The Add-on, Speed Dial 2 looks like it's out-of-date?

Also, what is Dashlane? I can't find that with an Extension search.

If you do this, does the "FireFox has stopped working" go away?:

Menu > Help > Restart With Add-ons Disabled.

~Pj

Hi PJ,

Speed Dial could be out of date. My motto is don't fix it if it ain't broke. Besides which, new versions have an annoying habit of breaking features I need and changing features that I liked better in the original.

Dashlane is basically a password manager with some additional features that I don't use.

I have been using both in FireFox for as long as I've used FireFox, which is a few years by now. This problem started only recently. I didn't document when, but I think it started happening about 3-4 weeks ago.

I will try with add-ons disabled, and report back what happens, but I don't have a way to make the error reliably repeat, so this is a case where I can definitively report if it didn't work, but only guess if it did.

I just tried the "restart with add-ons disabled" route and see that the setting doesn't stick, which means I would have to go through that step every time I launch FireFox, which I launch and then close repeatedly throughout the day. I will try this instead with the extensions disabled individually.

In case, somehow related, FireFox 66.0.4 is out:

There was a Bug-A-Boo with a Certificate Expiration Date dealing with the Add-ons. There's a new FF Version with the main Fix, 66.0.4.

Mozilla Blog Post Update:
A Firefox release has been pushed — version 66.0.4 on Desktop and Android, and version 60.6.2 for ESR. This release repairs the certificate chain to re-enable web extensions, themes, search engines, and language packs that had been disabled (Bug 1549061).
There are remaining issues that we are actively working to resolve, but we wanted to get this fix out before Monday to lessen the impact of disabled add-ons before the start of the week. More information about the remaining issues can be found by clicking on the links to the release notes above.
(May 5, 16:25 EDT)

~Pj

Re: the certificate expiration bug. Yeah, I ran into that too, and have the push fix already. This is something different. It started before the bug kicked in and continued after it was fixed.

MdavidS said

I just tried the "restart with add-ons disabled" route and see that the setting doesn't stick, which means I would have to go through that step every time I launch FireFox, which I launch and then close repeatedly throughout the day. I will try this instead with the extensions disabled individually.

Yes, Restarting With Add-ons Disabled is a one-time TEST for that session to see if your problem disappeared. Did it? If so, then one or more Extension is the likely culprit.

Keeping OLD Extensions can mess-up navigation and/or other things, also. Update the Extensions or get rid of them. You're concerned of certain features going away. However, the concern is just as valid for holding on to out-dated software, also.

~Pj

I think you missed the part about my not having a reliable way to reproduce the error or that I repeatedly launch and close my browser throughout the day. Testing to see if the problem shows up during one short session tells me nothing. I apprecoate you pointing me in the direction of looking at the extensions as a possible source of the problem, but my approach--of disabling one at a time, and then seeing if the problem shows up over an extended period of time will tell me a lot more than a quick test in one session.

As for other, we clearly have different preferences about when and whether to update. New versions often break features and cost me time in coming up with workarounds. So...let's just leave it at that. If the older version Speed Dial turns out to be the problem, it will obviously be time to upgrade it.

Some success in finding a hint of what's going on.

After running for a day with Speed Dial disabled and no crashes, and then getting a crash after enabling it again, I updated Speed Dial. Then I got another crash just now.

The crash is still still not showing in the list crash reports list, but when I go to more information in the dialog box reporting the crash, I get:

Problem signature:

 Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
 Application Name:	firefox.exe
 Application Version:	66.0.4.7063
 Application Timestamp:	5cce1424
 Fault Module Name:	xul.dll
 Fault Module Version:	66.0.4.7063
 Fault Module Timestamp:	5cce151d
 Exception Code:	80000003
 Exception Offset:	0000000001b34347
 OS Version:	6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
 Locale ID:	1033
 Additional Information 1:	f595
 Additional Information 2:	f59510f43d0a09f109c16b397333ce53
 Additional Information 3:	5be8
 Additional Information 4:	5be8c51d57b021ca008e5cbefecbdcec

Does this tell you anything useful?

Here's what is useful, and there's no other way getting around it:

The two other two Extensions - I couldn't find Dashlane or McAfee® WebAdvisor in an Extension Search.

Bad: Dashlane 6.1916.1 ....... hotfix-update-xpi-intermediate 1.0.2 Bad: McAfee® WebAdvisor 7.0.0.27772

Sorry, but ancient, dated Extensions can and will mess-up using FireFox. Like gravity, it's the rule in the world of software. Delete these two - they are no longer supported.

~Pj

I don't mean to argue, but whether Dashland and McAfee are on an approved list or not, the fact is that FF doesn't crash when only those two extensions are enabled and does crash when the updated--and apparently approved--version of speed dial is enabled. So it's hard to see a logical argument that would lead to the conclusion that the first two are the problem.

Where would I find this "approved extension list" and information about it?

MdavidS said

I don't mean to argue, but whether Dashland and McAfee are on an approved list or not, the fact is that FF doesn't crash when only those two extensions are enabled and does crash when the updated--and apparently approved--version of speed dial is enabled. So it's hard to see a logical argument that would lead to the conclusion that the first two are the problem. Where would I find this "approved extension list" and information about it?

Ok, but still... I wouldn't keep using the out-dated Extensions.

You can go to your Extensions/Add-ons here:

Menu > Add-ons

There's a search box at the top. Enter-in anything your looking for. It'll take you to the Mozilla Add-ons site with the search results. The results will be for current Extensions that work for the recent versions of FF. Old legacy Extensions won't be in the results. There's a Search Filter Option on the left side.

Or, go here to the main site:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

~Pj

Thanks much. I'm slammed with a looming deadline today, but I'll explore that as soon as I can.

Interestingly, I have all three extensions enabled now and it hasn't crashed yet today. I wonder if powering down and rebooting cleared out something after updating Speed Dial that was still hanging around even after closing FF and relaunching.

MdavidS said

Interestingly, I have all three extensions enabled now and it hasn't crashed yet today...

Who are you, Tom Cruise, living in "The Danger Zone"? (LoL)

~Pj

Just for the record, should anyone have the same problem. Since updating the one extension solved the problem. The "unapproved" Dashlane and McAfee apps are not creating any issues.

And thanks to PJ for pointing me in the right direction.

Thanks for your answer although it did not help me. However, when Firefox updated to 67 the "Firefox has stopped working" problem solved itself for me too. I did not have these unapproved apps installed, though.

My issue was solved before the latest update, so same symptom, different problem. The newest update (67.0.4), meanwhile, won't let me go directly to my bank's sign-on page, claiming it's a deceptive site, so my patience with this program is starting to fray...

I had this issue briefly but discovered it was an update to my security software blocking the sign-on page. Have you checked anything like that?

Good question, but it's definately a FF message: "Firefox blocked this page because it may trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or revealing personal information like passwords or credit cards."

I have read this can also be caused by Firefox implemented Google Safe Browsing/Phishing Protection. Not in my case, though.

For info, including testing and reporting false positives: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Safe_Browsing

Thanks for the pointer. I reported the false positive. For some reason, the "report a detection problem" link under the Details option on the blocking message just takes me to a blank page.