Firefox is Already Running Error Message

A common error message that is encountered when using Firefox is:

“Firefox is already running but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.”

This error message will appear when a Firefox is initially being started, and it can be caused by a number of different reasons, including:

• Firefox did not shut down properly the last time it was used,
• The Firefox profile folder cannot be found or accessed by Firefox, and
• There is an issue with access rights available for Firefox.

Each of these issues can cause the Firefox is already running error to be displayed when a new instance of Firefox is attempted to be launched. Unfortunately, the error message is always the same, so there is no way of knowing which issue is causing the problem. As such, each fix will have to be worked through until the error is corrected. Profiles and access rights will be addressed in the future.

Using Task Manager to Close Firefox

If Firefox did not close properly the last time you used it, you can either restart your system or use Windows Task Manager to correct the problem.

In most cases, when you open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del), you will not see an instance of Firefox running in the Applications tab. Instead, you will have to go to the Processes tab and close Firefox from there. Scroll down through the processes until you find firefox.exe. Click it to highlight it and then click the End Process button. Do this for all entries you find.

You should now be able to start Firefox normally.

Restarting Windows to Close Firefox

In some cases, even though you closed Firefox, it may still be running in the background (due to an error on closing). You can close all background applications by shutting down and restarting your system. If it is running in the background, you may receive an error when the computer is trying to close asking if you want to shut down the program.

When your computer starts up again, you should be able to start Firefox as normal.

Firefox Unresponsive Script Warnings

Firefox is a web browser designed by Mozilla and is an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer. When using Firefox, you may receive an error message that states Warning: Unresponsive script or a script on this page may be busy or it may have stopped responding. A script is the set of instructions that provide a program with the directions to carry out a task. An unresponsive script is one that cannot move to action to carry out the command being asked of it.

Usually, Firefox generates these types of error messages because it thinks a script may be running out of control, or the web page you are trying to access is not working. Whatever the reason for the unresponsive script warning, there are a number of things that can be done to rectify the situation.

First, you can let the script run and see if it corrects itself. You can choose to click the Continue button, which will allow the script to keep running. Over time, it may finish running and the web page will begin working again. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and clicking the Continue button may just bring up the same error message again. If the Continue button does not work out the error, take the following steps to increase the length of time you allow the script to run:

• In the address bar, type about:config and press Enter.
• A warning message that states “This might void your warranty!” may pop up. If this comes up, click the “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
• You will be sent to the about:config page. Search the available options for the dom.max_script_run_time. You can type the preference name in the Filter: box to speed up the process.
• Double click on this preference.
• Change the 10 to a 20 and click the OK button. This will increase the amount of time the script is able to run in the hopes that it will have enough time to fix the error by itself.

If you have noticed that you only receive unresponsive script warnings when accessing certain websites, blocking these scripts from running on those sites will solve the problem.

• Do an Internet search for the Firefox YesScript extension and download it.
• Install YesScript as an add-on by following the prompts that will walk you through the download process.
• Restart Firefox.
• Open the Firefox window and click Tools.
• Select Add-ons from this menu.
• Click Options.
• In the YesScript Blacklist box, type the URL of the site where you are having script error problems.
• Click Add.

By completing the above steps, YesScript will block the site from running script errors when you are on it.

The Script Error

Script errors are all too common when you are visiting various pages on the Internet. A script error is a web page error and has nothing to do with your actions as the computer user or the browser you are using for that matter. A script error is a message that tells you that there is a programming issue on the web page. It is nothing more than an FYI message to let you know that something is going on behind the scenes.

You cannot control script errors from happening unless you are a web programmer. And then you have to have access to the code for that site, if you don’t, you won’t be able to rectify the situation even if you do know how to. Most people who run into script errors are not web programmers. Instead they are just routine web users who probably are not interested in knowing all of the boring details, but would just rather get back to the business of surfing the Internet.

When you come across a script error, it is best to spend your time doing something useful to save yourself the frustration of continuing to get these errors, rather than trying to figure out why they are occurring. Interestingly enough, although script errors can be annoying, they typically don’t prevent you from being able to view the web page you are looking for. The script error just puts a roadblock in the way for a few seconds until you close the error out and then go about your business.

The script error message is really just a way to let the user know that there is something unusual going on. With errors, you are not able to continue doing what you were doing until whatever is causing the error is fixed. This is simply not true with the script error. You can disregard the script error message and move on with viewing the web. As computer errors go, the script error is one of the best ones to run into.

Most browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox are normally programmed to show script errors as they occur. They are also designed to automatically debug websites as users view them. What you can do is control if whether you see script errors or not. If you find that you are getting a great deal of script errors, you can change your settings to eliminate them from popping onto your screen.

If you are using Internet Explorer you can disable the debug feature to eliminate the script error prompts by following the following steps:

• Open Internet Explorer.
• Click on Tools on the toolbar menu.
• Go to Internet Options.
• Choose the Advanced Tab.
• Check the Browsing option.
• Check the box called Disable Script Debugging.
• Click OK.

If you are using Firefox as your browser, you can stop script errors using the following steps:

• Open Firefox
• Type about: config in the address bar.
• In the filter box type the following: dom.max_script_run_time.
• Right click this option and choose modify
• When the box with a number pops up choose a big number like 15 or 20.
• This will adjust the number to reflect a higher number of times a script can run before it issues the script error prompt to your computer screen.

These few short steps should stop you from having to see script error messages on your screen since there is nothing you can do about them anyway. Wouldn’t it be great if all errors were this easy to eliminate?