A Firefox “Profile” contains all the modifications you made to the original Firefox installation including Bookmarks, Themes, and Add-ons. Most Themes and Add-ons perform perfectly, but there are some that cause memory leaks, browser hangs, slower performance and overall stability issues. There is a official sheet listing some of the known offenders called “Problematic extensions”. Some Add-ons uninstall properly, some don’t. Typing about:config in your browser after uninstalling an Add-on and searching/sorting by name may show remnants. Its not clear if those remnants default control back to the browser, or not, so you may still experience performance issues.
Creating a new Firefox Profile is a great way to solve the majority of problems experienced after installing/uninstalling Add-ons, without the heartache of uninstalling Firefox, hunting down and deleting leftover folders, files and windows registry entries.
After experimenting with different Add-ons and themes, I found what works for me. Left with the heartache option mentioned above, I decided to create a new profile, and install my favorite Add-ons and theme. Worked perfectly, in less than 30 minutes (If you use Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer).
The following are the steps used to create a new profile:
1) If you don’t already have Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer, install it, and use the Setup Wizard to create an account, enable secure password sync (if you don’t want to retype all your passwords), and run the Initial sync to the server. Verify the sync was successful by visiting the Foxmarks website.
Note: Your original profile (default) will still be there, unless you delete it.
2) Write down the Add-ons and Themes you want to keep
3) Shut down Firefox
4) In the Vista Start Menu Search Box (Run command for XP) type “firefox.exe –P”.
5) Click on Create Profile icon. Give it a name. This new Profile will be highlighted and chosen by default.
6) Click on Start Firefox icon. You will now see the basic Firefox
7) Install your Add-ons and Themes. Install Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer Add-On, follow the Setup Wizard and choose Initial Synchronization option Keep data on the server, discard data on this computer.
Note: If you want to use multiple profiles, you can uncheck Don’t ask at startup. This means you will be prompted every time you start Firefox. Your better off to create a firefox shortcut, rename it by profile, click on the properties of the shortcut, and add –P “profile name” –no-remote. (-no-remote allows for running more than one profile at the same time.
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