{"id":4770,"date":"2016-12-05T10:14:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T04:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=4770"},"modified":"2019-05-12T02:52:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T02:52:59","slug":"reset-firefox-completely-start-over-from-scratch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-firefox-completely-start-over-from-scratch\/","title":{"rendered":"Reset Firefox Completely and Start Over from Scratch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve customized many settings in Mozilla Firefox and want to revert back to the defaults without losing your bookmarks and cookies, you can use the Refresh option.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Refresh Firefox<\/h2>\n<p>Start Firefox, type <strong>about:support<\/strong> in the address bar and press ENTER.<\/p>\n<p>Click &#8220;Refresh Firefox&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/firefox-reset-1.png\" alt=\"refresh firefox\" width=\"701\" height=\"389\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4779\" \/><\/p>\n<p><p>It tells you that refreshing Firefox will remove your add-ons, customizations and restores default browser preferences. Click &#8220;Refresh Firefox&#8221;, and click Finish in the next dialog.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/firefox-reset-2.png\" alt=\"refresh firefox\" width=\"302\" height=\"163\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4780\" \/><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/firefox-reset-3.png\" alt=\"reset firefox\" width=\"482\" height=\"387\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4778\" \/><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/firefox-reset-4.png\" alt=\"reset firefox\" width=\"699\" height=\"187\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4777\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>What does the refresh feature do?<\/h4>\n<p>All of your Firefox settings and personal information are stored in a profile folder. The refresh feature works by creating a new profile folder for you while saving your important data.<\/p>\n<p>Add-ons which are normally stored inside the Firefox profile folder, such as extensions and themes, will be removed. Add-ons stored in other locations, such as plugins, will not be removed but any modified preferences (such as plugins you have disabled) will be reset.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Firefox will save these items<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bookmarks<\/li>\n<li>Browsing and download history<\/li>\n<li>Passwords<\/li>\n<li>Open windows and tabs<\/li>\n<li>Cookies<\/li>\n<li>Web form auto-fill information<\/li>\n<li>Personal dictionary <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These items and settings <strong>will be removed<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Extensions and themes<\/li>\n<li>Website permissions<\/li>\n<li>Modified preferences<\/li>\n<li>Added search engines<\/li>\n<li>DOM storage<\/li>\n<li>Security certificate and device settings<\/li>\n<li>Download actions<\/li>\n<li>Plugin settings<\/li>\n<li>Toolbar customizations<\/li>\n<li>User styles<\/li>\n<li>Social features.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/support.mozilla.org\/en-US\/kb\/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Mozilla Firefox KB<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Completely Reset Firefox to defaults<\/h2>\n<p>If refreshing Firefox doesn&#8217;t fix a problem you&#8217;re facing, you may want to start over completely. Here is how to completely reset Firefox (for all browser profiles).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Important:<\/strong> The following procedure resets all Firefox settings to default, for all browser profiles. It deletes your browser profiles, bookmarks, extensions, themes, cache, browsing history, passwords, cookies, and web form auto-fill information.<\/p>\n<p>You may want to export your bookmarks and cookies or sync them online before proceeding further.<\/p>\n<p>Close all instances of Firefox<\/p>\n<p>Open this folder: <strong>%AppData%\\Mozilla<\/strong> by typing it in Explorer address bar.<\/p>\n<p>Rename &#8220;Extensions&#8221; to &#8220;Extensions-old&#8221; and &#8220;Profiles&#8221; to &#8220;Profiles-old&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/firefox-reset-6.png\" alt=\"completely reset firefox\" width=\"700\" height=\"107\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4782\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Then open: <strong>%LocalAppData%\\Mozilla\\Firefox<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rename &#8220;Profiles&#8221; to &#8220;Profiles-old&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/firefox-reset-7.png\" alt=\"completely reset firefox\" width=\"700\" height=\"95\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4781\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s it! Start Firefox now. The &#8220;first run&#8221; screen will appear.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/firefox-reset-5.png\" alt=\"refresh firefox completely\" width=\"701\" height=\"317\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4776\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you have a Firefox account and had synced your bookmarks, passwords, tabs, etc. you should be able to login to the account and get (sync) your stuff back. It&#8217;s however prudent to have local copies of your bookmarks, passwords, etc. before resetting Firefox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve customized many settings in Mozilla Firefox and want to revert back to the defaults without losing your bookmarks and cookies, you can use the Refresh option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[222],"class_list":["post-4770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-firefox"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":499,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/register-firefox-portable-with-default-apps\/","url_meta":{"origin":4770,"position":0},"title":"Register Firefox Portable with Default Apps or Default Programs in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Mozilla Firefox\u00ae, Portable Edition is the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser bundled with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions, and saved passwords with you. This article lists two methods with which you can register Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition with Default Apps or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"firefox portable - default apps register - vbscript","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/firefoxportable-vbs-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/firefoxportable-vbs-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/firefoxportable-vbs-3.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/firefoxportable-vbs-3.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23844,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/firefox-restore-missing-view-image-menu-option\/","url_meta":{"origin":4770,"position":1},"title":"[Firefox] Restore Missing &#8220;View Image&#8221; Menu Option","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In Firefox v88, some context menu options have been removed. One of the most useful options that is removed is the \"View Image\" context menu. It's now replaced by \"Open Image in New Tab,\" which opens the image in a new tab (or a new window if the Shift key\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"firefox view image menu add-on","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/firefox-view-image-add-on-0.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9104,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clear-firefox-cache-cookies-history-website\/","url_meta":{"origin":4770,"position":2},"title":"How to Clear Firefox Cache, Cookies, History for Specific website","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"You may sometimes need to clear the browsing history when testing websites, especially if you're a developer. Web developers use the F12 developer tools (a.k.a. Inspector) disable caching when designing web sites. Besides the developer tools method, there is another excellent Firefox feature called Forget About This Site that clears\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clear Firefox Cache, Cookies, History for Specific website","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/firefox-forget-about-this-site-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/firefox-forget-about-this-site-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/firefox-forget-about-this-site-4.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4432,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/set-custom-icon-pdf-files-firefox-default-pdf-viewer\/","url_meta":{"origin":4770,"position":3},"title":"Set Custom icon for PDF Files with Chrome or Firefox as the Default PDF Viewer","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've associated PDF files with Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to make use of browser's built-in PDF viewing capability, the PDF and HTML files would show up with the same Chrome or Firefox icon in File Explorer. This post tells you how to set a custom different icon for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"chrome pdf icon default viewer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/chrome-pdf-viewer-icon-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/chrome-pdf-viewer-icon-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/chrome-pdf-viewer-icon-3.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/chrome-pdf-viewer-icon-3.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1049,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/ie-extension-open-web-page-different-browser\/","url_meta":{"origin":4770,"position":4},"title":"Internet Explorer Extension to Open Current Page in Chrome, Firefox or Edge","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd like to share the extensions I made for Internet Explorer, to open current web page in a different browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge (Windows 10). This extension works fine in all versions of Windows, including Windows 10.After adding this extension, you'll see the following\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Internet Explorer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Internet Explorer","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/internet-explorer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"open with browser extension for IE","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ie-extensions-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ie-extensions-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ie-extensions-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5424,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/firefox-bookmark-new-tab-loadbookmarksintabs-default\/","url_meta":{"origin":4770,"position":5},"title":"How to Open Mozilla Firefox Bookmarks in New Tabs by Default","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Mozilla Firefox Nightly 57.0 build introduces an option where you can configure bookmarks to open in a new tab by default. This feature has been requested by many Firefox users, and Mozilla seems to have listened to them. Previously, to open bookmark items in a new tab by default, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Firefox logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/firefox.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}