How to Uninstall Firefox 3

Mozilla Firefox is a preferred Web browser that many like for its speed, security features, and accessibility. Despite of all these features, you may want to uninstall Firefox for one of the following reasons:

  • You are using the latest version of Firefox, say Firefox 3 but want to switch to an older version, for instance Firefox 2.
  • There is some problem in the setup files of Firefox resulting in frequent errors.
  • You want to install a new Web browser and do not want to use Firefox any longer.

 This article provides you with the steps you need to perform in order to completely remove Firefox from your system.

Step 1 (Optional): Make a backup of Firefox data

If you wish to make a backup of your bookmarks before you uninstall Firefox, perform the following steps:

For Firefox 3:

  1. Go to the Bookmark menu in Firefox browser and select Organize Bookmarks.
  2. Next, choose Import and Backup > Export HTML.

For Firefox 2:

  1. Go to the Bookmark menu and choose OrganizeBookmarks.
  2. Next select File and then click Export option.

Step 2: Uninstall Firefox using Add or Remove Programs utility

Before you proceed with the steps mentioned below, close all the open Firefox browser windows on your system.

  1. Run the appwiz.cpl command at Start > Run.
  2. Select Mozilla Firefox from the list of programs displayed.
  3. Next, click Remove (Windows XP) or Uninstall (Windows Vista) to open the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall Wizard.
  4. Select the Remove my Firefox personal data check box if you want to get rid of bookmarks, passwords and other data saved in Firefox.
  5. Click Uninstall.
  6. Follow the onscreen instructions and click Finish on the completion of the uninstallation process.

Note: If you are unable to launch the Firefox uninstall wizard with the help of the above steps, run the following command:

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe

Step 3: Remove Firefox user profile

The normal uninstallation process usually fails to delete individual user profiles. A user profile stores information such as, bookmarks, password and cookies.

If you are using Windows XP then delete the following folders:

  • \Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Mozilla
  • \Documents and Settings\[Username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla

In Window Vista, you need to delete the following folders:

  • \Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Mozilla
  • \Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\

Step 4: Remove Firefox related entries in the Windows registry

Note: The steps mentioned in this section require you to make changes to the Windows registry. Any mistake while editing the registry may cause severe damage to your system. This is why it is important that you make a registry backup before proceeding further. You may use the help of a reliable registry cleaning tool, such as RegGenie, in making a registry backup.

To complete the final step of Firefox uninstallation, you need to access the Registry Editor. To achieve this, perform the following steps:

  1. Go to Start > Run.
  2. Type regedit in the Open box and press OK.

To ensure complete removal of Firefox, you need to locate and delete all entries related to Firefox in the registry. You can use the Find option under the Edit menu to locate a registry key. To delete a registry key, right-click on it and click Delete.

The registry entires you need to delete are:

  • [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxHTML]
  • [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxURL\]
  • [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\firefox.exe]
  • [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mozilla]
  • [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MozillaPlugins]
  • [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla]
  • [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\mozilla.org]
  • [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins]

If you don’t want to perform these time-consuming steps to completely uninstall Firefox from your computer, it is best that you seek the help of a reliable program uninstaller tool. One such useful tool is Perfect Uninstaller. This tool scans your entire system and the registry for any data related to the program you are trying to remove and get rid of it. One of the good things about using Perfect Uninstaller is that you can uninstall Firefox even if its installation on your computer is incomplete or its program files are corrupt.