December 23, 2005

Curious George: Firefox Window Someone has been monkeying with Firefox at home. Now there is a grey empty 'box' along the bottom of the window. I hates it.

It stays the same (relative) size when you resize the window, has nothing in except a tiny orange '^' sybmol, and I can't get rid of it. I can't see anything in the view or edit etc options. No new extensions have been added, and like I say, it does fuck all anyway. What is it, and how the hell do I get rid of it? I'm in work, so can't post a screen grab, but there's nothing to see but a grey box anyway. Thank you, one and all.

posted by kitfisto 18 years ago
  • is it inside the window or outside? are you on pc or mac? linux or windows? it may be a virus thing...my friend had a virus that added a 'toolbar' full of ads to his pc... have you dried closing the window or restarting the program...it may just be a glitch...
  • sounds like some has messed around with view | toolbars | (perhaps) customize. i'd start looking for suspicious things there.
  • Maybe someone installed some sneaky user stylesheet as a prank or something like that.
  • Screenshot?
  • It was me. Merry Christmas.
  • Is it the "find" box? Like you get when you hit ctrl+f? I sometimes find mine won't go away after I've done a search, but restarting the browser usually gets rid of it.
  • Oops, sorry about the 80 blank lines. But I have personal space issues.
  • Did someone perhaps install a funky extension that may be initializing badly? Try disabling all your extensions, and see if that helps.
  • I have read a bunch of complaints about the Firefox 1.5 build for windows, it's a bit janky. What version are you running? 1.07 for windows should be solid...
  • In actuality, most people have no problems with 1.5 outside of it's pretty fat use of RAM, unless their system is tweaked really stupidly; that line is a crock. I've had no problems at all with 1.5 and if you've installed it cleanly and your extensions are not bugged, there's no reason to think it's that unless you get some further evidence.
  • View->Toolbars->Sodomize. You'll want to uncheck the box.
  • most people have no problems with 1.5 outside of it's pretty fat use of RAM 1.5 tried to poison my parents and marry my sister in Vegas. I've got quite a few problems with it.
  • It's a knackered extension. Look at extensions.rdf in your profile and (after backing it up) remove any sections relating to extensions that don't currently appear in Tools->Extensions.
  • 1.5 ate my scrollbar, but then, I haven't rebooted Windows in days, and that always makes things squirrely.
  • Screen grab It's a PC, windows XP, Firefox v1.5 or whatever the new one's called... It's there no matter if I restart (sorry for the link, can't remember the html for pics) I will try the bits and bobs suggested above, but it seems a persistant fucker... God bless
  • Where do I find this 'profile' of which you speak? I'm purely an 'end user', if yer catch my drift...
  • what's with the star wars desktop anyway?
  • try C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\profile um, do back that @$% up first tho, natch.
  • The donkey porn desktop doesn't go go down so well with Mrs K...
  • Ok, I've figured out what the problem is: you're an idiot.
  • Phew! Is that all?
  • *sticks pins in Chyren voodoo doll*
  • *thinks about Jar Jar Binx porn* *head ass-plodes*
  • Knowing where your profile folder is stored can be useful if, for example, you are a star wars fan. * On Windows XP/2000, the path is usually %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\, where xxxxxxxx is a random string of 8 characters. Just browse to C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ and the rest should be obvious. * On Windows 95/98/Me, the path is usually C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\ * On Linux, the path is usually ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/ * On Mac OS X, the path is usually ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/ %AppData% is a shorthand for the Application Data path on Windows 2000/XP. To use it, click Start > Run..., enter %AppData% and press Enter. You will be taken to the "real" folder, which is normally C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data.
  • I can't find my %AppData% directory.
  • Unfortunately, the application data folder may be hidden. In fact I think that's the default in 2000/XP. So you'll have to un-hide it if you want to muck about. Start->Settings->Control Panel->Folder Options->View->Show Hidden Files and Folders (check the button, then it'll ask you if you really want to do that) (that's in 2000, it may not be exactly the same in XP) (and you may need to be logged in as Administrator to do that, I'm not sure). Then muck away! The folder you're interested in within %appdata% is in Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and it will be named something like "randomlettersandnumbers.default" It might not be a bad idea to re-hide your hidden folder after mucking.
  • Someone has installed a firefox extension that has overlaid a part of the firefox "chrome" decorations and has messed up your window in the process. I would suggest: 1. Go to Tools -> Extensions and right click on each extension and disable all of them. 2. Restart firefox. I am sure quite sure everything will be fine. 3. Go back to Tools -> Extensions and start enabling one by one, restarting Firefox every time and seeing when the problem manifests itself. Ladies and gentleman, you have your problematic extension.
  • If you launch Firefox in safe mode, it starts with all the extensions disabled. Click "Run" from the start menu and enter: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -safe-mode If your grey box is gone, you've confirmed it's an extension causing the problem.
  • Thank Mothra!
  • I looked in safe mode and it's gone. However, there are no extensions listed for me to uninstall, so It's still there when i open it normally. I'll go on a hunt...
  • Well it's prolly just something in your settings BUT you MIGHT be suffering from the Exploit
  • Do you have any files ending in .css in your firefox installation? It might be possible to do the grey box hack you describe by surreptitiously installing some wacky user CSS file. If you find any such files, just rename them and restart firefox and see what happens. Or move the current installation out of the way, and reinstall.
  • Thanks chaps. although most of what you all said was beyond my tiny brain's grasp, it's been a real help. i re-installed it, and it seems fine now! Cheers, you lovely people. Give us a kiss!
  • I dunno, the beetroot-stained teeth and vinegar breath are not that encouraging. Got any mistletoe? Head lice?
  • I've got pubic lice, if that's any good.