Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with firefox and windows

Firefox has a mind of it's own.

daHIFI — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:47:24 -0800

Why does Firefox randomly break out one of my tabs in a new window? I usually keep several tabs opened at once, and since the 3.5 update I've been having problems, either when switching between windows or tabs, even sometimes when I'm placing the cursor in a text box. It doesn't happen every day but it's annoying the hell out of me. I thought it might be some kind of keyboard shortcut or some unknown mouse gesture that's doing it. So far my google-fu has failed me.

Using FF on WinXP

Any ideas?

Forget-Me-Not

geekyguy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:06:24 -0800

Firefox Forget-Me-Not: My browser no longer seems to remember me. When I launch Firefox 3.0.9 I am no longer automatically logged into the sites I have set to load on open. I usually have 25+ tabs open at a time and have Firefox set to 'Show my windows and tabs from last time'.

When I visit a site, like Metafilter, I am no longer automatically logged in. Instead, when I click the [Login] link, my username and password are already there so I haven't lost my saved passwords, just the automatic passing of that information from one session to another.

Incidentally, my browser crashes fairly regularly, at a rate of 3 crashes in a 2 day period. I figure it is due to the high number of tabs I run with. Yes, it is annoying but as long as the browser remembers me, I have been able to live with it.

The laptop in question is a dual 2ghz 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium with 4g RAM. The browser in question is Firefox 3.0.9 running the following add-ons:
Delicious Bookmarks
Evernote Web Clipper
Forecastfox
Greasemonkey
Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant
RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin
Skype Extension for Firefox

Firefox taking over Explorer?

mrmarley — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:45:31 -0800

When I type in a url into the address bar in Internet Explorer (v 6.0.29) it automatically opens up the page in Mozilla Firefox (v.5.0) - how can I force the page to just open up in Explorer? (I've scoured preferences to no avail) (Windows XP- home)

Controlling the volume of applications in Windows?

callmejay — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:08:29 -0800

Is it possible to control the volume of individual Windows applications (or Firefox windows/tabs?) Also, is it possible to boost the volume of (e.g.) a YouTube video?

XP Filter: I set up a non admin account for safer computing -- Am I safe enough now?

dancestoblue — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:06:12 -0800

I've read so much here lately 1 2 3 about not browsing as an admin, decided to check it out and yepper, I surely was using an admin account. I've set up a non admin account, made a few other changes (described inside), hoping to find out from The Hive Mind if I am now safe enough to breathe easy(er). Ya'll put the fear of computer death into me, I finally decided to check and yeah, I was doing it wrong wrong wrong. So I set about trying to get my mind (and puter) right in the eyes of The Hive Mind.

I set up an account without Admin rights, and will use this for most everything from now on.

I left both accounts without passwords because of reading this post -- is this a good plan, or is this guy off the wall?

I am using a fairly fresh XP install (maybe two months) and I'm pretty sure I'm still clean -- I've run Spybot and AdAware, updated as needed, maybe every couple weeks.

I'm using AVG Anti-Virus Free and update it as it says it's needed.

I'm using the ZoneAlarm free firewall -- I LOVE that it allows me to determine when software decides to 'call home' and I get to decide -- Apple is pretty determined with this, I've found, and so is Open Office, a few others.

I've got Windows Auto Update turned on but not to auto download and install -- I want it to prompt me and let me decide if and when.

I'm using MS Windows Defender and upgrading as it suggests.

I'm using Firefox 3 upgraded automatically any time they suggest, and running AdBlock Plus and NoScript, updated when suggested.

If any site gives me problems in Firefox, I first try Opera (updated as needed) and then IE7, last resort. I run IE Tab through Firefox rather than firing up IE7, and I only use it on sites that demand IE7 (NetFlix, Sprint, a couple of others) -- I'm hoping this helps me but I don't actually know if it adds safety or not. I update IE7 as Windows Update suggests, pretty sure I'm always current.

I'm using Foxit PDF rather than Adope bloatware.

"Aye" suggested Disabliing all AutoRun and AutoPlay options with TweakUI (a Microsoft PowerToy) is this needed/wanted?

What have I missed? Where have I gone overboard? I want safety but don't want to live locked down so hard I cannot move.

Thanx in advance.

Peace.

dancestoblue

I can't access any Google site. Can you help?

kdern — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:59:27 -0800

I suddenly can't access any Google sites from my computer. Any ideas how to fix? I am on a PC running Firefox. In the last day or two I have not been able to access any Google site (Google, gmail, maps, reader, etc).

Here's what I've tried so far:
- Restart firefox
- Restart computer
- Restart modem and router
- Empty cache and cookies
- Run spybot and AdAware
- Tried Google from Internet Explorer
- Checked router security settings to see any domains have been blocked

Any suggestions of other steps to try?

Thanks.

configuration of vista breadcrumb bar/firefox second tab row

lrodman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:15:34 -0800

Is it possible to trim Vista Breadcrumb sections so that the breadcrumb bar doesn't clip off most of the path in long titles? I.e. anything over say, 10 characters gets cropped, so that long paths can be shown? Also, is there a way to fix the glitchy second row of tabs in firefox? I want the second row of tabs to have the same height as the first, so that graphics don't go all screwy.

Why why is is Firefox Firefox repeating repeating words words??

nitsuj — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:24:58 -0800

Why does Firefox occasionally repeat the right-click spellcheck suggested words? This is perhaps easiest explained in a screenshot: BAM!

Ocassionally, after spellchecking a few words in Firefox, the words start to repeate themselves which makes my right-click menu super long and annoying. Any clues as to why this would be happening, or how to fix it?

Windows Vista Home Basic, Firefox 2.0.0.11

I want my Firefox!

trip and a half — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 08:35:36 -0800

Why is Firefox so sluggish on my laptop? I love Firefox. I use it at work. I used to use it at home on my old desktop (which died).

In September of last year, I bought a shiny new Asus laptop which I absolutely love. But every time I've tried to download and use Firefox on it, the response time has been frustrating to the point where I've uninstalled it.

What's going on? I have to wait ten seconds or more each time I click anything before the browser will respond. Often the title bar has the Windows "not responding" message in it.

Any ideas? I'm running Windows XP Home. Save me from IE!

Drivecleaner virus and firefox. Why is drivecleaner stalking me?

fox_terrier_guy — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:42:30 -0800

Firefox and disk cleaner virus - not sure if I have the virus or not.... I have firefox 2.0.0.4, avisoft antivirus, and zonealarm on my work and home PCs and all software is up to date. Regardless, I seem to have contracted the diskcleaner virus. On both computers, it behaves exactly the same way; that is, the disk cleaner pop up comes up in the lower right hand corner of my screen, and when I close it via the "X", firefox closes. I don't want to click anywhere else on the window for obvious reasons.

When Firefox is restarted, it has a new window size. I got it thru Stumbleupon. (www.stumbleupon.com)

I've googlefu'd the groups and can't find any reason why it is happening. Symantec among others says to reboot in to safe mode, do a regedit, etc., etc., and I have done that, but I don't have the same reg keys that the article says, and I don't have a Diskcleaner directory on my drive. In other words, I seem to have the symptoms, but not the disease.

At work, I am behind a firewall, and at home my wireless router connected by cable.

My Mac laptop doesn't have this problem.

So, do I have the virus or not? Is there a definitive source of info on this? This is starting to piss me off.

Thanks in advance.

Outlook-->IE, Thunderbird-->Firefox?

bondcliff — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:47:31 -0800

How can I force Thunderbird to open links in Firefox when IE is set as my default browser? At work I run Thunderbird for my personal email and Outlook for work email. Most of the links I get in Outlook are for things that require IE, such as links to MS Project web and a few other IE based apps that use Active X and for any number of reasons won't run in Firefox.

I use Thunderbird for personal mail as well as my RSS feeds. So when I click on a link, say to an AskMe thread, I want it to open in Firefox.

Is there any way to do this? I tried the "IE Tab" Firefox extension but the IE-only pages still wouldn't work.

Please don't turn this into a which-browser-is-better thread. I've installed IE7 and even though it has tabs I'd still prefer to use Firefox when I can.

Why is my computer suddenly grumpy, slow, and generally uncooperative?

chefscotticus — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 19:22:14 -0800

Why is my computer suddenly grumpy, slow, and generally uncooperative? In the past week or so, my 4 year old Dell Inspirion notebook has suddenly decided it doesn't much like me anymore and is doing it's best to get me to toss it in frustration.

It's been extremely well maintained (frequent spy/adware/virus scans, careful downloading, frequently cleaned out registry, etc), but the past few days have seen suddenly high loads on the processor, freezing, and a corrupted Firefox profile. The hard drive is just over a year old (though only has ~2GB free). Specifically, my Moz Firefox and Thunderbird have been especially sluggish, and both (with 5 loaded tabs doing nothing) are often using 100% of my 2GHz CPU (or combining with TB for 100%). Ad-Aware, Norton Anti-virus, CCleaner Registry Cleaner, and XP "scan disk" have all been run to no avail. Restarting helps, but only for a little while. Memory is 512MB, and has been enough -- system was working beatifully until recently.

Some ideas: Could CCleaner have deleted some needed Registry items by accident? I have been using uTorrent a little bit of late -- can viruses/spyware be embedded in .AVI files? Could the hard-drive be starting to fail, and are there any programs I can download that can tell me if this is inevitable? Could it be a FF/TB problem, or something with one of my many extensions?

> > > I guess what I am really asking for is suggestions for other tools to help diagnose the problem (or other suggestions). What programs out there might be able to help?

Thanks MeFi.

Re-installed WinXP Won't Show CSS Images

ao4047 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:09:32 -0800

Re-installed Windows XP on my old laptop (Sony PCG-SRX87). Let it run through all the updates. Now neither IE nor Firefox will show CSS background images. Example: when I view Gmail or Google Spreadsheets, there's no background images for any of the rows. Searching Google for css, background images, service pack 2, firefox, internet explorer, troubelshooting, etc... checked Internet Options, Windows Firewall, turned off firewall, turned off virus scanner. Any ideas?

Bonus and maybe related: text sizes in IE are huge. I go to View > Text Size and it is set to Medium but if I got to AOL.com homepage the headlines are massive.

Is Windows Media Player causing popups?

Brian James — Tue, 02 May 2006 21:06:42 -0800

How do I stop popups that appear when Windows Media Player is running? I do not in general have a popup problem. The only time I get popups is when Windows Media Player is playing a feed off the web, or if it is playing an embedded video in a web page. I do not get popups at any other time. (I have Quicktime set up to play, in Firefox, almost all video streams it can; I only use Windows Media for wmv and so forth)

In the Security tab, I see a setting that may be relevant called "Do not run script commands and rich media streams if the player is running inside a web page" that is checked. Windows XP automatic updates is enabled and up-to-date.

I use Firefox 1.5.0.3, I scan for spyware/popups regularly with Windows Defender, Ad-Aware, and Ewido. Running version 10 of Windows Media.

Hijacked by Microsoft

Mrs. Smith — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 05:28:04 -0800

Microsoft continues to hijack my computer. Every time I get a new Windows update, it changes my default email client from Outlook Express to Outlook (I prefer OE) and my browser from Firefox to IE. It's really a pain to have to go into my default settings every time I get an update to undo what Microsoft does. It seems like it should be illegal to just take over my settings like this. How do I make it stop doing this?

Pulling data from one window and pasting to another automatically - how?

Fishing Nut — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 01:14:35 -0800

Looking for a macro program or method that captures and pastes text among different browser windows? I'd like to automate pulling names and addresses off an online invoice open in a browser window, and pasting the data to the correct fields in another window for online shipping. Is there a reliable way to automate some of this? The same name, address, zip, is captured from one window and pasted to another window with the same open field boxes, name, address, zip.

IE doesn't display gifs, but FireFox and Safari have no problem.

Wild_Eep — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 09:35:07 -0800

WebDevFilter: Why do some gifs GIFs *not* appear in Windows/IE, but do appear in Win/FireFox Mac/Safari and Mac/FireFox? Specific example inside. The site I'm working on seems to appear just fine in 3 browsers, but not in IE for Windows. I get white boxes with red x's in them instead of the gifs I expect.

This output was given to me from an export from Quark XPress, which produced the CSS. I'm a CSS newbie (but I understand the concepts).

Google returns a boatload of results, mostly relating to making changes to the registry and deleting temporary files. Before I do anything that drastic, could I have another set of eyes look over my code?

Firefox breaks Windows's FTP!

skryche — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 21:42:36 -0800

Why does Firefox break Windows' FTP abilities, and how can I fix it? Under My Network Places, I have an FTP link to my website. It's got the password saved, so all I have to do is double click it, and suddenly I'm looking at a window I can drag stuff into and out of for some quick and nasty FTP action.

Even better, I can alt-drag a folder out of there onto my desktop, which becomes an Explorer shortcut to that FTP directory. It's not fancy, but it's smooth.

Then I install Firefox. Now, double-clicking that shortcut opens it in Firefox. It fails to log in, and I can't upload. FTP is broken! How can I get that lovely functionality back?

(And why can I find nobody else complaining about this?)

Dear God, Don't Let Me Use IE!

kungfujoe — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 04:28:37 -0800

Attention all Firefox experts! Please help. This morning, I came in, and my beloved Firefox (1.04) will no longer display text! (DIT) Ok, here's the deal. For some reason, my work machine, loaded with corporate crap, antivirus, firewall, etc... decided I no longer need to see test in Firefox. It's beyond frustrating. I've tried re-installing, but no dice.

Any ideas what I can try to get Firefox working again? FWIW, I'm running XP Corp, SP2, etc...

Thanks!

Is there a way to pre-load apps you like during windows startup into RAM?

Dean Keaton — Sun, 01 May 2005 03:12:42 -0800

Is there a way to pre-load apps you like during windows startup into RAM? I have XP Pro SP2 and I want to have firefox in memory when windows loads up, to increase performance. I can get through regedit fine. How can I do this?

Help me stop crying...

gren — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 12:28:43 -0800

Hi all, for some unknown reason (I haven't changed anything) Firefox 1.0.2 (windows xp) suddenly stopped responding to my ctrl/shift-clicks (the keys are working fine outside of FF). This has made me *very* sad...I have tried pretty much everything and look to this great pool of knowledge to furthur my troubleshooting...maybe someone else has run into this? Is there an extension that could force the issue?

How can I get individual download windows in Firefox?

punishinglemur — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 17:12:10 -0800

I hate the Firefox Download Manager. How can I bring back the individual download windows from my Mozilla 1.7 days?

Internet connection problem

Mayor Curley — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:37:35 -0800

Internet connection problem. Odd circumstances. Knowledgeable people are invited inside to tell me that I'm missing something obvious. A friend's computer sits behind a router and receives cable internet. Her computer suddenly stopped being able to connect to the internet at all. She called Comcast, and they blamed malware.

She brought the computer to her boyfriend's house, where I saw it. We hooked it up to his router/cable modem, and indeed it wouldn't connect. I just suggested a clean install (of XP Home) rather than chase down all the problems. She agreed.

The install went well, I installed Firefox and it connected fine. She took the computer home, and it worked great for an hour. Now it won't connect through the router. If she connects directly to her modem, she can access the internet.

I'd be inclined to say that the router's gone bad, except that she had her boyfriend's spare machine at her apartment for a week and it worked fine. And when I first saw it and it wouldn't connect, it was behind a router as well.

Is there some condition that would cause the computer to not function behind a router, assuming that the network settings weren't changed by the users and no additional software had been installed after it was clean? Or should I chalk the other computer's functioning to coincidence and blame the D-link? I don't want to go out to Charlestown to monkey with this thing.

Why has my Firefox slowed down?

zorro astor — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 08:49:14 -0800

Why has my Firefox slowed down? It started a few day ago. Sometimes it takes several minutes for a page to load. Some only partially load, then stop. Some don't load at all. Not every page is this way, but I'd say about 20% suffer from one of these problems. IE is zipping right along though. I did a virus check, ran Spy-bot and Ad-Aware and cleaned up my registry. Yet the problem persists. Oh, I'm running 1.0 and XP Pro.

How do you get embedded .wmv files to play in Firefox?

dazed_one — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 14:52:38 -0800

I just started using firefox, and for a while all was good, but recently firefox has stopped playing WMV files that are embedded in web pages. I'm not exactly tech-savvy, so anyone know how to get them to play? It was in this link that the problem first popped up.