Has noscript killed my Firefox?

September 28, 2006 6:40 AM

Has noscript killed my Firefox, and if so what do I do about it?

I installed noscript after reading about it in this comment. It didn't take effect until the next time I restarted my computer, which was yesterday. Suddenly I was getting the bar telling me which scripts were blocked, and I unblocked them all except the one that had been hanging the MeFi front page for me, and all was well. Except in the evening I got the dreaded "Firefox has encountered a problem and needs to close; do you want to notify Firefox?" Since then, every time I try to restart Firefox I simply get a popup saying it's sending a message to mozilla.org about having to close. I suspect this all has to do with noscript; if so, how do I disable it without being able to get Firefox to open? Talk in simple language; I'm a computer idiot.

posted by languagehat to computers & internet (8 comments total)

There should be an icon for "Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode)." Run this. Then you can disable the extensions as you normally would (Tools > Extensions).
posted by grouse at 6:56 AM on September 28, 2006

I just had a problem with Javascript in Firefox myself. Safe Mode's the way you want to go. It should be in your Programs folder in the start menu.

If you tell us what kinds of scripts you wanted to block, there might be a different extension...
posted by IndigoRain at 7:08 AM on September 28, 2006

I don't think NoScript has ever crashed Firefox for me. Perhaps it's interacting badly with one of your other extensions?

I think it's a wise extension to have installed by default. Firefox is not free of security problems, and NoScript gives you a little extra layer of safety.

What else are you running?
posted by Malor at 7:11 AM on September 28, 2006

NoScript consistently crashed Firefox for me, though I got slightly further into the load than you did (Google, my homepage, was one of the few pages that wouldn't crash). OSX, just for reference. I was able to remove the NoScript.
For you? Well, if it's a Mac I don't believe there's a safemode. I'd reinstall Firefox and do the manual importation of preferences and plugins.
posted by klangklangston at 7:32 AM on September 28, 2006

For you? Well, if it's a Mac I don't believe there's a safemode. I'd reinstall Firefox and do the manual importation of preferences and plugins.

Wow, that's doubly incorrect:

1. There are safe modes for all platforms of Firefox

2. Reinstalling Firefox does nothing about the extensions sitting in a user's Library > Application Support > Firefox folder, which are nowhere near the application
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:52 AM on September 28, 2006

The simplest and fastest solution is to go into your user folder, open up the Library folder, open up Application Support, and rename the "Firefox" folder to "Firefox.old". Then restart Firefox to create a new profile for yourself. In addition to fixing the extension problem this will also clear out any accumulated Firefox cache cruft etc.

You can reimport bookmarks through the Bookmark Manager in Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks and File > Import.... You then import the bookmarks.html file sitting in your Library > Application Support > Firefox.old folder.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:56 AM on September 28, 2006

I just followed grouse's advice and uninstalled noscript, then restarted Firefox. The Quality Feedback Agent popped up again, but Firefox started up and seems to be working again. Thanks to all; I'll be back in to whine again if it crashes.
posted by languagehat at 8:22 AM on September 28, 2006

I don't know why, but many of the blocking extension/program developers go a little overboard with the blocking. Perhaps the potential for overlap with other types of prevention you're doing is always high, I don't know, but let me propose a general heuristic for your future attempts at preventing web annoyances. Apply techniques as specifically as possible. Block specific scripts using AdBlock>List All Blockable Elements to see the names of scripts, or use site-specific greasemonket scripts, which can be found at userscripts.org, to take care of commonly visited sites.

Hopefully this will keep you from having to come back to whine again.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 6:38 PM on September 28, 2006