Any Firefox gurus here? Search is borked

[bombastinator]

So there is something terribly wrong with Firefox. NO search sites work. They all come up with bad certificates. There is NO way to create an exception despite claims to the contrary. Deleting the certificate file does not work. This is a serious problem. Firefox is rendered effectively inoperable, and judging from the help files I looked through the Firefox team does not seem to recognize this.

Is there anyone out there willing and able to help me get my desktop browser working again? I’ve used Firefox since before it was Firefox and I consider chrome to be malware. I’m going to have to convert to it though as I’m simply out of options here

 

[daleron]

Have you asked @AttyPops ?

 

[bombastinator]

Have you asked @AttyPops ?

Not specifically. Perhaps he will notic your mention and come to my aid though. Thx

 

[AttyPops]

The first steps are usually
1) Disable any add ons (run it in safe mode)
2) Reinstall it.

Have you tried any of these yet?
Some links:
Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles | Firefox Help
Troubleshoot Firefox issues using Safe Mode | Firefox Help
Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings | Firefox Help

 

[LoveVanilla]

I’ve used Firefox since before it was Firefox and I consider chrome to be malware. I’m going to have to convert to it though as I’m simply out of options here

No, no!!! Don't do! Longtime FF user here; tried Opera some time back (when Congress granted ISPs the right to sell all of our data) as it includes a free VPN service. A VPN service will encrypt http traffic and urls so you maintain a semblance of privacy.

But damn — Opera is just one fantastic browser. And has become my default (followed by Firefox). Only use chrome when there is no workaround but changing the user agent switcher (on Opera) to "Chrome" corrects most issues for moronic websites. Occasionally need to disable VPN (via simple, single-click on VPN icon) for websites insisting that I must live in Sweden.

Get Opera— I cannot recommend highly enough. Setup VPN and install a "user agent switcher" plug-in. Then setup DuckDuckgo.com as your default search enginer. Do NOT assimilate with the Borg.

 

[bombastinator]

The first steps are usually
1) Disable any add ons (run it in safe mode)
2) Reinstall it.

Have you tried any of these yet?
Some links:
Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles | Firefox Help
Troubleshoot Firefox issues using Safe Mode | Firefox Help
Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings | Firefox Help

Nope, but I will, thx

 

[dripster]

To avoid having similar issues in the future, I recommend using the portable version of FF and run it under the supervision of Sandboxie. The portable version can run alongside the regular version, does not require to be installed to be able to run it (because it is portable), and allows for easy backup of the entire browser by simply copying and renaming the FirefoxPortable folder that contains it. Sandboxie offers a truly unique and comfortable way to secure a browser, and has a few useful convenience features aimed directly towards FF, among several other golden features.

 

[AttyPops]

@bombastinator ... how did you come out?

 

[bombastinator]

@bombastinator ... how did you come out?

Still poking through literature to figure out how to implement. I got the native Microsoft browser up long enough to get new anti-malware installed (there was one claim online that it might be the problem. It wasn’t). This makes the problem at least non-critical because Firefox on my phone still works. I’ll post when I got results. Thanks

 

[mac-nutty]

shakes head
on another computer download and burn to disk a couple of antivirus live disks not forgetting a antispyware one
boot into these on the problem PC and after you run them all post back results
15 Free Bootable Antivirus Programs

 

[bombastinator]

shakes head
on another computer download and burn to disk a couple of antivirus live disks not forgetting a antispyware one too
boot into these on the problem PC and after you run them all post back results
15 Free Bootable Antivirus Programs

I’m not virused. The machine is clean. I spent too much time amid sysadmins and *nix programmers for a while. I developed moderately high levels of internet malware paranoia. My machines don’t see the internet unless they’re already fully patched to dash current, and have 2 layers of decent modern anti malware installed. Plus they get checked regularly. There was a theory earlier that it was the antimalware that was the problem, so I changed up my stuff and did a pass with a specialized deep checker (I forget which one) while I was at it.

 

[mac-nutty]

I’m not virused. The machine is clean. I spent too much time amid sysadmins and *nix programmers for a while. I developed moderately high levels of internet malware paranoia. My machines don’t see the internet unless they’re already fully patched to dash current, and have 2 layers of decent modern anti malware installed. Plus they get checked regularly. There was a theory earlier that it was the antimalware that was the problem, so I changed up my stuff and did a pass with a specialized deep checker (I forget which one) while I was at it.

good to hear mate you posted FF issues then said

"I got the native Microsoft browser up long enough to get new anti-malware installed"

glad you have things under control now mate

 

[Mordacai]

bombastinator I'd advise you to backup your bookmarks to a .json file and copy your password files to another folder.

Then download latest version of Firefox, uninstall present version and then install the latest.

May I ask, Windows 10 by any chance? If so, an update has probably been forced and broken the Firefox installation.

Hope you get it sorted soon, and had reasonably good results from Comodo Internet Security.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

May I ask, Windows 10 by any chance? If so, an update has probably been forced and broken the Firefox installation.

Right. Everyone always says crap like this about Win10. Been using it for years and never had a problem like this.

 

[Mordacai]

Sloth Tonight, depends upon what you need it to do. It doesn't like Samsung Smart Switch, even though Samsung make Netbook and Notebook PC's. So you can't update phone, unless you use WiFi. Which is a great way of bricking a phone and turning it into an expensive paperweight.

Updates constantly break drivers and services, at least Vista x64 did actually work.

And latest news is that Microsoft will force install Drivers in Windows 10, it will not allow you to use what Drivers you want to use.