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Firefox doesn't completely close and an error message comes up

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  • 5 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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It wasn't until this current version 10 of Firefox, did I start to experience an issue that seemed odd.

Every time I close out of Firefox, I am assuming I'm completely out of it, but it's still running in the background. Shortly after I close Firefox (and it's still running hidden), I get an error message that pops up and it says:

A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete.

Script: chrome://browser/content/sanitize.js:133

At the bottom of this window it gives you two options: CONTINUE (and if you press that, Firefox stays hidden in the background, still running with plug in folders), or STOP SCRIPT (which, if you click on that, will shut down Firefox completely).

So why is this occurring now as it is totally inconvenient and something that has not occurred with previous versions of Firefox?

Thanks for listening....

Ben Herrmann


It does this on both of my computers.

It wasn't until this current version 10 of Firefox, did I start to experience an issue that seemed odd. Every time I close out of Firefox, I am assuming I'm completely out of it, but it's still running in the background. Shortly after I close Firefox (and it's still running hidden), I get an error message that pops up and it says: ''A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete.'' ''Script: chrome://browser/content/sanitize.js:133 At the bottom of this window it gives you two options: CONTINUE (and if you press that, Firefox stays hidden in the background, still running with plug in folders), or STOP SCRIPT (which, if you click on that, will shut down Firefox completely). So why is this occurring now as it is totally inconvenient and something that has not occurred with previous versions of Firefox? Thanks for listening.... Ben Herrmann It does this on both of my computers.

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That can be caused by clearing the cookies via "Clear Recent History".

  • https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Clear+Recent+History
  • Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history" > [X] Clear history when Firefox closes > Settings
  • Firefox > History > Clear Recent History or Tools > Clear Recent History

If you use "Clear Recent History" to clear the cookies then Firefox also tries to clear the cookies from plugins like Flash (LSO) and starts a plugin-container process for each plugin and that can add extra time and can cause an unresponsive script error to appear. Make sure that all plugins are up to date.

Exclude the cookies from "Clear Recent History" to see if that helps.
Let all cookies expire when you close Firefox to remove unwanted cookies and keep the ones with an allow exception.
Make sure that you do not clear the "Site Preferences" as that will remove all exceptions.

  • Tools > Options > Privacy > Cookies: "Keep until": "I close Firefox"