‘clear private data’ from tools menu and then clear out the junk. You should often clear out the private and this indeed a very good idea.
XP Users: Running Firefox browser in compatibility mode: Windows XP users experiencing the crashing can solve the problem by using the compatibility mode. Right click on shortcut and then choose properties. You have to then select the compatibility tab. Set compatibility back to Windows 2000. This might solve your crashing issue.
Other known issues such as system clock is always off, particular extensions and plugins are incompatible, crashes when viewing Yahoo! Mail have already been fixed by good folks
Completely uninstall and then Reinstall Firefox browser: This is the best option and easiest to implement. All you have to do is clear out profile folders and ensure that there are absolutely no traces of broken or old installations. You have to reinstall the software. Ensure that while doing these things, you have a backup of everything
Manually backup your saved passwords and Bookmarks: To keep a backup, you need to install password exporter extension. Once you have installed it, now open Add-ons window and then click options button, which is on the extension. Using the button, you can export the passwords
If running in the safe mode doesn't help, you will have to open a clean profile and check whether you are still facing the problem. A key thing that you should remember is that if there is any issue with your Firefox profiles, you may want to backup and then install Firefox. Your issue might get solved by simply creating a new profile
Firefox makes considerable use of RAM as compared to other web browsers. One solution to this problem is open about:config by simply typing it into the Firefox address bar. Now right click and go to new and you have to then enter integer and then name it as browser.cache.memory.capacity. Now for integer value, your computer should have 512 megabytes to 1 gigabyte of RAM. If you have RAM that is between 128 Megabytes to 512 megabyte, you should go for 5000. Now restart Firefox to get the desired result.
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