Windows 10 Freezing / Firefox

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Lately I’ve had a problem with Windows 10 freezing.  I install patches based on DEVCON recommendations.  I haven’t quite isolated the problem, but it appears that FireFox updates may be a cause.  What happens is that I’m in the middle of something and the computer locks up.  I can’t see the mouse cursor and the keyboard is no longer responding.

Today it happened and the reboot installed 2022-04 Cumulative Update.  I was planning on doing that shortly since the pause delay was expired, but prefer to do it when I’m ready.

My only solution is to pull the plug on the computer.

I don’t see a way to control FireFox updates the way I can with Windows.

Have you seen this before or do you have any recommendations?

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First off, I would recommend that you have the latest Firefox installed. If that is the case, then the next step should be to update your video graphics drivers.  See if that works first before we try anything else.  For your next reply, make sure you include the model number of your computer, type, memory, anything like that will help.

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I do have the latest version of FireFox now, but I think the update process could have caused the freeze.  That is what I am trying to determine.  I also think I have the current video driver.  The computer is an HP Pavilion 590 with 12 GB of memory.

Windows 10 Version 21H2 with the 2022-04 Cumulative Update.

I had the FireFox set to update automatically when not in use.  I’ve now changed that, so we’ll see whether the problem occurs again.

Thanks for the replies.

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There used to be a toggle in Settings you could set to have or not have FF update itself automatically. The default (recommended) setting was for automatic updates. I haven’t looked at FF settings for a while (not using FF to write this) but I’d bet the toggle is still there.

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How I stopped FF automatically updating and stopped getting Firefox update reminders which were really annoying me after a while:

In the registry, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies and create a new subkey here named Mozilla. Under the Mozilla key, create a new subkey Firefox.
You will get the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox
Create a new 32-Bit DWORD value DisableAppUpdate and set its value to 1. Restart Firefox.

At the top of the General tab in Settings it will now state “Your browser is being managed by your organisation.”

When you want to update, change the value to 0 and restart Firefox. After update, change back to 1.

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

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But you can stop it from auto updating, no need for a registry hack.

Cheers

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samak

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Matador wrote:

But you can stop it from auto updating, no need for a registry hack.

Thanks. Yes, I’d forgotten. I needed the registry hack to stop the nagging reminders to update.

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

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Matador

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You can stop FF from automatically installing any available updates in Settings > General.

I have FF set to notify me.  The updates shouldn’t lock your system up though, assuming you have sufficient memory available. I install on my own terms when not doing anything on the pc anyway which probably helps.

FF is currently giving me the shits also but on another issue.

 

 

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Charlie

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Just to say I have this happening too, for about 6 months now, on two different computers, an Asus and an Acer. If I reboot, it works again, but is so annoying.
I’m going to watch the answers too.

"She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined.
She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot."
--Mark Twain

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Setting the option to notify about updates and then manually doing the update has resolved this problem.

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