Firefox stops responding and causes Windows to stop responding also

Question

Sorry if this is vague; I just wrote a very, very detailed post on my issues but then the site decided that I didn't have permission to post it and erased everything.
My problem is that Firefox freezes and causes Windows to freeze for a while also. after a few minutes it goes away, but today I got the following error message:
"AdapterDeviceID: 0x679a
AdapterVendorID: 0x1002
Add-ons: %7B972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd%7D:29.0.1,%7Bd10d0bf8-f5b5-c8b4-a8b2-2b9879e08c5d%7D:2.6.3
AvailablePageFile: 8932384768
AvailablePhysicalMemory: 7403167744
AvailableVirtualMemory: 2997309440
BIOS_Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BlockedDllList:
BreakpadReserveAddress: 48037888
BreakpadReserveSize: 37748736
BuildID: 20140506152807
CrashTime: 1402766616
EMCheckCompatibility: true
FramePoisonBase: 00000000f0de0000
FramePoisonSize: 65536
InstallTime: 1402339725
Notes: AdapterVendorID: 0x1002, AdapterDeviceID: 0x679a, AdapterSubsysID: 6616103c, AdapterDriverVersion: 14.100.0.0
D2D? D2D+ DWrite? DWrite+ D3D10 Layers? D3D10 Layers+
ProductID: {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}
ProductName: Firefox
ReleaseChannel: release
StartupTime: 1402758510
SystemMemoryUsePercentage: 30
Theme: classic/1.0
Throttleable: 1
TotalVirtualMemory: 4294836224
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID=
Vendor: Mozilla
Version: 29.0.1
Winsock_LSP: MSAFD Tcpip [TCP/IP] : 2 : 1 :
MSAFD Tcpip [UDP/IP] : 2 : 2 : %SystemRoot%\system32\mswsock.dll
MSAFD Tcpip [RAW/IP] : 2 : 3 :
MSAFD Tcpip [TCP/IPv6] : 2 : 1 : %SystemRoot%\system32\mswsock.dll
MSAFD Tcpip [UDP/IPv6] : 2 : 2 :
MSAFD Tcpip [RAW/IPv6] : 2 : 3 : %SystemRoot%\system32\mswsock.dll
RSVP TCPv6 Service Provider : 2 : 1 :
RSVP TCP Service Provider : 2 : 1 : %SystemRoot%\system32\mswsock.dll
RSVP UDPv6 Service Provider : 2 : 2 :
RSVP UDP Service Provider : 2 : 2 : %SystemRoot%\system32\mswsock.dll
useragent_locale: en-US
This report also contains technical information about the state of the application when it crashed."
I noticed the file "mswsock.dll" mentioned so I looked for issues with it. Apparently there are issues with malware and Firefox and that file. I have scanned and it found nothing, plus this issue has existed in three formats of my drive and windows re-installs (for other reasons, I didn't format and re-install just to make sure there was no malware) so I'm pretty sure there are no problems with malware.
I am running a Minecraft server and I have a static IP set up, but I've been doing this for three years without issues so I don't think that's the issue either.
I have tried disabling all plugins. Still crashes and crashes Windows with it.
I have run Memtest86+ and the windows memory tester. Not a memory issue.
Here's my troubleshooter info: {
"application": {
"name": "Firefox",
"version": "29.0.1",
"userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:29.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/29.0",
"supportURL": "https://support.mozilla.org/1/firefox/29.0.1/WINNT/en-US/"
"crashes": {
"submitted": [
"id": "bp-588b7adc-28fd-43ab-bc02-91dda2140614",
"date": 1402766691156,
"pending": false
"pending": 0
"modifiedPreferences": {
"accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar": 0,
"browser.cache.disk.capacity": 358400,
"browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run": false,
"browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max": false,
"browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value": 358400,
"browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion": 6,
"browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID": "20140506152807",
"browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone": "29.0.1",
"browser.startup.homepage": "http://scratch.mit.edu/|http://lotro-wiki.com/|http://localhost:8080/",
"browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID": "20140506152807",
"browser.tabs.warnOnClose": false,
"dom.mozApps.used": true,
"extensions.lastAppVersion": "29.0.1",
"font.internaluseonly.changed": true,
"gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx": 0,
"network.cookie.prefsMigrated": true,
"places.database.lastMaintenance": 1402771877,
"places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages": 104858,
"plugin.importedState": true,
"plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types": "application/pdf",
"privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs": true,
"storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite": 1402344545,
"storage.vacuum.last.index": 1
"graphics": {
"numTotalWindows": 1,
"numAcceleratedWindows": 1,
"windowLayerManagerType": "Direct3D 10",
"windowLayerManagerRemote": false,
"adapterDescription": "AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series",
"adapterVendorID": "0x1002",
"adapterDeviceID": "0x679a",
"adapterRAM": "3072",
"adapterDrivers": "aticfx64 aticfx64 aticfx64 aticfx32 aticfx32 aticfx32 atiumd64 atidxx64 atidxx64 atiumdag atidxx32 atidxx32 atiumdva atiumd6a atitmm64",
"driverVersion": "14.100.0.0",
"driverDate": "4-17-2014",
"adapterDescription2": "",
"adapterVendorID2": "",
"adapterDeviceID2": "",
"adapterRAM2": "",
"adapterDrivers2": "",
"driverVersion2": "",
"driverDate2": "",
"isGPU2Active": false,
"direct2DEnabled": true,
"directWriteEnabled": true,
"directWriteVersion": "6.3.9600.17111",
"webglRenderer": "Google Inc. -- ANGLE (AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0)",
"info": {
"AzureCanvasBackend": "direct2d",
"AzureSkiaAccelerated": 0,
"AzureFallbackCanvasBackend": "cairo",
"AzureContentBackend": "direct2d"
"javaScript": {
"incrementalGCEnabled": true
"accessibility": {
"isActive": false,
"forceDisabled": 0
"libraryVersions": {
"NSPR": {
"minVersion": "4.10.3",
"version": "4.10.3"
"NSS": {
"minVersion": "3.16 Basic ECC",
"version": "3.16 Basic ECC"
"NSSUTIL": {
"minVersion": "3.16",
"version": "3.16"
"NSSSSL": {
"minVersion": "3.16 Basic ECC",
"version": "3.16 Basic ECC"
"NSSSMIME": {
"minVersion": "3.16 Basic ECC",
"version": "3.16 Basic ECC"
"userJS": {
"exists": false
"extensions": [
"name": "Adblock Plus",
"version": "2.6.3",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{d10d0bf8-f5b5-c8b4-a8b2-2b9879e08c5d}"
"name": "Troubleshooter",
"version": "1.1a",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
Like I said before, sorry if this is vague. Let me know if you need more info and hopefully I'll be less impatient with this site then.
I'm running Windows 8.1 64 bit. My full specs are here: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/FfJxFT (I've upgraded to Windows 8 and replaced the dead hard drive now. My new drives are a 120Gb Samsung 840 EVO and a 1TB Seagate Barracuda).
Thanks.

Answer 1

'''''[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode Start Firefox in Safe Mode]''''' {web link}
While you are in safe mode;
Press the '''<Alt>''' or '''<F10>''' key to bring up the tool bar.
Followed by;
Windows; '''Tools > Options'''
Linux; '''Edit > Preferences'''
Mac; ''application name'' '''> Preferences'''
Then '''Advanced > General.'''
Look for and turn off '''Use Hardware Acceleration'''.
Poke around safe web sites and see if there is still a problem. Then restart