Firefox hangs or crash on Windows Vista
I’m not out of those who love Windows Vista and certainly not one of those who care about how the glossy looks of this clunky software make my day (worse actually). I love fast computers, even if I have to sacrifice all the looks and glossy designs of Vista. I have optimized my computer for fast performance and have tweaked Vista to be easy on resources. However, a few days ago, my browsers started crashing for no apparent reason. The problem was with most browsers and I tried Firefox 3.5.5, Internet Explorer 8, Opera 10.10 and Chrome 4, all were browsers crashing and hanging for no reason.
I normally use Firefox browser for general browsing and use Chrome browser for all the programming work. Where Firefox is safe and secure (atleast better than other browsers), Chrome is fast and serves best for programming/coding. Initially, when my Firefox started to hang, I thought it may be because of a recent update or may be my Vipre Antivirus was kicking in. But as I continued using Firefox, over the days the browser started to hang and crash even worse.
The problem wasn’t only that the browser was hanging or crashing but also I saw multiple instances of Firefox in the Task Manager. That made me thought that there was something fishy going on. I couldn’t end task and close Firefox either and there was nothing I could do to close firefox.exe process in the task manager. The only way to go was to shutdown computer and restart it. But the computer won’t shut down either. Now, that is enough to think that there is really something fishy. I thought let’s stop using Firefox for a few days and lets use some other browser.
I started using Opera for regular browsing and thought until a new update comes out for Firefox, I should continue to use Opera. However, soon I discovered the same problem with Opera browser too and this time it was even worse. Opera would hang and crash and I was unable to end the opera.exe process from task manager either. I thought lets try some other browser for a couple of days and see if the problem is resolved using a different browser.
I started using the mighty Internet Explorer 8 and thought that now the problem will resolve and I will browse in peace. But IE8 started crashing too and so did Chrome 4. All browsers on my system were crashing/hanging for no apparent reasons. I ran several antivirus scans in normal mode and safe mode. I even scanned my computer using Vipre Antivirus deep scans and Kaspersky online scan to find out if there were any trojans, viruses or spyware. Nothing found! I uninstalled browsers, removed profiles completely, installed updated browsers, tried installing them in a different folder. Even created a new user account on my Vista laptop and installed browsers and tried everything I could to get rid of the troubles I had with browsers, but nothing helped.
At this point I was nearly pulling my hair off my head because I needed to work on my websites and deal with codes. All this browser crashing had me restart computer over and again. It was getting insane because when you need your computer to perform simple tasks like checking your email on Yahoo, browse news, visit simple websites that are safe and your browser won’t allow you to do such simple things. Finally, I thought may be Vista installed some updates but I have not configured my computer to automatically download and install updates. So what could be causing this situation? Why were my browsers hanging and crashing? What I could have done to get into all this mess when I am really careful about downloading stuff off the internet.
I searched around to find a solution to the browser hanging and browser crashing problem and found some really good information that helped me figure out what could be the cause of the browser hangs and crashes. I found a very good article on internet that pointed towards the Windows registry. I don’t play around with registry too often because it is a very sensitive part of the operating system, however, as we install and uninstall software from our computers, some residue is left in the registry in the form of keys and strings. I have never tweaked my registry to find out what useless stuff is there, doing nothing but creating problems. The article suggested to use a registry cleaner to clean the residue or left-overs or what they call ‘remains’ of software that was uninstalled from the computer. I know Registry Easy registry cleaner is a good tool to clean registry, I installed that on my computer and followed directions to clean my registry. The result is simply amazing! I’m not sure what nonsense it removed from the registry that its been 5 days and my browsers haven’t given me any troubles and now I can browse internet without any problems!
It is amazing because I never thought that my browsers hanging and crashing had to do anything with the registry. I’m a computer troubleshooter and have been troubleshooting computers since over 5 years and I never had to get too much into Windows registry. I have troubleshot browsers and internet browsing related issues but never thought that some crap lying in the Windows registry could cause browser hang or crash. Now I understand why computer experts recommend using registry cleaners.
As we talk about registry cleaners, I found RegistryEasy registry cleaner the best. It is capable of fixing a lot of issues related to Windows operating system and Windows registry. We learn something new every day, no matter how old we get, the learning curve is never over. I finally learn that registry cleaners were designed for a reason. I’m happy that my browsers are no longer hanging or crashing and once again, I’m enjoying using my computer. I’m so thankful to RegistryEasy for designing such a robust software that fixes computer problems automatically.
Tags: Computer Maintenance, Registry cleaners, Troubleshooting
I’ve the same problem as you, my computer keep crashing since I open an internet page – no matter what browser I use. Well, simple pages as google home page don’t do any damage, but when it gets to Facebook ot wahtever: crash!
I’ve just installed Window 7, with the hope to solve the matter, but no way. I’m going to try the registry cleaner and I let you know,
Thanks for your article
Seems to work! Great!!
I’ve DL your recommended registry cleaner.
And it seems to have solved the problem. If you are looking for a registry cleaner for windows 7 or registry cleaner for windows Vista, I recommend the registryeasy registry cleaner for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, it works great.
Once again, thank you Dev!
Great to know that the browser crashing stopped by using the Registryeasy cleaner. It is a very good registry cleaner, better than many other registry cleaners. I’m glad that this article was helpful in troubleshooting the browser crashing and hanging.
I’m facing the same problem with my computer. The browsers hangs or crashes intermittently. The only way to end firefox.exe process from task manager is by shutting down computer and restarting it. I’m downloading the registryeasy registry cleaner and will let you know if thats helpful in solving this issue.
Hi Dev,
I’m experiencing similar situation. I’m using the Google Chrome browser and it just gets stuck while browsing. I guess, it has to do with the registry problem, let me try a free registry cleaner and will post an update if anything new happens.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Hello Dev, thanks for the great article. I thought I was alone but as I’m searching this issue and I see thousands with the same issue. I believe there is some issue with the operating system. Not the browsers. I see people experiencing similar situations with almost all browsers: IE, firefox, opera, Google Chrome and other browsers. The only thing in common is that no one can end the browser.exe process from task manager. I believe that it is the same issue everyone is experiencing but with different browsers. I agree with you that there may be some problem with the registry. May be some recent update from Microsoft caused this situation but who knows. I will try the RegistryEasy registyr cleaner and see if that helps fixing this browser crap.
Thankyou for giving me the direction, lets see if I can find some good info, will keep you all updated. Thanks.
Excellent article, thankyou for all the information.
Good article, good information. Thanks.
Superb, I got the same problem with my computer. I hope the registry cleaner will fix the issue.
Thankyou for the information.
Wow, good information. i got the same trouble with my browsers. i have 3 of them (opera, IE and firefox) and all keep getting stuck one after the other. hope the registry cleaner will straighten them.
Oh fish, I thought that may be my internet explorer f’ed up. Now I know its not the IE browser, it is something else. I will try your solution and see if that helps.
FINALLY IT WORKED!!
Thanks a ton Dev, the registry cleaner seems to have fixed the problem. I tried some other registry cleaner but that didn’t solve the problem. But when I used the Registryeasy cleaner, it scanned and fixed the registry. Its been 6 hours, not a single crash or hang so far. Thank you .. thank you .. thank you so much Dev.
Man, you are a life saver. I have searched 20 different forums for answer to this problem with browsers. Thankyou for this unique information. Never thought that it had anything to do with the registry.
Hi Dev, most registry cleaners sucks but I have to say that registryeasy is a good one. I didn’t have the exact same problem like yours but had a similar problem. The registry mechanic solved the issue. Strange but good
Woot .. problem solved!
Sigh .. I’m getting the same sort of crap on my computer. Hope the registry cleaner helps troubleshooting.
Firefox, Opera, Chrome, IE and all other browsers. ALL getting stuck. To this point I’m sick and tired of this browser hang and browser crash. It is so annoying and I’m nearly blown away with restarting my computer all the time. Man, I hope this registry cleaner thing helps avoiding these hangs and crashes or I’m gonna be really pissed.
Hi Kervie,
Don’t worry, try cleaning the registry. I’m pretty sure it will be helpful. In any case, getting upset won’t help, so stay cool
Holy moses, so many of you finding this registry cleaner thing helpful, I’m gonna try it right away and see if that helps. Will keep you informed.
YES! Finally it seems to be working!
As promised earlier, here is the update. I installed the registry cleaner and then cleaned the registry. Restarted computer and have been using this computer since last 2 hours. No hangs so far. It is amazing that it allowed me to work for 2 hours without a hang or crash. I believe the problem is resolved.
I’m a happy camper .. yayy!
I know for sure that it is a problem with the operating system, not browsers. Microsoft has confirmed that this is a known issue and they are trying to find a solution. I have researched a lot on this issue but no one seems to have resolved it. Is it true that registry cleaner can fix this issue? Please give an honest opinion.
Thanks for all the help you guys can provide.
Hi Andy,
As far as my computer is concerned, it worked for me and I am not finding any problems with using Firefox or other browsers. None are hanging or crashing anymore.
Regards.
I had hang problems with Firefox where I had to kill the process in Task Manager (XP). I would be able to visit one or 2 sites before it crashed. IE8 worked fine. Tried Panda and Malwarebytes which found nothing. Finally looked at recent files in \Windows & subdirectories and found odd 390h15.sys. I Googled it and found nothing. I renamed it and it would instantly reappear. Found it in HKLM under the various ControlSet\Service listings as legacy. There were ‘Start’ settings that were ’1′ (True) so I changed them to ’0′ (False). These would also instantly change back. I finally hex edited the sys file by replacing the ‘MZ’ portion to ’0000′. I then rebooted and all is well for now. The lack of Google listings leads me to believe that the name is not consistent. The “ImagePath” setting might be easy to find, tho, with it’s unique ‘\??\C:\’ prefix. This was my setting:
\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\390h15.sys
NOTE: I ran the file through virustotal.com where I found that it was indicative of a rootkit
That’s interesting BondoBoy. Thankyou for sharing your experience with this issue and how you found the file 390h15.sys
I checked my drivers folder but was unable to locate any such file. Do you think that it may have been removed when I ran the registry cleaner? You have mentioned that there are certain suspicious keys in the Windows registry, I guess, when I scanned my registry with the registry cleaner, that key may have got removed. But anyway, I can’t locate any rootkit sort of file.
Regards.
thanks dev for your awesome article,
before this i use regcure but its totally sucks.
i hope with this registryeasy my laptop would not crashing again