Firefox Forum Woes

About 85% of the times I try to view the forums on Firefox, my screen goes black and the computer won't respond. It's not my monitor, because I tried another monitor and it does the same thing. I'm using [the unholy pit of despair and spyware I like to call] IE right now, and it's working fine.

The thing is, sometimes the forums work on Firefox and I can view threads and everything. And then, I'll be typing a [very long] post on some thread, and all of the sudden, the screen goes. I've had to type posts in Notepad while saving every couple minutes because I've become too paranoid to type anything otherwise.

The SL forums are the only things that do this to my computer. I've joked for a while that it's probably just all the negative energy, but it really is annoying, and so, finally, I have come here to report my Technical Issue.

I know this is just my computer acting up, but is there any known reason it might be doing this and/or anything I can do to solve the problem? I can use IE if I have to, but there's something to be said for not having a big blue banner shining down at me in question of whether or not I want to search for the query "BIG TITS" and/or "THE LORD OF THE RINGS".

Thank you.

I use Firefox and never have had any problems with SL's forums. Try looking at your settings and plugins for Firefox. I have no special plugins installed on my browser, save for a download monitor.

Ditto on using Firefox and not having any problem with SL forums for me. One site I do have problems with is the Second Life Herald site. It seems to prefer IE because in Firefox, stuff gets all jumbled up. I've never seen the screen go completely black on any site while using Firefox.

Edit: Whoops, I take back what I said about the Second Life Herald; they must have changed their format or something because now it looks fantastic in Firefox. Thanks, Urizenus and Co.!

Well, the first thing I would say is clean up your machine. If you've got weird banners in IE, then your computer is infested with all kinds of little critters. Run Spybot, Adaware, and Microsoft's new antispyware program. All 3 tend to look for different problems, and from what I've seen so far, the Microsoft one is particularly good at repairing IE. Make sure you update them every day and have them scan your system at least once a week, preferably once a day. Ditto for your antivirus.

Now that that's out of the way, I use Firefox constantly and I've never seen or heard of the trouble you described. If you do have malicious programs on your machine, they could manifest themselves in all kinds of ways, so my money's on that, but just in case, try uninstalling Firefox and then download and install the latest version. Stay away from strange plugins too. They're not worth the risk.

I am constantly ridding my computer of spyware and adware, and it always comes back. I have tried, like, 3981724982649815 different programs for these sorts of things, and nothing does it. (And, no, I don't look at m4d pr0n or anything like that. If it's a site that's giving me this crap, the only thing it could be is dictionary.com, because I like to blame them. No, I don't want a free iPod.) I'll try getting that Microsoft whatnot, but I'm not particularly optimistic.

I guess what I was wondering is, why is it -just- the SL forums? Is there some sort of 1337 script or something that drives my computer into a suicidal rage? I mean, I've had all sorts of fun viruses and all that, and this is the first time I've had a problem like this..

[Edit: Haha! I can't download the Microsoft thing. It's only for Win2000 and WinXP. Woo! And, no, I don't know how I can play SL with an unsupported OS. I'm just lucky or something. o_o]

Does spyware on Windows affect Firefox though?

Anyway, you might try Mozilla instead. I still prefer it to Firefox, but maybe just because I'm used to it. I've never had trouble with the forums using Mozilla, under Linux or OS X. I did try Firefox for a few days when it first went production and when I had a few glitches I decided to wait for the next release before I switch.

I moved to Firefox when IE started giving me problems. Now I should move on again? ^^;

/me opens a Paypal account and smacks a donation box on his/her sig for the Buy Nikolaii A New Computer Fund.

Alright, I've gotten rid of all the crap I think I can, and I do seem to be able to run the forums on Firefox-- for now. We'll see how long it lasts.

I still have a toolbar on IE (A new one. Odd.) and Firefox still goes "Cannot find http://asddsafaadsaasadadsasf.co.uk" or whatever the Hell it normally says when it opens, but the forum does seem to be working..

I still wonder -why- the forum was making my screen go black before, though.. So if a LL staffperson could tell me, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you for your recommendations that I try once again to clean up my [piece of crap] computer, as it does seem to have worked [for now]. But.. really, I'm sure I'll be having problems again in a couple days.

Oh well.

Go Go Gadget Mozilla! (?)

I've never had problems using Firefox for forums (or any other site)...

Be careful with the new microsoft spyware program. There is a known virus attached which is a buggar to clean. I suggest sunsofts anit adware and maybe ccleaner (both are freeware programs).

Could you provide a link to some further info?


Do you mean Lavasoft, the company that offers AdAware?

FireFox is my default browser, and I haven't had any problems with it. I only use IE for lame sites that require it to make use of their crappy code.

i could be wrong but isn't IE and regular windows explorer basically the same thing? i thought the whole "explorer" thing was a built in permanent part of windows. if your IE got screwed up and caused problems it's probably still causing problems even if you aren't using it to browse the web.

It comes with a virus? If this is true, why isn't it front page news? Wouldn't this constitute the first ever instance of a Microsoft product being pre-infected on delivery? Wouldn't all the Microsoft detractors of the world be using this as fodder for some extremely loud rhetoric? Please explain what you're talking about here, Isis. As a user of the product, I really, really want to know.

The only reference I could find linking Microsoft Antispyware with a virus was this news report, which talks about a new virus which is designed to target the program. That's obviously a far cry though from actually being packaged with it. Is this what you were talking about or was it something else?



By the way, Nikolaii, glad to here you solved your problem. If you've got yet another unexplained toolbar in IE though, then you're right, it's only a matter of time until you start experiencing problems again. Many of the unwelcome guests that unprotected computers tend to pick up are clever enough that when one piece of a program is deleted, the other pieces quickly go to work to silently re-download and re-install the whole thing. If your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs aren't doing the (complete) job, then the best solution is to start fresh. Back up all your documents onto removable media, unplug your internet connection, and then reformat your hard drive. Next install a clean version of Windows followed by your anitivirus, firewall, and antispyware programs. Once that's done, plug back into the internet and update Windows and all your security programs before you do anything else. Finally, re-install all your other needed programs and copy your documents back to your hard drive. This process will likely take you an entire day to perform, but it's the best way to be sure your machine is clean. As Zuzi pointed out, if your IE is compromised, your whole system is compromised.

Absolutely not! If you'd stopped using MS ware when they started being shipped with pre-installed virii, then you'd have switched to something else before Windows 3.1...

Is that just popular anti-MS funny talk, or can you back that statement up? Remember, flaws are not viruses. Just because MS has been lax in their bug-prevention over the years doesn't mean their stuff has built-in viruses. Problems, sure; bugs, absolutely; compatability issues, tons; exploitable holes, no question; but pre-installed viruses? Please.

Here's the definition of a virus:

I don't recall any instances of Windws 3.1 copying itself and inserting itself into other programs.

Now please, several people have asked for legitimate information to follow up a potentially alarming statement. If you have any factual information to contribute, please do so. Otherwise kindly resist the temptation to take advantage of a possible opportunity to arbitrarily bash Microsoft. While it may be popular or even fun to refer to MS as the harbinger of all things evil, unless you have facts there's really no point.

Thank you for all the concern, folks.

I am indeed experiencing problems again. And now the IE banners are worse than ever.

Basically, this computer is so *Goddamn* horrible, that I am just saving up to buy a new one. It's not even worth reformatting and reinstalling Windows, quite frankly. At least not until I have a new machine and I have everything safely on that one.

I -WON'T- be networking the two computers when I get a new one, because I DO NOT want anything wrong with it.. I'm sad about having to reinstall all of my programs and whatnot, but it will need to happen.

I've had this computer for 4 years. Insidious IE banners/Spyware/viruses are just a way of patting me on the shoulder and saying, "It's time."

Thanks again to everyone.

It's great getting a new computer, but the proccess of reinstalling all those favorites from scatch is a dreaded nighmare. Unfortunately, no matter how many, nor what anti-virus and spyware programs you run, there is no way to garintee a 'clean' invitroment with a networked install. My condolences, and congratz on a new computer.

Rafe

Hah, well, there's nothing I can do about it. ^^

But save the congratulations for when I actually can afford one. XD Who knows when that'll be.