...Safe Mode vs New Profile, what's the difference...

Safe Mode vs New Profile, what's the difference

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Safe Mode vs New Profile, what's the difference

The following is based on a posted reply by nemo 2007-03-04

Safe Mode

Generally safe mode disables all extensions, switches back to default theme for that session only, and it generally helps you to check whether this problem is caused by any add-ons or not.

firefox.exe -s

If the there is still a problem then the problem is probably not a user added extension, or user added chrome (formatting) change.

If there is no problem in safe mode then the problem is most likely caused by an added user extension, or configuration change.

If there is a problem in Safe Mode then you probably then the problem was probably not an extension, but keep in mind that extensions can change settings and you might want to try a new profile.

For more information refer to the Safe mode which is a point within Standard_diagnostic_(Firefox)#Extension_issues and you may want to continue there or at some other point within that page depending on your results from testing in (Firefox) Safe Mode.

New Profile

Starting with a test profile, you can check whether a problem resides within a profile folder or perhaps some other external application is causing this problem. It's generally the first step to find the source of a problem.

firefox.exe  -p

If there is a problem in a new profile, then the problem could be something distributed with Firefox, something placed by group administrator to apply to all new user profiles, some plugin installed for use of all Firefox users such as Acrobat Reader, multimedia or flash files.

Configuration Change

userChrome, userContent, prefs.js, user.js

Extension

additions to Firefox instelled/uninstalled/disabled/enabled easily by users.

User Options interface

Changes to configuration via Tools, Options, ...

The information here ...

Descriptive stuff here.
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Safe Mode vs New Profile, what's the difference