Firefox problem

madelaine

Hi, could someone please tell me how i can solve the following problem, in simple terms, as not very good with pc problems, have tried uninstall and reinstalling, but still have same message. Thanks

Could not initialise the application's security component. The most probable cause is problems with files in your browser's profile directory. Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard drive is not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the browser and fix the problem. If you continue to use this browser session, you might see incorrect browser behaviour when accessing security features.

Linbox

Back up you profile.

1. At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Help menu and select Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
2. Under the Application Basics section, click on Open Containing Folder. A window with your profile files will open.
3. Save this folder to somewhere else
4. export you bookmarks to a html file.
5. setup firefox sync

Close firefox
Delete/uninstall/remove firefox, when it asks do you want to keep firefox data say no.
Use Ccleaner to clean the registry and remove left over components.
Reinstall Firefox
make sure that firefox works as expected - (your security issues)

If all is good -

Use profile manager to point to the old profile. This will install all your bookmarks passwords and addons back to fire fox.
If your problems return at this point the profile you just reloaded is corrupt. go back to profile manager and delete this profile.
Then - Re setup to your existing account in firefox sync but this wont reload any addons.

madelaine

Hi Linbox, thankyou for your reply, I have followed your instructions to point 2, but i don't know how to save it to somewhere else, the file option on top of page does not show up.

OneADay

You can try this
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_default_profile

Linbox

madelaine wrote: »

i don't know how to save it to somewhere else, the file option on top of page does not show up.

In windows xp use the up button to go to the profile directory/floder
in Windows 7 click on the word profile.
Now you will see a folder with the name of random letters something like xhyerv.default

right click on the xhyerv.default folder and select copy
then go to your documents folder and right click paste.

madelaine

Thanks for trying to help, but something weird seems to be happening, pages don't seem to load fully, next to the cursor, is the circle that keeps going around, as if page hasn't loaded properly, think it is beyond my capabilities.

Linbox

Is this only happening in firefox?
Have you tried any other browsers?
You would have internet explorer installed as standard.

madelaine

Hi, no it is also doing it in internet explorer, but it will let me do things in internet explorer, don't know why this has only just started happening.

RussJK

Try going through this specific advice for this particular error:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Could%20not%20initialize%20the%20browser%20security%20component

In short, the two most likely reasons are low hard drive space, or a corrupt file that is easy enough to delete (Can't see any reason why you'd lose write access).

I'd suggest you confirm how much space is left on Drive C as per the steps provided, especially since you are getting the same problem in IE.

madelaine

Thanks for your reply, I have checked space on Hard drive, Local c 203GB free of 232GB, Windows Experience rating Basic 5.9, that seems fine to me, not being tecnically minded. I have tried running Malwarebytes and ccleaner and nothing to report, so i am at a loss.

RussJK

Try the rest of the steps anyway. Strange then why IE is doing the same, I wonder what the common cause is then.

Does the problem still occur after you restart/reboot the machine by the way?

If so, try Firefox portable as it will eliminate both your Firefox installation and your current profile as the problem (make sure you've completely closed down firefox before running the portable version):
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable