I cannot open Firefox. I am running Win 8.1 IE opens immediately.

Question

this started yesterday, but now is serious. Please help.

Answer 1

Hi budcohen,
Make sure that nobody is playing a prank on you by changing what your shortcut is opening. Right click on your Firefox shortcut and check the "Target" line under the Shortcut tab. It should read:
* C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
If you notice that the shortcut is pointing somewhere else (such as "iexplore.exe"), either delete the shortcut and make another, or change the target line to what I posted above. I am not too familiar with Windows 8's interface, so if you are creating a new shortcut, it might be better if you took a look at:
* https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-desktop/desktop-shortcuts-in-windows-8/8392fa9d-62ec-46a9-ba06-31c08f21854b
If the above doesn't help, you can download the latest Firefox at the official Mozilla site here:
* https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
* (for full installers of all languages) https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
When you uninstall Firefox from the Control Panel > Programs and Features, be sure not to delete the personal information if you want to keep your bookmarks. After uninstalling, you should also delete the Firefox directory in Windows Explorer as well so that any problematic residual files are removed:
* C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\
Your profile information (including your bookmarks) are stored in a separate location so will be unaffected by that deletion. If you want to stay on the safe side, you can backup your profile by following these guides:
* https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data#w_finding-your-profile-without-opening-firefox
* [[Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles]]
* Bookmarks specifically are located in the ''places.sqlite'' file (see [[Recovering important data from an old profile]])
Let us know if that works!