Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

• Click the menu button , click Help and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:

• On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
• On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
• On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
  (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.

Have you tried the arrow to the far right of the address bar?

FredMcD said

Have you tried the arrow to the far right of the address bar?

Yes. Tried that. Didn't work.

Firefox doesn't get enough love these days, but it's still the most customizable browser around thanks the numerous options in about:config. Here are 10 under-the-hood Firefox tweaks you should try out.

Why I've Switched From Chrome to Firefox 4 Read more

If you aren't familiar with about:config, it's simple: just type about:config into Firefox's address bar and you'll be greeted with hundreds of hidden settings tweaks that change how Firefox works. In some cases, these are quirky or unfinished features, but in other cases, they just change certain parameters that Firefox uses by default. Double-click on any item to change it, but be careful—some options may act weird, slow down Firefox, or break it altogether. Check out Mozilla's Knowledge Base entry for more information.

ADVERTISEMENT

We've shared a number of about:config tips over the years, but it's been awhile, so we thought we'd revisit some of our favorites—along with some new ones we haven't seen before.

Disable the Delay When Installing New Extensions

When you install a new extension, Firefox makes you wait 5 seconds before installing to ensure you pay attention to where it's coming from. It ends up just being an annoyance. To turn the delay off, just open up about:config and search for:

security.dialog_enable_delay ...and set the value to 0.

Give Bookmarks Higher (or Lower) Weight in the Awesomebar Suggestions

When you type something into the Awesomebar, Firefox ranks its suggestions by something it calls "Frecency," a combination of how frequently and recently you visited a given URL. However, you can adjust the "weight" it gives to certain types of URLs—like bookmarks—with a few about:config tweaks.

You can do a lot with this, and we won't go through all of it here, but let's say for example that you wanted to give bookmarks a higher weight (so Firefox is more likely to suggest them near the top of the list) or no weight (so you don't see bookmarks at all in the Awesomebar suggestions). Just open about:config and search for:

places.frecency.unvisitedBookmarkBonus The default value is 140, so if you want bookmarks to rank higher. increase this number. If you want them to rank lower, decrease this number, or set it to 0 to eliminate bookmark suggestions entirely. For more information, check out Mozilla's developer page and Knowledge Base article on frecency settings.

Increase the Number of Suggestions in the Awesomebar Dropdown

By default, when you type something into Firefox's Awesomebar, it spits out 12 suggestions for you. If you'd like more, just head into about:config and search for:

browser.urlbar.maxRichResults Change the value to however many suggestions you want. Alternatively, set it to -1 if you'd like to disable the suggestions altogether.

Open Search Results in a New Tab

By default, Firefox has a search box in the upper-right hand corner from which you can Google things with ease. When you type in a search term, it opens the results in your current tab, which is annoying if you want to keep your current tab open.

To change this behavior, open about:config and search for:

browser.search.openintab Double-click the setting to change it to True, after which your search results should open in a new tab.

If you use Firefox's Awesomebar to search instead of the search box, you can get the same effect by pressing Alt+Enter when you search.

Open Typed URLs in a New Tab with Alt+Enter Read more Tweak the Way Firefox Shows URLs in the Address Bar

These days, Firefox displays URLs a bit differently so they're easier to read. By default, it eliminates the "http" before a URL, and greys out text beyond the main domain of a site (such as "lifehacker.com").

To turn off the URL greying, open about:config and search for:

browser.urlbar.formatting.enabled Double-click it to change it to False, and you should find the URLs display in all black text.

To unhide the "http" portion of a URL, search for:

browser.urlbar.trimURLs Double-click the setting to change it to False.

Disable Compatibility Checking for Extensions

Isn't it

Thanks for your suggestions and I'm sorry Firefox isn't getting enough love. Unfortunately none of your suggestions does anything to address my problem.

shobz said

Firefox doesn't get enough love these days . . . . . .

This should have been posted here; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/support-forum-contributors