Firefox won't open links from other programs if already running

I've seen this reported many other places, but none of the solutions have worked. I am running Firefox v33.0.2 (current as of this message) on Windows 7 64-bit (fully updated). I did the following:
1. Completely deleted my profile;
2. Uninstalled Firefox, then manually deleted all remaining files on the system pertaining to Firefox and rebooted;
3. Gone into the Windows "Default Programs" control panel (DPCP) and told it to make Internet Explorer the default (giving it all of its defaults);
4. Downloaded a fresh copy of the installer and installed Firefox 33.0.2;
5. Let the installer set my default browser to Firefox;
6. Tested link opening behaviour (see below);
7. Let Firefox set itself as the default browser when it asked me;
8. Tested link opening behaviour again (see below);
9. With Firefox not running, gone back into the DPCP, and had it set all of Firefox's defaults;
10. Tested link opening behaviour again (see below);
11. With Firefox not running, set Internet Explorer to the default via the DPCP, then back to Firefox;
12. Tested link opening behaviour again (see below);
13. Repeated steps 11 and 12 with Firefox in safe-mode;
14. Repeated steps 11 and 12 with Firefox in normal-mode with a new profile;
The observed link-opening behaviour:
- Internet shortcuts (i.e., actual shortcut files on, say, the Desktop) open in Firefox without issue whether or not Firefox is already running. When this approach is taken, no additional firefox.exe processes are created. The process does not have any command-line parameters per Task Manager;
- Links clicked in Thunderbird open correctly if Firefox is not running: one new firefox.exe process is created, I get a new Firefox window and the link loads correctly. The firefox.exe process does not have any command-line parameters per Task Manager;
- Links clicked in Thunderbird yield the "Firefox is already running, but is not responding" message if Firefox is already running. In this case, I see a second firefox.exe process created. Per Task Manager, the new process has the command-line arguments '-osint -url "FOO"' where FOO is the URL I clicked.
From these observations I believe that the link hand-off behaviour is broken. I use a single profile using the as-installed shortcuts.
Intitial version: 33.0.2
Update: Updated to 33.1, still broken.

Under Tools > Options > Advanced look to see if the "check if Firefox is default browser on startup" Check this and then restart FF. If it isn't the default it should ask if you want to make it the default. Choose yes and it should open when clicking links again.

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