Internet Browsers Crash As Soon As They Load Up

mleonard79

Hi Everyone,

I have a Dell laptop running Vista 64bit and mainly use Firefox as my browser. Lately Firefox has been crashing very often - it slows down then I get a runtime environment error and it crashes. Since last night, however, both IE and Firefox are now crashing within seconds of starting.

This started just after I had used system restore to take the laptop back to a point a few days ago as I had deleted my IE browsing history by mistake when I deleted cookies to be sure of a cashback transaction and I wanted to find some things I had forgot to save to favourites last week. The browsing history still wasn't there on the old restore point, though, so I just undid it to put it back to how it had been. When it rebooted I also got a flash update message and installed that but from then on the instant crashes began. I thought flash might be the problem so I uninstalled it but that didn't help. I ran some virus scans but they didn't find anything and I also used system restore again to go back a few more days to see if that would fix it but nothing has worked.

I tried Firefox in safe mode and IE without add-ons this morning as well but they still crashed instantly. While searching for IE without add-ons, however, I clicked on IE 64bit which does seem to be working and has only crashed once since I clicked on it a couple of hours ago. I had always thought the IE icon in my Dell Dock was IE 64bit but it must not be. At least I can now get online in some capacity but I would be really grateful for any advice on how to fix this problem. Thanks.

Regards

Michelle

busenbust

I tried Firefox in safe mode and IE without add-ons this morning as well and while searching for IE without add-ons I clicked on IE 64bit which worked

So, are IE and Firefox now fully functioning you say?

mleonard79

busenbust wrote: »

So, are IE and Firefox now fully functioning you say?

Hi Busenbust,

No they're not fully functional. Sorry for that confusing sentence - I've now modified it. It is the IE 64bit that seems to be working but Firefox and the IE (I presume 32bit) that I click to from my Dell Dock and start menus are both still crashing instantly. Firefox in safe mode and IE without add-ons did not work either.

Regards

Michelle

busenbust

I assume then that you are using W7 64-bit? AFAIK, there are no compatibility issues between this and IE/Firefox. (I am unsure what relevance the Dell Dock has here?). If IE 64bit is working then what is the issue? What is your default browser - what would you like it to be;) . How about un-installing FireFox and then re-installing?

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Uninstalling+Firefox

mleonard79

busenbust wrote: »

I assume then that you are using W7 64-bit? AFAIK, there are no compatibility issues between this and IE/Firefox. (I am unsure what relevance the Dell Dock has here?). If IE 64bit is working then what is the issue? What is your default browser - what would you like it to be;) . How about un-installing FireFox and then re-installing?

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Uninstalling+Firefox

Hi Busenbust,

I'm using Vista Home Premium 64Bit - I got the laptop in June so it's a bit too old for Windows 7.

The Dell Dock is isn't important other than it is the thing from which I click on IE to open it regularly - whenever I click on the IE icons there and on my taskbar/desktop IE just crashes instantly so I want to find out what is causing this and fix it. I'm presuming it is the 32 version and I may need that for certain websites.

I want to be able to use both browsers but mainly Firefox which is the one I prefer and set to default. If I try to uninstall and reinstall Firefox would I lose all my saved bookmarks? Is there a way I can get to them and save them since I can't do it via opening the browser?

Mainly I'm concerned about what is causing these crashes and the laptop has become slow to start up since this all started as well. Thanks again.

Regards

Michelle

busenbust

mleonard79 wrote: »

Hi Busenbust,

I'm using Vista Home Premium 64Bit - I got the laptop in June so it's a bit too old for Windows 7.

The Dell Dock is isn't important other than it is the thing from which I click on IE to open it regularly - whenever I click on the IE icons there and on my taskbar/desktop IE just crashes instantly so I want to find out what is causing this and fix it. I'm presuming it is the 32 version and I may need that for certain websites.

I want to be able to use both browsers but mainly Firefox which is the one I prefer and set to default. If I try to uninstall and reinstall Firefox would I lose all my saved bookmarks? Is there a way I can get to them and save them since I can't do it via opening the browser?

Mainly I'm concerned about what is causing these crashes and the laptop has become slow to start up since this all started as well. Thanks again.

Regards

Michelle

Bookmarks/Organize Bookmarks/Import & Backup

I would troubleshoot this incrementally; try and resolve Firefox first and then IE or vice-versa

I would also not start up these problem applications with Dell Dock; for the meantime stick with standard Windows.

Anything else;)

Mainly I'm concerned about what is causing these crashes and the laptop has become slow to start up since this all started as well. Thanks again.

^What is your current anti -virus and -malware protection? Is it up-to-date? Might I suggest that you download and run http://www.malwarebytes.org/ just to rule out any type of infection.

mleonard79

busenbust wrote: »

Bookmarks/Organize Bookmarks/Import & Backup

I know this method but as Firefox is crashing instantly I can't use it - it's one of those things I know I should do every so often but have just forgotten so far with this laptop :mad: Is there any other way to get at the bookmarks when you can't open Firefox?

busenbust wrote: »

What is your current anti -virus and -malware protection? Is it up-to-date? Might I suggest that you download and run http://www.malwarebytes.org/ just to rule out any type of infection.

I ran malwarebytes last night and it came up with nothing. I have the free Avira Anti-Vir, Windows Defender and Firewall and Malwarebytes. I ran an Avira scan too which said there was no malware but that there were two files it could not open to scan. I don't know if that is important or not. Thanks.

busenbust

Your bookmarks are associated with the profile that you are using. For most Firefox users, the only profile used is the default one

Source: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Lost+Bookmarks :cool:

I think if you un-install you will not lose your existing bookmarks. Are you able to view Profile Manager? Might be good to check if you can prior to un-installing. The spanner in the works is how heavily corrupted your Firefox has become...

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles#Starting_the_Profile_Manager

mleonard79

busenbust wrote: »

Source: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Lost+Bookmarks :cool:

I think if you un-install you will not lose your existing bookmarks. Are you able to view Profile Manager? Might be good to check if you can prior to un-installing. The spanner in the works is how heavily corrupted your Firefox has become...

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles#Starting_the_Profile_Manager

It looks like it is pretty corrupted - I can bring up the Profile Manager but I get the dreaded "firefox is not working" error message and it crashes within a few seconds before I can even click on anything.

busenbust

^Your call. Can you back up IE bookmarks if they replicate those of Firefox (manually input I realize that) :cool:

mleonard79

busenbust wrote: »

^Your call. Can you back up IE bookmarks if they replicate those of Firefox (manually input I realize that) :cool:

I've backed up my IE bookmarks via the 64bit IE but they aren't the same bookmarks I'm afraid - I tried to import the Firefox ones to IE but that's what made IE crash earlier so I abandoned that idea.

I think I may have saved them via the instructions on THIS page - I could copy the profile over without opening profile manager this way. At least I should have a list of all the favourites now even if I can't restore them to a new install of firefox. I'll have a go at uninstalling and reinstalling now.