Having a browser that crashes can be a great inconvenience and annoyance, especially when one is dealing with unsaved form data. However, there is a cause to every problem and Firefox crashing is no exception. There are many reasons why Firefox may crash on a Windows, Linux or Mac OSX system. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to discuss all factors, but we will discuss the major ones.
- Incompatible Plugins
If you noticed that after you updated to the latest version of Firefox the browser crashes, it can be due to an incompatible plugin. One way to determine this is to check your Plugin Manager and see if all installed plugins are supported.
- Flash
Even though Adobe Flash is light years ahead of where it was two years ago, Flash still carries many bugs and unfortunately, enough of those bugs can cause Firefox to become unstable and ultimately crash. Disabling Flash might not be optimum for all situations, however if you are using a Flash heavy page and you do not need to see the Flash content, disabling Flash can stabilize the browser.
- Malware
Malware can be another factor in causing Firefox to crash. Many times malware will fill a browser with cookies and other temporary files that can cause the browser to become unstable and crash. If you experience constant crashing of Firefox (or any other browser for that matter) you should run a full virus scan. If the virus scan comes back negative, try a root scan to check if there are malicious files buried deep within the operating system.
- Webpages
Not all websites are designed alike and there is a great possibility that a bug in the websites syntax, coding or scripting could case Firefox to crash. If you notice that Firefox crashes only when you visit a particular site, try turning off JavaScript, Flash etc. before returning to that website. However, be careful when visiting such a website as constant crashing could indicate malicious code on the website.
- Media Player or VLC
Conflicts between Windows Media Player and VLC Media Player have been known to cause crashing in Firefox. If you notice that Firefox crashes after trying to view a Windows Media file, you will need to delete the VLC plugin file (“npvlc.dll”) from the Firefox installation directory.
Firefox may crash for other reasons apart from the 5 aforementioned reasons. If you are having trouble rectifying the issue, leave a comment below.
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