Firefox navigation problems

[redbird]

I just upgraded to 3.5, and the navigation buttons aren't working. I have been to the forum, and followed the suggestions here--the simple "reboot," and the more complicated "remove or rename places.sqlite and places.sqlite-journal". The problem persists.

I have posted a question to the forum, but it also seems worth asking here. (One suggestion there, which I hope not to have to follow, is to create a new profile.)

Does anyone have any other suggestions for fixing this directly?

Failing that, thoughts on Chrome versus Opera? [This is Windows XP, if that's relevant]. Or have you tried reinstalling an earlier 3.x after Firefox 3.5?

ETA: Fixed The answer was to start Firefox in safe mode, disable all extensions and add-ons, and if it then worked, re-enable them one at a time. The culprit appears to be one called guiconfig, which I have uninstalled.

Thanks for all the help, and I may yet try adding a browser.

Comments

[barberio.livejournal.com]

I'm currently considering switching to Opera. 3.5 has started to wear out my patience as it's going very much in the wrong direction these days.

Chrome v Opera

[grendel1031.livejournal.com]

A very reliable friend of mine who uses XP is absolutely sold on Chrome. Primarily for the speed. I'm not sure he's aware of CSS compliance issues, if there are any.

I have no opinion. I'm a Mac/Firefox 3.5 user with no complaints.

But he is not only reliable, as I said, but he is A Very Critical Person. He once was my boss; I know about his nit-picking tendencies. He made my work very much better because of them.

[iggyspawn.livejournal.com]

portableapps.com

I run portable firefox, upgrades are as simple as exploding the new version's archive over top of the older. After each update is released I zip up what I have before overlaying the new version. In fact I rolled back from 3.5, until some of my more important extensions are updated. I'm too lazy to force them and see if they work anyway.

I also regularly use portable versions of opera and chromium, quick google searches will show you where to find them. I use them less frequently simply because most of my history, bookmarks, etc are in firefox but having them available is nice if a site behaves badly with one or another browser. Also now that I've started using lastpass for usernames and passwords it's conceivable to also have that available in chrome and opera which would make switching back and forth much easier, though I haven't yet set it up and tested the functionality.

[sraun]

You might check out Iron - it's based on Chrome, but stripped out some of the perceived privacy problems that Google put in (some automagic surfing tracking stuff), and is using the most recent version of the tool-kits that Google used for Chrome.

I should go re-evaluate - I use a minimal number of plug-ins, and I think what was the make-or-break one is no longer an issue. If so, I'm going to go to Iron near full-time.

[kate_nepveu]

I love Opera and have used it for years and years because it is so keyboard-friendly. However I have not tried Chrome and know nothing of it.

[deor.livejournal.com]

I too have used Opera for years and love it. I tried Chrome and didn't much care for it - if you're used to the customizability of Opera, Chrome is severely lacking in comparison.

Now if only Opera would allow addons like Firefox, instead of those stupid limited widgets, that would be perfect.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

The WashPost software columnist's blog (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2009/07/following_up_on_firefox_35_saf.html) from today compares Firefox 3.5, Opera, and Chrome (and links at the top to his column about it yesterday).

(Rob is a good guy -- remember when Google sort of took over Usenet and started marking our words with links to their ads? I emailed him about it and he did a column about it. Google stopped.)