5 Ways to Fix Firefox has stopped working

5 Ways to Fix Firefox has stopped working

June 19, 2020 1 By mindmingles

Firefox is one of the better alternatives to Chrome and Edge. However, Firefox has a lot of problems and crashes in the next few days when you do outstanding work. In most cases, it will show an unwanted pop-up that closes the browser. In this article, we will explore some possible solutions for Firefox stopped working or Firefox crashes.

Firefox stopped working. In our case, we’ve updated Windows 10 to the latest version with the automatic upgrade function. From that point, Firefox will open and display the following message.

  • How did Firefox stopped working?
  • To solve the problem, we tried some solutions that worked the last time. Here is a list of resolutions we tried:
  • Disable hardware acceleration
  • Disables smooth scrolling
  • Disable extensions such as Ad Blocker
  • Delete cookies
  • Delete proxy settings
  • Establish basic protection
  • Reinstall Firefox
  • Clean and reinstall Windows 10
  • Disable automatic update

1. Disable hardware acceleration

We refer to this as the first option because it becomes the final solution for us after trying other options. You can find out more about our hardware in our exclusive article on hardware acceleration.

To disable hardware acceleration in Firefox, follow these instructions: Browser Launch the browser and open the “About: Preferences” URL in the address bar. Alternatively, you can go to the three-horizontal line at the top right and select the “Options” menu.

  • Scroll down to the “General” section to find the “Performance” option.
  • Typically, Firefox automatically enables the “Use Recommended Performance Settings” option.
  • Disable the option for more hidden options.
  • Now, disable the “hardware acceleration when available” option.
  • Disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.
  • To check this, please close your browser and restart.

2. Disable smooth scrolling, disable extensions like adblock and VPN

If the first option doesn’t work, go back to the preference page. Below the “Performance” section, you have the “Sing the Braves” section. Here, do not select the “Use Auto scrolling” and “Use Smooth Scrolling” options. Now check whether the browser is working without crashing. Disable scrolling options.

Extensions can cause problems for you after Firefox automatically upgrades to the latest version. In our experience, ad blocking and especially VPN extensions have caused unexpected results and crashes. If you have an ad blocker or similar filter extensions, check them out.

It is advisable to disable all extensions entirely or to use private mode to check the browser. Before you go to the “About: addons” page, make sure that no extensions for the browser are installed.

3. Delete cookies and proxy settings

If you have trouble opening some websites, it’s because of cookies. Corrupted or altered cookies can cause an unintended browser crash.

  • Go to the “About: Preferences # Privacy” page.
  • Scroll to the “Cookies and Site Data” section.
  • To delete all cookies stored in Firefox, click the “Clear data …” button.

The advantage of Firefox is that it has an inbuilt proxy setting to root the Internet connection. This allows you to perform two network setups – one for Firefox and the other for your computer. Unfortunately, the proxy structure causes some problems for the browser.

If you use a proxy, it is advisable to check that it is disabled.

  • Go to the “About: Preferences # General” page and scroll down.
  • Click the “”Settings”” button under the “”Network Settings”” section.
  • This will open the “Connection Settings” pop-up.
  • Select the “No proxy” option.
  • Click “OK” to close the settings.
  • Delete the proxy in Firefox

4. Set up standard protection and reinstall Firefox

Firefox lets you set different levels of security protection. At times, setting the status quo may cause the browser to crash, or some sites may not open properly.

Open the “”About: Preferences # Privacy”” page.

First, make sure the “Standard” option is selected under the “Browser Server Privacy” section. You can refer to this guide on secure connection failed on Firefox issue. If none of the above solutions work for you, the final option is to uninstall Firefox. To download the latest version of the newest version, go to the Mozilla site and reinstall it on your computer. See our article on How to Install and Uninstall a Program on Windows 10.

5. Clean and reinstall Windows 10 and disable automatic updates

If you are unsure, a problem occurs after Windows 10 is upgraded, then the solution may be to reinstall Windows 10. We do not recommend it because it will take too long, which can cause other problems on your computer. Follow the instructions in this article to reinstall Windows 10 when none of the above options work for you.

Well, this is not the solution. However, in our case, the crash problem starts after the automatic update of Windows 10 and Firefox. Therefore, it is difficult to understand what causes the problem. You can see our article on Disabling Automatic Update on Windows 10. For Firefox, follow the instructions:

  • Go to the “About: Preferences # General” page.
  • Scroll down and find the “Firefox Updates” section.
  • Select the “Check for updates and allow them to install” option. This will disable automatic updates and prompt you when the update is available. This way, you can perform an automatic update and easily see if there is a problem after the update.
  • You can also disable “Automatically update search engines” to prevent Firefox from changing the search engine settings you selected during the update.

Last words

We hope one of the above solutions helped you solve the problem. We have noticed that the wrong mouse browser accidentally crashes. So, when you click on the mouse buttons, check whether there is a crash message.