Windows XP3 Firefox works for one use, not another.
Using windows XP SP3 and latest Firefox. On normal user Fire fox suddenly will not load. Click on Icon and it seems to load but does not appear on desktop. Looking in Windows Task Manager it looks like ti is running. Never appears open on desktop On user "Admin", it boots and works normally. BOTH Admin and other user are admin security levels. I have downloaded and installed the latest update but no change. Thunderbird works normally on all users. There are only two user names on this machine. My problem is with another machine. I have compared some settings from this one to the faulty on and found no noticable differences.
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Occasionally the Firefox window will get off screen. Here are three different
approaches to getting that window into view. One of them should work!
Firefox Window "off screen" — Arrow Key Method
If you know that Firefox is off to a particular side, you can use the arrow keys
to move it back on screen. You only need to move it far enough to be able to
click the title bar and then you can drag it the rest of the way.
Make the Firefox tile active on the task bar and press this key combination
to start moving the window:
Alt+Spacebar > m
(To clarify, that's Alt+Spacebar to open the window control menu, then the
letter m to start moving the window.)
Press the arrow key for the direction you want to move the window, e.g., press
the left arrow key to move the window left. Press the Enter key to complete the move.
Firefox Window "off screen" — Maximize + New Window Script Method
If Firefox is nowhere to be found but you know it's out there, try this method.
Make the Firefox tile active on the task bar and press this key combination to
maximize the window:
Alt+Spacebar > x
(To clarify, that's Alt+Spacebar to open the window control menu, then the letter
x to maximize the window.)
If that works, try this:
(1) Copy the following line of code to the clipboard (it's all one line...):
newwin=window.open(window.location.href, "_blank",
"width=640,height=480,menubar,toolbar,personalbar");
newwin.moveTo(0,0);
(2) In the maximized window, press Ctrl+Shift+k to open the web console.
(3) Press Ctrl+v to paste the line of code next to the caret (») then press Enter to run it.
A new copy of that page should open in a window positioned at the top left of the screen.
(4) Switch back to the maximized window and close it first, before doing anything
in the new window.
Firefox Window "off screen" — Remove Settings File
If you can't move or maximize Firefox, you can rename or delete the settings
file that stores the last window position.
(1) Open your currently active Firefox settings folder (AKA Firefox profile folder).
From the Start menu (Run box or search box), paste this into the search box and press Enter:
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
This should open a window showing one or more Firefox profile folders. If you have multiple
folders, look for the most recent. Click into your profile folder.
(2) If Firefox is still running, right-click it on the Task Bar and Close all Windows.
(3) Wait a few moments for Firefox to finish updating files in your profile folder, then rename
localstore.rdf to something else, like localstore-bad.rdf or localstore.old.
Alternately, you can delete the file.
(4) You're done with your profile folder and you can restart Firefox now.