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Every time I restart, FF loses my Norton toolbar and I have to have them reinstall it

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Every time I restart my computer, FF loses my Norton toolbar and I have to contact Norton support, and have them remotely reinstall the toolbar. This time (12/24/13) they had to delete the old FireFox data and reinstall Firefox. This is really a pain. Why does this happen. I am reluctant to restart the computer as I know I will have to go through this routine again. Why does this happen and what can I do to avoid it, (besides switching to a different browser)

Every time I restart my computer, FF loses my Norton toolbar and I have to contact Norton support, and have them remotely reinstall the toolbar. This time (12/24/13) they had to delete the old FireFox data and reinstall Firefox. This is really a pain. Why does this happen. I am reluctant to restart the computer as I know I will have to go through this routine again. Why does this happen and what can I do to avoid it, (besides switching to a different browser)

All Replies (7)

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Did Norton support preserve your bookmarks at least?!

I assume your Norton software is up-to-date, so it's not a matter of Firefox disabling it because it's old. You can always check for that on the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a
  • orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions. The disabled extensions cluster toward the bottom.

Typically with security suites, Firefox will discover their toolbars and other extensions by scanning the registry. Normally on Windows XP, there's no reason this would be blocked (the way permissions work is simpler than on Vista and later versions of Windows). But if the extensions are gone from the Add-ons page, the registry scan might be failing, or the data file which Firefox compiles during the registry scan might be corrupted.

Could you update us after the next time you shut down and restart Windows?

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Do you have security software or other software that may place Firefox files in a sandbox environment that may restore files on reboot?

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Sorry but this did not fix the issue. In fact, I am in the que to have Norton reinstall the toolbar. I have to do this Every time I restart the computer. This issue is well known, but FF offers no resolution.

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Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over the problem.

cor-el trɔe

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Hi sprintrps, could you keep notes on the procedure and let us know what Norton support does? I just don't understand why Firefox would lose track of those toolbars. As long as they remain listed in the registry in the locations that Firefox checks, Firefox should not lose track of them.

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I am not a computer guy (66 years old) Norton runs their "live Updates" 2-3 times until each section reads : Not Required". Then restart and the toolbar reappears.

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Got it. No idea why you would need to run those Norton updates again every time you restart your computer. Very strange.