Can't open firefox, get can't open XPCOM. Unable to open IE either. Unable to type anything in address line for Fiefox or IE. What can I do?
I am asking this on behalf of a friend. She has a Toshiba laptop, windows 7. She is not computer literate. She was using her laptop OK yesterday, playing a Facebook game (played many times before) and everything was OK. Today when she tried to access Firefox she got 'Can't open XPCOM'. She can't open IE either. She can't type anything in the address line for either Firefox or IE
Vahaolana nofidina
You would have to use another computer if her own computer doesn't have internet access. You can download Firefox for her and save the file to an USB stick.
Try this:
- Download the Firefox installer and save the file to the desktop
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
Save the full Firefox installer to an USB stick
Hamaky an'ity valiny ity @ sehatra 👍 0All Replies (3)
This usually happens because of a failed Firefox update that left you with a mixture of old and updated files in the Firefox program folder.
Latest Firefox release (currently 36.0.4, but Firefox 37 is on the way):
Do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before (re)installing a fresh copy of the current Firefox release. 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.
How can she do a clean re-install of Firefox as she is unable to access the internet?
Vahaolana Nofidina
You would have to use another computer if her own computer doesn't have internet access. You can download Firefox for her and save the file to an USB stick.
Try this:
- Download the Firefox installer and save the file to the desktop
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
Save the full Firefox installer to an USB stick