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Why does every version of Firefox seem less stable of the version before?

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Firefox used to be the best and most stable browser around, but the last few years I've been noticing major memory leaks that get worse with every update. Simply submitting a crash report from one browser won't make any difference here because I'm not just talking about one computer. An old version of Firefox on my Windows XP desktop is completely stable, but on my windows 7 laptop Firefox will crash 3 or 4 times a day. On my samsung s4 phone and on my Xperia z2 tablet I have the same problem, only it's worse because on those devices is kept up-to-date. At my college they have Firefox installed on instanced sessions of Windows. Basically, the campus sets up the machine once and create an instance of it on all of the computers on campus. Firefox is up to date or just one version behind on any given day and it also crashes constantly.

There is no particular reason for it either. I could be completely idle and doing nothing and it will crash. Or I can open a new tab and it will crash. Or I could be doing absolutely nothing but reading without touching anything and I will see the screen blink black and then it will crash.

Whatever you guys did, Internet Explorer is now more stable than Firefox. Oh, that's slow, but at least it won't crash on me several times a day.

To that typically use multiple devices I am experiencing in excess of 10 crashes of Firefox a loan in any given day and nothing else crashes on any system. I definitely won't be updating Firefox on my desktop, nor on my laptop because at least it doesn't crash as much as on the updated devices, but I like Firefox to be stable again or to know about a stable fork that I can use on my updated devices.

Firefox used to be the best and most stable browser around, but the last few years I've been noticing major memory leaks that get worse with every update. Simply submitting a crash report from one browser won't make any difference here because I'm not just talking about one computer. An old version of Firefox on my Windows XP desktop is completely stable, but on my windows 7 laptop Firefox will crash 3 or 4 times a day. On my samsung s4 phone and on my Xperia z2 tablet I have the same problem, only it's worse because on those devices is kept up-to-date. At my college they have Firefox installed on instanced sessions of Windows. Basically, the campus sets up the machine once and create an instance of it on all of the computers on campus. Firefox is up to date or just one version behind on any given day and it also crashes constantly. There is no particular reason for it either. I could be completely idle and doing nothing and it will crash. Or I can open a new tab and it will crash. Or I could be doing absolutely nothing but reading without touching anything and I will see the screen blink black and then it will crash. Whatever you guys did, Internet Explorer is now more stable than Firefox. Oh, that's slow, but at least it won't crash on me several times a day. To that typically use multiple devices I am experiencing in excess of 10 crashes of Firefox a loan in any given day and nothing else crashes on any system. I definitely won't be updating Firefox on my desktop, nor on my laptop because at least it doesn't crash as much as on the updated devices, but I like Firefox to be stable again or to know about a stable fork that I can use on my updated devices.

All Replies (4)

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Well this is lovely. Apparently using the right-click copy option in ebay to copy a tracking number crashes the browser every time without ever pulling up a crash report window, but control-C doesn't crash it.

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No, wait, using right-click ANYWHERE now causes a crash. Well this is new. However, I don't want the latest version on this system because it STILL crashes less unpredictably than on my machines with the latest version installed.

Problem signature:

 Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
 Application Name:	firefox.exe
 Application Version:	20.0.1.4847
 Application Timestamp:	51650aee
 Fault Module Name:	StackHash_db8a
 Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
 Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
 Exception Code:	c0000090
 Exception Offset:	02f2287a
 OS Version:	6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
 Locale ID:	1033
 Additional Information 1:	db8a
 Additional Information 2:	db8a14617194b5f9befe703aa3484fe3
 Additional Information 3:	b080
 Additional Information 4:	b08081fa9e5c2c497ad19a26ba45d00c
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Moving to desktop questions forum.

A first step is to try a reset https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings

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Hi Elliander, when Firefox crashes, it usually records information about what was happening at that moment. You often will see the Mozilla Crash Reporter dialog come up. You can submit that data to Mozilla and share it with forum volunteers to see whether it points to the solution. Please check the last section of the support article "Firefox Crashes" for steps to get those crash IDs, and then post some of the recent ones here.


If you only get the Windows 7 crash dialog, then unfortunately that information might not be available.

In that case, have you tried Firefox's Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic tool to deactivate extensions and some advanced features of Firefox. More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any less crashy?


Also, this is strange:

Application Name:	firefox.exe
Application Version:	20.0.1.4847

What version do you actually have?