Version 23 very broken.

Question

locking as a duplicate of this - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/968545''
Between last night and tonight, suddenly I can't load any pages unless I flip back and forth between I.E Tabs. Only difference: Firefox did a bloody update. Why is it that nowadays when a program updates, it always ends up being glitchy or fails entirely. Aren't updates supposed to IMPROVE the program, not break what was already working?
This problem happens on Facebook, twitter, Goodreads, Google, this page... everything. What is the use of having a browser that doesn't work. Come on Mozilla. Please let me roll back to 22. At least that worked. Sorry for the grump here, but I've truly had enough of programs self-"updating" into a version that is crap. With all that programmers have learnt over years of computing, this should not happen any more. If you're going to put out an "update", at least make sure it works fully first. We're not your lab rats for testing.
I've already restarted twice, and once more in safe mode, so please no one give me all the basic advice. Just someone tell the blokes at Mozilla that their update is broken, and they need to patch it. Meanwhile, I'll just run my business loading pages twice in two different browser tabs... or, after more than six years and twenty different version numbers, I might just drop Firefox altogether.
And you know what, till I stuffed around for almost twenty minutes, I couldn't even add my Troubleshooting info from the button below. Guess why? That's broken too. As is the button to enter this form, which took me another half hour. Please fix this.
"application": {
"name": "Firefox",
"version": "23.0.1",
"userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:23.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/23.0",
"supportURL": "http://support.mozilla.org/1/firefox/23.0.1/WINNT/en-GB/"
"modifiedPreferences": {
"accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar": 0,
"accessibility.typeaheadfind": true,
"browser.cache.disk.capacity": 358400,
"browser.cache.disk_cache_ssl": false,
"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": 4,
"browser.privatebrowsing.dont_prompt_on_enter": true,
"browser.search.useDBForOrder": true,
"browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand": false,
"browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone": "23.0.1",
"browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID": "00000000000000",
"browser.tabs.warnOnClose": false,
"dom.w3c_touch_events.expose": false,
"dom.max_script_run_time": 0,
"dom.max_chrome_script_run_time": 0,
"dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npietab2.dll": true,
"dom.mozApps.used": true,
"extensions.lastAppVersion": "23.0.1",
"font.internaluseonly.changed": true,
"gfx.blacklist.suggested-driver-version": "257.21",
"gfx.direct3d.checkDX10": false,
"gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx": 1,
"keyword.URL": "http://www.google.com.au",
"network.cookie.prefsMigrated": true,
"places.history.expiration.transient_optimal_database_size": 118026730,
"places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages": 73767,
"places.database.lastMaintenance": 1376906457,
"plugin.importedState": true,
"plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types": "application/pdf",
"privacy.cpd.offlineApps": true,
"privacy.cpd.sessions": false,
"privacy.donottrackheader.enabled": true,
"privacy.sanitize.timeSpan": 4,
"privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs": true,
"security.warn_viewing_mixed": false,
"storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite": 1376823292,
"storage.vacuum.last.index": 0
"graphics": {
"numTotalWindows": 1,
"numAcceleratedWindows": 1,
"windowLayerManagerType": "Direct3D 10",
"adapterDescription": "NVIDIA ION",
"adapterVendorID": "0x10de",
"adapterDeviceID": "0x0876",
"adapterRAM": "256",
"adapterDrivers": "nvd3dum nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um",
"driverVersion": "9.18.13.1100",
"driverDate": "1-10-2013",
"adapterDescription2": "",
"adapterVendorID2": "",
"adapterDeviceID2": "",
"adapterRAM2": "",
"adapterDrivers2": "",
"driverVersion2": "",
"driverDate2": "",
"isGPU2Active": false,
"direct2DEnabled": true,
"directWriteEnabled": true,
"directWriteVersion": "6.2.9200.16571",
"webglRenderer": "Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA ION)",
"info": {
"AzureCanvasBackend": "direct2d",
"AzureFallbackCanvasBackend": "cairo",
"AzureContentBackend": "direct2d"
"javaScript": {
"incrementalGCEnabled": true
"accessibility": {
"isActive": false,
"forceDisabled": 0
"libraryVersions": {
"NSPR": {
"minVersion": "4.10",
"version": "4.10"
"NSS": {
"minVersion": "3.15 Basic ECC",
"version": "3.15 Basic ECC"
"NSSUTIL": {
"minVersion": "3.15",
"version": "3.15"
"NSSSSL": {
"minVersion": "3.15 Basic ECC",
"version": "3.15 Basic ECC"
"NSSSMIME": {
"minVersion": "3.15 Basic ECC",
"version": "3.15 Basic ECC"
"userJS": {
"exists": false
"extensions": [
"name": "Ant Video Downloader",
"version": "2.4.7.8",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "Autofill Forms",
"version": "0.9.9.0",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "BugMeNot",
"version": "2.2",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{987311C6-B504-4aa2-90BF-60CC49808D42}"
"name": "Download Statusbar",
"version": "0.9.10",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{D4DD63FA-01E4-46a7-B6B1-EDAB7D6AD389}"
"name": "English (Australian) Dictionary",
"version": "2.1.2",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "Facebook Share Button",
"version": "1.9",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{d4e0dc9c-c356-438e-afbe-dca439f4399d}"
"name": "Facebook Translate",
"version": "1.2.7",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "Flagfox",
"version": "4.2.11",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{1018e4d6-728f-4b20-ad56-37578a4de76b}"
"name": "Flashblock",
"version": "1.5.17",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{3d7eb24f-2740-49df-8937-200b1cc08f8a}"
"name": "Garmin Communicator",
"version": "4.0.4",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{195A3098-0BD5-4e90-AE22-BA1C540AFD1E}"
"name": "Ghostery",
"version": "5.0.3",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "HP Detect",
"version": "1.0.16.0",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{ab91efd4-6975-4081-8552-1b3922ed79e2}"
"name": "IE Tab 2 (FF 3.6+)",
"version": "4.12.22.2",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{1BC9BA34-1EED-42ca-A505-6D2F1A935BBB}"
"name": "iViewFox",
"version": "1.4.0",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "Lazarus: Form Recovery",
"version": "2.3",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "Memory Fox",
"version": "7.4",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{E173B749-DB5B-4fd2-BA0E-94ECEA0CA55B}"
"name": "Show/hide passwords",
"version": "0.1",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "Tab Slideshow",
"version": "5.0",
"isActive": true,
"id": "{16466865-007f-4ce4-aeb5-a0aa8b34c61a}"
"name": "Troubleshooter",
"version": "1.1a",
"isActive": true,
"id": "[email protected]"
"name": "TweetRight",
"version": "0.43.1",
"isActive": true,
"id": "jid1-SmvuJ9Cq3Cx13w@jetpack"
"name": "Firefox Synchronisation Extension",
"version": "1.7.110.333",
"isActive": false,
"id": "[email protected]"
23.0
Windows 7
* Shockwave Flash 11.8 r800
* Garmin Communicator Plug-In 4.0.4.0
* 5.1.20513.0
* Foxit Reader Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape
* IE Tab 2 Plug-in for Mozilla/Firefox
* Next Generation Java Plug-in 10.9.2 for Mozilla browsers
* NPRuntime Script Plug-in Library for Java(TM) Deploy
* NPWLPG
* VLC media player Web Plugin 2.0.2
* HP Product Detection Plugin
* HP Active Check Plugin
* Adobe Shockwave for Director Netscape plug-in, version 11.5

Answer 1

We consolidated the search engine preferences due to malicious add-ons abusing the search engines in Firefox to raise revenue for themselves by hijacking users and making it difficult to restore the search engine defaults. You have a few work arounds for the issue, the easiest of which will be to install https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/keyword-search/