Multiple problems: can't open two windows, browser doesn't close although window disappears, and after working for a while I loose my ability to cut and paste or use drop down arrows

Question

Maybe two weeks ago I discovered that I could no longer open two windows at a time (I can still open multiple tabs). I am also having problems with cutting and pasting, which is crucial to my on-line job. Plus, when I exit Firefox, it doesn't always shut down, so then when you go to re-open, of course, it won't (unless you go into process and turn it off). I have re-installed multiple times and I have also used restore. Nothing seems to be fixing this and I really, really don't want to use IE, especially for work.

Answer 1

Start Firefox in [[Safe Mode]] to check if one of your add-ons is causing your problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).
* Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.
See
* [[Troubleshooting extensions and themes]]
* [[Troubleshooting plugins]]
If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all your extensions and then try to find which is causing it by enabling one at a time until the problem reappears.
* Use "Disable all add-ons" on the [[Safe mode]] start window to disable all extensions.
* Close and restart Firefox after each change via "File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit")
See also "Hang at exit":
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs
* [[Firefox hangs]]
Maybe also do a malware check with a few malware scan programs.<br />
You need to use all programs because each detects different malware.<br />
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of the database before doing a scan.<br />
* http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
* http://www.superantispyware.com/ - SuperAntispyware
* http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Spybot Search & Destroy
* http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php - Ad-Aware Free
* http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx - Windows Defender: Home Page
See also "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked and [[Searches are redirected to another site]]