Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).

• Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.

See:

• Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems

Do a clean (re)install:

• Download a fresh Firefox copy from http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all.html and save the file to the desktop.
• Uninstall your current Firefox version and remove the Firefox program folder before installing that copy of the Firefox installer.
• Don't remove personal data if you uninstall the current version.
• It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.

The jury's still out, but I seem to have solved the problem by uninstalling the Chrome browser (through add/remove programs) and--very important--rebooting.