Lost scroll bar in Firefox

April 17, 2007 7:12 AM

I'm having trouble retaining my vertical scroll bar in my Firefox browser.

The whole web page has for some reason shifted slightly to the right and cut off that portion that shows the scroll bar. Sometimes, but not always, if I click on View and disable the status bar the scroll bar will return. But it's not a permanent fix and usually soon disappears again. When things were working properly, the status bar and the scroll bar could be seen at the same time. I realize that creating a new profile for Firefox might solve the problem. But transferring all the add-ons and other preferences to a new profile is a real pain in the neck. I did that recently for a similar screen-size problem only to have the same problem crop up again in the new profile after a little while.

I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone might have to offer. Thanks.

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

What add-ons are you using? If starting a new profile solved the problem, it might be due to one of the extensions.
posted by grouse at 7:17 AM on April 17, 2007

Same thing happens to me.. Works fine 90% of the time, but then for some reason the page 'shifts' over and I have to widen the screen to get the scrollbar back.
posted by eas98 at 7:20 AM on April 17, 2007

Grouse, starting a new profile did not cause the problem. I did that a month or so ago. I only mention it because I want to avoid going that route again. I'm currently using: IE View, ImageZoom, IMTranslator, Inline Google Definitions, Lingvo Online!, No Script, Nuke Anything, Quick Note, Quick Zoom, Reminder Fox, Scrapbook, StumbleUpon, Tab Mix Plus, Text size toolbar, and These Toolbars with Small Icon. None are recent additions, nor have they recently been updated.
posted by NinaLee at 7:46 AM on April 17, 2007

Tab Mix Plus has all kinds of incompatibilities.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:57 AM on April 17, 2007

I suggested that starting a new profile solved the problem. But it appears you were saying it solved a related problem. What was the related problem?

I don't understand how you can have recently started a new profile, and yet have so many extensions but none of them are recent additions. Did you abandon your new profile after the related problem cropped up again?

When did the scrollbar problem first start? Can you think of anything you did around that time? Does the problem persist if you run Firefox in safe mode?
posted by grouse at 7:58 AM on April 17, 2007

Grouse, the new profile I installed earlier, 2 months ago, temporarily solved the problem of resizing the horizontal lines of text when I clicked on "restore down." However, the same problem resurfaced in the new profile a short time later. I have not abandoned the new profile created in February and have since learned to work around the "restore down" problem. I suspect it was caused in the old profile and later again in the new profile by my updating an add-on, which one I do not know. The latest problem began today. I've recently had no downloads, updates, or new installations that might have caused this. Yes, it persists in safe mode as well.
posted by NinaLee at 9:54 AM on April 17, 2007

I found this with earlier versions of Firefox when I had certain themes (as opposed to extensions) enabled. Do you have anything but the default firefox theme installed?
posted by joshnunn at 7:07 PM on April 17, 2007

I solved the problem by disabling a number of add-ons, one at a time. A couple of them after they were disabled seemed to move the page very slightly so that I could see a tiny portion of the scroll bar. But when I disabled "1 Click Weather," which displays on the status bar, everything returned to normal, i.e., vertical scroll bar and status could both be viewed at the same time. I have since re-enabled the culprit, and the scroll bar is still there. I think one of the weather updates screwed things up temporarily. Add-ons, I guess, are not always as reliable as one might wish. But generally they greatly enhance the use of the browser. Thanks to those who sent comments.
posted by NinaLee at 6:32 AM on April 18, 2007