Are you using the default theme?

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

• Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox menu button/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

Thanks, cor-el: I'm a timid user working on the inside level. (I have a history of "flying fingers" and pretty clunky inside.

I got to the safe mode and found a suggestion to "refresh Firefox" with the warning that will lose my extensions, themes and toolbar customization. I rely on all the visual customizations because I am dyslexic and require all the visual substitutions for memory aids.

Can you kindly suggest a strategy for replacing the themes, extensions and toolbar customizations?

Also, the support page where all these warnings appear states that my old profile will be placed on the desktop so that I can "restore some of the information not saved by copying files to the new profile that was created. " I don't know where my profile is and could use a "help page" for safely doing that after refreshing.

Any hints would be dearly appreciated. Frankly, I'm afraid to do anything that will force me to call up my consultant. (I've already sent his two kids to college).  :-)

Many thanks.

JP

Hi JP, do not do the Refresh, that's not needed to switch themes or to test the effect of disabling a theme.

(If you already did the Refresh, there's a lengthy procedure to roll it back, unfortunately, it's not automatic.)

When you get the Safe Mode prompt, normally it has the option to Start in Safe Mode on the left. Please stay to the left on this one and avoid that Refresh button on the right!

The question simply is, will the Options page work for you in Firefox's Safe Mode?

Hello, scher2000: Thanks for your comments.

jscher2000 said

The question simply is, will the Options page work for you in Firefox's Safe Mode?

Yes, but frequent use that way is like using an outhouse. So the answer is no.

I didn't do the refresh. I just tested to see if the Safe Mode allowed me access to the preferences. It did.

That said, I still don't know how to troubleshoot for the disabling of the Preferences living with Safe Mode. I need frequent access to those and cannot be shifting between Safe and regular mode because it’s a guaranteed breeding ground for errors this user.

If there is a step-by-step troubleshooting guide that I can use to find the villain that is causing the wall between me and the prefs when I'm in my regular theme, I'd appreciate help in that area.

Though it may seem extreme, I will have to abandon Firefox if I cannot restore the functionality that I have enjoyed for a decade.

I require the theme I am using, or one similar to it. It's a vision issue. It is the primary reason why I've been a Firefox user for ten years.

Safe mode doesn't seem to allow me the visual support I need in a browser. (That's why Safari is so hopeless. It's a visual nightmare, tiny fonts, grey and black only . It's like living on a Navy ship. Not visuallyhelpful to this user.

Is there a link to step-by-step troubleshooting this issue. (Finding the software conflict that's interrupting my use of the prefs without jumping to Safe Mode on every occasion? . Many thanks .

--JP

I thought your screenshot looked familiar. Is it Aeon, as in this other thread:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1092993

When I look at the response to the first review, it sounds like the developer is not encountering the same issue you are, judging from the last sentence:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/aeon/reviews/764051/

So perhaps there is a conflict between Aeon and another add-on.

Also, to delete the old preference for the pop-up Options /Preferences dialog, in case that is having any effect:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste pref and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Right-click the browser.preferences.inContent preference -- if you have it -- and choose Reset to clear it (when you close about:config, Firefox will remove it)

By the way, what preferences do you need to change frequently? Perhaps there is an alternate way to do that which is equally or more efficient as a temporary workaround.

Hi, jscher2000:

Sorry to be so long replying.

Thanks for the tip regarding Aeon developer possibly having reports/issues with this issue.

I wrote Ed Hume (who has been extremely helpful in the past on troublesome issues). He says he can’t find the problem and that his personal copies of the theme works perfectly. He wishes he "... had an answer."

I'll try your config tip when I am well rested, clear-eyed and focussed, a condition that happens every few weeks.

In the meantime I found a temp theme I can sort of live with that doesn't disable the prefs.

Thanks again for all the help.

--JP

Are you using a custom theme?

• Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance

Can you post a list pf your installed extensions?

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Using+the+Troubleshooting+Information+page

Note that the troubleshooting information doesn't include theme information.

What modification did you make to Firefox that you rely on?