Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings, disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

• In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button , click Help and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
• In previous Firefox versions, click on the Firefox button at the top left of the Firefox window and click on Help (or click on Help in the Menu bar, if you don't have a Firefox button) then click on Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:

• On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
• On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
• On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
  (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.

I saw that post previously, and had already tried the safe mode, but it doesn't help. I appreciate the effort regardless..

I'm gonna have to switch browsers if I can't get this problem resolved - it's driving me crazy. This is not a threat or a power-play, just a fact - Firefox has all my keyboard shortcuts disabled, and I haven't been able to remedy yet.

PS - They are not disabled in IE, which I'd prefer not to use, but if I don't find a solution soon, I don't see much choice..

Help!? ~R.

Note that the System Details list shows that you have multiple versions of some plugins.

• Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape 11.0.8
• Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape 10.1.11

• Shockwave Flash 14.0 r0
• Shockwave Flash 11.9 r900

You can find the installation path of all plugins on the about:plugins page.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Issues_related_to_plugins#Identifying_installed_plugins

Do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before (re)installing a fresh copy of the current Firefox release.

• Download the full Firefox installer and save the file to the desktop
  https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html

If possible uninstall your current Firefox version to cleanup the Windows registry and settings in security software.

• Do NOT remove "personal data" when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because this will remove all profile folders and you lose personal data like bookmarks and passwords including data in profiles created by other Firefox versions.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

• (32 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\"
• (64 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\"

• It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox

Your bookmarks and other personal data are stored in the Firefox profile folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure NOT to remove personal data when you uninstall Firefox as that will remove all Firefox profile folders and you lose your personal data.

If you keep having problems then also create a new profile.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Clean_reinstall

I'm not sure the implication of this (duplicate plugins), but it has no bearing on the shortcuts problem, since the problem happens in safe mode too (which has no plugins active), unless I've misunderstood something.

PS - I suspect I've had these "duplicate" plugins for a while now..

Thanks - I was hoping this would do it (clean re-install), but didn't, even with deleted profiles.

This is a strange one, to be sure..

Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer. Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.

Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
  http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
• AdwCleaner:
  http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
  http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml
• SuperAntispyware:
  http://www.superantispyware.com/
• Microsoft Safety Scanner:
  http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx
• Windows Defender:
  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender
• Spybot Search & Destroy:
  http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
• Kasperky Free Security Scan:
  http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

• Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
  http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446

See also:

• "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked