Beware of the Skype Firefox Add-On

by Abhijeet on May 8, 2008

in Firefox

I was facing some problems in Firefox since few days. It usually used to auto refresh pages and was not displaying some pages properly.

I checked some settings and found that it was due to the Skype Firefox Add On which I had installed recently. I uninstalled it and things started working fine. I thought it to be an issue just with my system and didn’t post about it. But then I came across this post in ghacks where it says that many users have faced such an issue.

So if you are facing abnormal Firefox behavior then make sure you check if you have the Skype Firefox extension/ add-on. If you do then it is better to uninstall it for the time being.

 

  • Keith
    I found that my Firefox V2.0.16 would not display some web pages (just keep "waiting" or "stopped". I started in Firefox safe mode and it worked. Then I worked through the add-on gradually enabling them and sure enough it was the Skype add on you mentioned that was the problem. With this disabled Firefox works fine. Thanks!!
  • Boris
    Seems nobody is paying attention during download and installation. Firefox first searches for add ons and warns that dictionaries for FF 2 and Skype will not work. It also searches for the corresponding FF3 dictionaries.
    Skype isn't ready with the FF 3 add on.
  • Yeah, it was happening to me with Firefox 3 rc2, then in the official release of FF3. I dont know about anyone else, but how often does anyone use that plugin anyways?
  • Boy am I glad I found your blog recently and decided to go through some previous posts! I installed this add on to my computer at work and have been suffering from major auto-reload issues. I couldn't figure out what it was. I'm uninstalling it now!

    Thanks for the information!
  • I downloaded the official release of the new firefox 3 a few days ago and it stopped a few of my older addons from working. I changed a few options in the about:config area so that they would work and a few of them started to function. Today I installed skype. Now firefox would not open without crashing. I couldn't find out why it kept crashing because it wouldn't open in the first place. I used the safe mode feature and found out that the skype extension was not compatible with firefox 3. I uninstalled it and now everything works fine again ;)
  • Zach
    I had a similar issue on Firefox with loading full size images, I'd click an image to enlarge and the browser would sit there for a minute, refreshing, and suddenly tell me that there were errors with the image. It did this for every image I found. so I went to the FireFox Error Console to see what was wrong. It was Skype having the hang up, I don't know what it was trying to do though...
  • I guess it is a good thing that I usually keep a minimalist Firefox setup with only the most essential extensions.

    I usually uninstall extensions installed by Skype, DAP etc., so I've never noticed this problem.
  • Thanks Abhijeet...
    I just cleared cookies and videos are back now.

    Darshaks last blog post..MyPhoneExplorer - The Best Thing You Can Have for Your Sony Ericsson Phone
  • Thanks a lot for the tip. I'll keep this in mind while installing that add-on.
  • Abhijeet
    @Darshak Can you see other flash videos like on Youtube? Try and delete cookies and temp files in FF
  • I had a bad experience with skype add-on on IE7 last year. Then I uninstalled and never see it again. Now you got on FF. Hope skype developers may fix this issues to save other users.
    Recently I am facing another issue with FF on www.orkut.com. When, I try to go to anyone's favorite video, I can't see it. Just a blank space will be covered in place of video, any1 else having this issue or any help?

    Darshaks last blog post..MyPhoneExplorer - The Best Thing You Can Have for Your Sony Ericsson Phone
  • Thanks for the tip, will keep that in mind. Didn't know about this.

    Aseem Kishores last blog post..Internet Explorer disabled or blocked at the office? Bypass restrictions
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