Hi, you are currently using the latest version 38.0.5 - you can check by opening the 3-bar menu > Help (question mark at bottom) > About Firefox.

Going back to an older version is not recommended as it may compromise your security, however if you really want to do it please see - Install an older version of Firefox.

If your question is resolved by this or another answer, please take a minute to let us know. Thank you.

I have gone back to v36, and still loathe the browser. It's not what I have used for years, and I think I'll follow Firefox's advice and go to Chrome. Or is there some way of getting rid of the advertising and and the cutesy intrusive graphics?

Please explain what you are talking about. Ads? Bad web pages? How the display looks? Options?

Adblock Plus {web link} Blocks annoying video ads on YouTube, Facebook ads, banners and much more. Adblock Plus blocks all annoying ads, and supports websites by not blocking unobtrusive ads by default (configurable).

Adblock Plus Pop-up Addon {web link} Adblock Plus Pop-up Addon extends the blocking functionality of Adblock Plus to those annoying pop-up windows that open on mouse clicks and other user actions.

Forum; Adblock Plus Homepage {web link}

Hello, if you have ad popups all the time even you've blocked popups, then may be it is a result of malware installed on your computer.

You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

• Microsoft Safety Scanner
• MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware
• Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller
• AdwCleaner (for more info, see this alternate AdwCleaner download page)
• Hitman Pro
• ESET Online Scanner

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one. Windows 8 has antivirus built-in already.

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

thank you

The ads I'm complaining about are clearly part and parcel of Firefox - for example the one where two women are looking over to the left of the screen - their right - who see a man making some senseless comment. I didn't ask for that advertisement, don't want it, and don't know how to eradicate it or the one with the cutesy vegetable font.

I cannot express how disappointed I was to 'upgrade' Firefox and be lumbered with this stuff.

I was in Europe from late May to early June, but used Firefox from my laptop and never saw these changes and wasn't advised to upgrade. It was only when I returned to Australia, and only a few days ago, that I was advised to upgrade. I really wish I had ignored the message.

Hi Alex, the video is part of a online privacy awareness campaign. These campaigns run for a couple weeks and will change. In fact, if you use Ctrl+r, you may get something different on the next reload. If you prefer to have a "plain" home page that doesn't have changing messages and campaigns, you have a couple different options:

(1) Choose a completely different home page, such as the one you use most for searching, or

(2) Apply custom style rules to the home page to hide the changing snippets (there are a variety of techniques for this, which someone can detail if this is what you prefer)

On the more general issue of loathing... You probably remember that there was a major user interface change in Firefox 29 about 14 months ago. At that time, many users installed the Classic Theme Restorer extension to retain the earlier look and feel. Perhaps you were using CTR for the past year and now suddenly you are seeing the newer UI? That could happen if you inadvertently used the Refresh feature. Some users are reporting that during a version update Firefox is reporting a slow startup and suggesting you could speed up the browser by restoring a few default settings. Clicking that button runs the Refresh feature and would have removed CTR and moved your old settings folder to the desktop inside an Old Firefox Data folder. Do you see anything like that?

Also, these extensions look somewhat malware-ish and their email domains do not exist:

• Dowwnload ekeePER 1.6 ([email protected])
• SearchNewTab 1.0 ([email protected])

Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons. I know it seems long, but it's not that bad.

(A) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.

(B) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
• in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
  firefox.exe "about:addons"

In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that all extensions are optional; none ship with Firefox.

Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.

Any improvement?

(C) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.

Success?

jscher2000 said

Hi Alex, the video is part of a online privacy awareness campaign. These campaigns run for a couple weeks and will change. In fact, if you use Ctrl+r, you may get something different on the next reload. If you prefer to have a "plain" home page that doesn't have changing messages and campaigns, you have a couple different options: (1) Choose a completely different home page, such as the one you use most for searching, or (2) Apply custom style rules to the home page to hide the changing snippets (there are a variety of techniques for this, which someone can detail if this is what you prefer)

Thanks for all the trouble you've taken. I'll try to answer your three replies separately since they have different topics. Your first point in this reply is the best suggestion I've seen yet - it's what I did when I was using before I 'upgraded.'

jscher2000 said

On the more general issue of loathing... You probably remember that there was a major user interface change in Firefox 29 about 14 months ago. At that time, many users installed the Classic Theme Restorer extension to retain the earlier look and feel. Perhaps you were using CTR for the past year and now suddenly you are seeing the newer UI? That could happen if you inadvertently used the Refresh feature. Some users are reporting that during a version update Firefox is reporting a slow startup and suggesting you could speed up the browser by restoring a few default settings. Clicking that button runs the Refresh feature and would have removed CTR and moved your old settings folder to the desktop inside an Old Firefox Data folder. Do you see anything like that?

Yes, I still have the 'Old Firefox Data' folder, on my desktop but haven't been able to read any of the files in it. Is it possible to find out from that old data what site I Firefox went to when I opened Firefox before 'upgrading'? It's actually my personal website, but silly me didn't see any reason to make a separate note of the address; I just went there.

Also, I should have mention in the post about unwanted advertisements the one which nags me about getting Firefox for Androids. I have an Android tablet, but never use it to go to websites. So the nagging does is irritate me.

jscher2000 said

Also, these extensions look somewhat malware-ish and their email domains do not exist:

• Dowwnload ekeePER 1.6 ([email protected])
• SearchNewTab 1.0 ([email protected])

Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons. I know it seems long, but it's not that bad. I have CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and AVG antivirus programs, and run them regularly. I am sure that the problems I am experiencing are related to the upgrade to Firefox, not my computer being affected by viruses or other malware. If I could work out a way to transfer all my bookmarks to Chrome I'd do it, and erase Firefox from my computer. (A) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here. (B) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
• in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
  firefox.exe "about:addons"

In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate". In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that all extensions are optional; none ship with Firefox. Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step. Any improvement? (C) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case. Success?

There are 3 ways to get rid of the "promotions" that Mozilla runs in the default home page - about:home . [The videos that appear above the search field, that replace the Firefox "brandLogo" image, and the message that appears below the search field.]

The easiest way to get around that is to just set your own homepage and not use the "default" about:home page. See - How to set the home page

You can use this UserStyle - https://userstyles.org/styles/104673/about-home-hide-snippets-and-hide-brand-logo - to hide the two sections of the about:home homepage that Mozilla sends messages and videos to when they feel the "need".

Many of us have disabled the changes to the top part [brandLogo portion] of the Firefox Start Page and turned off the advertising "snippets" [below the Search container] that Mozilla is using all the time now, so that we don't see that "stuff".

If you feel venturesome, here's how to "fix it". Type about:config in the Location Bar and hit Enter. Accept the "dragons" message to see the advanced prefs screen. Use the Search field at the top to enter the pref mentioned below.

You can set the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref to an empty string to stop your Firefox from retrieving "snippets" and brandLogo changes. Right-click that pref and select Modify then clear the Value for that pref in the box that appears, then click OK. That will also disable the "snippets" that appear below the Search container on the default homepage.

Then you need to open your Profile folder, via Help > Troubeshooting Information > Profile folder >> Show Folder button. Then close Firefox. With your Profile folder open and Firefox closed ("3-bar" Firefox menu button > Exit/Quit), wait minute or so, then delete the storage\moz-safe-about+home folder in the Firefox profile folder to remove the brandLogo and snippets stored in IndexedDB to make Firefox use the default brandLogo and a default snippet set.

Then restart Firefox for those changes to take effect.

If you should later change your mind about those modifications, you can reset the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref via the right-click context menu and use Reset to get the default value back to start using the storage\moz-safe-about+home folder again.

Thanks, ed-meister. I'd very much like to set my own home page back to the one I used before I 'upgraded' Firefox. Is there any way to find the URL of that website from the 'Old Firefox data' folder?

And I have a new complaint: I design ebooks for a hobby, and while doing that frequently I refer to the online Oxford Dictionary. Before I 'upgraded' Firefox I could go there and not see any of their very many advertisements. Upgrading Firefox has removed the extension I used to block ads. Is there any way to turn adblocker back on?

Regards, Alex

Sorry, I have never used the Refresh Firefox feature ao I don't know exactly is in that "pld Firefox data" folder - that button is only in the default Profile which I rarely even use. Look for a file named prefs.js and open it with a text reader program, like Notepad; search for browser.startup.homepage and the URL for that pref is your former homepage.

As far as adblockers go - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ - is the one that I am currently using - install it and see how it works for you.

AlexBell said

Yes, I still have the 'Old Firefox Data' folder, on my desktop but haven't been able to read any of the files in it. Is it possible to find out from that old data what site I Firefox went to when I opened Firefox before 'upgrading'? It's actually my personal website, but silly me didn't see any reason to make a separate note of the address; I just went there.

Your previously set home page address is in a file named prefs.js which you can view by right-clicking it and choosing Edit. (Don't choose Open for script files, since Windows will try to execute them with unpredictable consequences).

By default, Windows hides the .js file extension, so you may see a file named prefs of type JScript, which is the prefs.js file. I suggest forcing Windows to show ALL file extension to make it easier to manage file renaming. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions#show-hide-file-name-extensions=windows-7

If you use Notepad's search feature, you can look for home and probably find a line that contains browser.startup.homepage which will list your old home page address. You can copy just the address (without quotation marks) and paste that into the Options page to reselect that home page.

Oops, you already know that from the previous reply.

AlexBell said

jscher2000 said

Also, these extensions look somewhat malware-ish and their email domains do not exist:

• Dowwnload ekeePER 1.6 ([email protected])
• SearchNewTab 1.0 ([email protected])

I have CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and AVG antivirus programs, and run them regularly. I am sure that the problems I am experiencing are related to the upgrade to Firefox, not my computer being affected by viruses or other malware.

Perhaps, but, where did those suspicious extensions come from? Many users get upgrade popups from websites that lead them to unofficial installers packed with junk. This could explain why things went so wrong on your last update. It's not very useful to change preferences on an infected system, as the unwanted software just changes them right back. You cannot win the battle without removing the badware. In our experience here, different scanners use different lists for removal, so you often need to apply human intelligence, manual cleanup, and supplemental scanning. That is the reason for the step-by-step directions I posted earlier.

There is no built-in way to "undo" a Refresh, I'll post the steps to do it by hand so you can revert to your old settings if you decide to do that. You may want to print this, or have it open in a different program since you'll need to exit Firefox to follow these steps.

Check inside "Old Firefox Data" folder that Refresh adds to your desktop for a folder with a semi-randomized name. If there's only one, that probably has your old settings and add-ons. If there's more than one, you'll want to work with the one that was updated most recently.

Once you have identified the profile folder you want to restore, here is my suggested "old profile resurrection procedure":

Overview

These are the steps described in more details below:

1. Create a new Firefox profile
2. Remove everything from that new profile folder
3. Copy in everything from the old profile folder

Create a new Firefox profile (Windows)

Exit Firefox and start up in the Profile Manager by pasting the following into the Start menu search box, or the Start > Run dialog, and pressing Enter:

firefox.exe -P

Note: Any time you want to switch profiles, exit Firefox and return to this dialog.

Click the Create Profile button, assign a name like OldSettings, and skip the option to change the folder location. Then select that new profile in the dialog and start Firefox.

Open the New Profile folder in Windows Explorer

Firefox in the new profile should look like a factory fresh installation. Open the Troubleshooting Information page using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• Help menu > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table, click the "Show Folder" button. Firefox will launch your brand new profile folder in Windows Explorer.

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

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

When Firefox closes, the profile folder should be front and center, or you can activate it using the Task bar.

Copy Old Data in Place of New

In that new profile folder, double-check that it's the new one by confirming that many of the files were just updated seconds ago. Then select all the contents and delete.

Leaving that window open, open or switch over to your Old Firefox Data folder. Drill down into your old profile folder. At this level you should see a folder named bookmarkbackups among other things.

Select everything (Ctrl+a) and Copy (either right-click > Copy or Ctrl+c).

Switch to the empty new profile folder in other window and Paste (either right-click > Paste or Ctrl+v). This may take a minute since some of the files are large.

Start Firefox

Firefox should start up in that "new" profile with the resurrected old profile data. Success?

jscher2000 said

AlexBell said

Yes, I still have the 'Old Firefox Data' folder, on my desktop but haven't been able to read any of the files in it. Is it possible to find out from that old data what site I Firefox went to when I opened Firefox before 'upgrading'? It's actually my personal website, but silly me didn't see any reason to make a separate note of the address; I just went there.

Your previously set home page address is in a file named prefs.js which you can view by right-clicking it and choosing Edit. (Don't choose Open for script files, since Windows will try to execute them with unpredictable consequences).

By default, Windows hides the .js file extension, so you may see a file named prefs of type JScript, which is the prefs.js file. I suggest forcing Windows to show ALL file extension to make it easier to manage file renaming. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions#show-hide-file-name-extensions=windows-7

If you use Notepad's search feature, you can look for home and probably find a line that contains browser.startup.homepage which will list your old home page address. You can copy just the address (without quotation marks) and paste that into the Options page to reselect that home page.

Oops, you already know that from the previous reply.

AlexBell said

jscher2000 said

Also, these extensions look somewhat malware-ish and their email domains do not exist:

• Dowwnload ekeePER 1.6 ([email protected])
• SearchNewTab 1.0 ([email protected])

I have CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and AVG antivirus programs, and run them regularly. I am sure that the problems I am experiencing are related to the upgrade to Firefox, not my computer being affected by viruses or other malware.

Perhaps, but, where did those suspicious extensions come from? Many users get upgrade popups from websites that lead them to unofficial installers packed with junk. This could explain why things went so wrong on your last update. It's not very useful to change preferences on an infected system, as the unwanted software just changes them right back. You cannot win the battle without removing the badware. In our experience here, different scanners use different lists for removal, so you often need to apply human intelligence, manual cleanup, and supplemental scanning. That is the reason for the step-by-step directions I posted earlier.

Thanks for the information about the pref.js file, and for all the trouble you've taken to respond to my complaints. I really appreciate it.

I have been able to get my previous home page link and set it so that Firefox opens there. I'll continue using the current version of Firefox - mainly because I don't have the skills or the courage to follow the process outlined in the post after this.

One more question, and I'll leave you in peace. You found two extensions that you thought were 'malwareish'. How do I remove them?

Hi, open the Add-ons Manager (Ctrl + Shift + A), select Extensions on the left-hand side, and you should be able to either Disable or Remove them from there.

AlexBell said

I loathe the current version of Firefox, and was much happier with the previous version. I'm afraid I don't know what the current version number is, and don't know what the previous version number was, but so far as I know it was the latest before this new version. How do I revert to the earlier version, while keeping all my addons and bookmarks? If I can get the previous version I will certainly store it on my computer so I don't have to ask this question again. Regards, Alex

Thanks. I did that, and all I saw was the adblocker I downloaded last night. I didn't see ekeePER or SearchNewTab, or anthing like that.

The extensions showed up on the Support Information page, which you could double-check again. Any of these methods should open it:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

If you scroll down a bit there should be an Extensions section. Are they gone from that list?

I don't know about these two extensions, but some have "self-hiding" features and can only be seen in the Add-ons manager in Firefox's Safe Mode. You could check as follows:

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).

Anything new show up there?