Hello,

Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. Please follow these steps:

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
   • Windows:
     • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
     • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
   • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
   • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
   1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
   2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

Please report back soon!

Hope this helps!

Curtis

Thanks for the quick reply.

I assume you mean the "browser" sub-folder? Will this have any effect on my extensions of search plugins?

Thanks,

Charles

"...or search plugins"

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

• Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

Setting browser.tabs.closeButtons to 0 (x on active tab only) still works for me in Firefox 24 on Windows 7. Also tested setting it to 2 (no x buttons anywhere) and that worked.

Hopefully cor-el's suggestion will help uncover the source of the conflict/dysfunction.

In order to better assist you with your issue please provide us with a screenshot. If you need help to create a screenshot, please see How do I create a screenshot of my problem?

Once you've done this, attach the saved screenshot file to your forum post by clicking the Browse... button below the Post your reply box. This will help us to visualize the problem.

Thank you!

cor-el (and all),

Yes, I did, after posting the question, finally start Firefox in safe mode and the close tabs were gone. So I knew then it was an extension.

When I'd Googled doing a clean install I'd come across the "reset Firefox" option, which I was preparing to do by collecting tabs to where I could re-download all my addons, and backing up my bookmarks again. The last item on that list was the page for the theme I was using. I couldn't find it on Mozilla anymore (I did find it on the author's site) and then I remembered a forum thread I saw where someone had discovered that a theme was the cause of their problem so I thought Why not change the theme and see what happens? And that fixed it!

Thanks for taking the time to offer suggestions.

C.M.