After a reset, it is normal for Firefox to try to recover your last session, so the reset might have worked up to that point. However, if Firefox cannot automatically restore your session, it presents that post-crash screen so you can start up with the windows/tabs most important to you and try to avoid whatever problem made it impossible to restore the full session.

But Firefox keeps starting up that way still?

One possible reason is that Firefox not shutting down cleanly -- it thinks it has crashed during shutdown.

Another possible reason is a user.js file in your profile (settings) folder which is overriding your regular startup setting. This article describes how to check for that: How to fix preferences that won't save.

What was the original reason for doing a Reset? Maybe you have some lingering issues from that time?

F-Fox was working, but slow. I got a message during one session that FF was slow & recommended doing RESET to help it go faster. I had done that about a year ago and it worked as designed. So I'm able to function OK now, but was responding to the alert from F-Fox to RESET because they see it's running slow. After getting the error message about an open page somewhere I tried to run RESET after cold start, but I still get the "Well this is embarrassing ..." message that RESET can't work.

Hi coastie, if you got the Old Firefox Data folder on your desktop, the Reset worked, and the only problem is redisplaying your old windows and tabs.

If you do not need to show your old windows and tabs again, you could rename the session history file so Firefox can't find it again. Here is how you would do that:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• Help menu > Troubleshooting Information

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
• File menu > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename sessionstore.js to something like sessionstore.old (if .js does not appear on any of the sessionstore files, you can unhide the extension using the steps in this Microsoft support article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/865219)

Start Firefox back up again. It shouldn't report that it's embarrassed this time.

JS,

Changed sessionstore.js to "dot old " per suggestion & did RESET again. I still get the "Well this is embarrassing ..." screen, but the sessionstore.js is back & Old Firefox Data folder is back. F-Fox seems to be snappier, so I guess it worked even tho I still get the "embarrassing" screen.

Thanks for your help!

Something seems to be causing Firefox to crash at shutdown. This could be related to an add-on, but assuming you do not see the Mozilla Crash Reporter, it could be difficult to uncover the culprit.