The browser is certainly one of the most important programs when we use the PC, since it allows us to surf the Internet and take advantage of its contents. Unfortunately, it may happen that, following an infection or a visit to a fraudulent advertising page, our browser slows down to the point of blocking (often with a confirmation window on which we must necessarily click). If our browser is not as fast and snappy as just installed, the only thing to do is to reset it, so that you can start over (keeping the bookmarks and history). In this guide we will show you how to reset Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to the initial settings using both the menu items present in the settings and how to reset the blocked browsers, i.e. those that no longer start due to an infection or a scam page.
READ ALSO: How to Restore Chrome, Firefox, Edge Browsers
How to reset Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox
Before proceeding with the actual reset of the two browsers, we will show you how to save the personal data present within them, so that you can immediately reuse your favorite bookmarks and history.How to save bookmarks and history before reset
On Google Chrome we can save bookmarks using the synchronization system offered by Google itself; to activate it, click on the top right of our profile icon (next to the button with the three dots), then press on Activate synchronization .
In the new window that appears, enter the login credentials of our Google account (Gmail, Android and YouTube accounts are fine) and, on the confirmation page, make sure that the item Synchronize all is activated. If we want to synchronize only some elements, just deactivate the previous item and activate the buttons next to the functions we want (Bookmarks and History ). In a few seconds our contents will be saved online and can be restored after the reset, so you can start again immediately.
If Chrome does not start or is blocked, we can save the components of our profile by pressing Win + R on the keyboard, copying the following path ....
% LOCALAPPDATA% \ Google \ Chrome \ User Data \
.... and finally copying the Default sub-folder inside the window that will appear.
On Mozilla Firefox we can take advantage of a similar synchronization system; to activate it, all we have to do is click on the user profile symbol at the top right, click on the Activate Sync button and proceed with activating our Firefox account.
Whether we already have a Firefox account or if we do not yet have one, we enter a valid email address and proceed according to the situation (we will be asked to choose a password if we do not already have an account; if instead the email is already registered, we will be asked to enter the password chosen in the past).
Once logged in, we can choose which elements to synchronize: make sure to insert Bookmarks and History in order to quickly restore our personal content.
If Firefox does not start or is blocked at startup, we press WIN + R on the keyboard, we enter the following command ...
% APPDATA% \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ Profiles \
.... then we copy the sub-folder xxxxxxxx.default inside it; if we have multiple profiles, we save all the folders with the .default extension present in the indicated path.
How to reset Google Chrome
Once all personal contents have been saved, we can reset Chrome to the initial settings by clicking on the menu with the three dots at the top right, going to Settings, scrolling until you find the Advanced section (on which we will have to click to unlock the new page section) and scrolling again until you find the Restore factory defaults menu.
In the window that will open we will have to do is click on the Reset button to reset Google Chrome to the initial settings, thus eliminating any type of problem.
If Chrome is blocked or is not bootable, let's also close it forcibly and restore it "brutally" by deleting the User Data folder in the following path (we can insert it in the field that can be activated with WIN + R):
LOCALAPPDATA%% \ Google \ Chrome \
Now all we have to do is start Google Chrome again and synchronize as seen in the previous chapter.
How to reset Mozilla Firefox
Backed up your personal content, we can restore Mozilla Firefox by clicking at the top of the address bar, typing about: support and finally clicking on the Reset Firefox button.
In the window that we will see, just click Reset Firefox to reset the Mozilla browser to the initial settings.
If Firefox does not start or is blocked, we can force the browser to reset by pressing WIN + R on the keyboard, typing the following command ...
% APPDATA% \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ Profiles \
.... and finally deleting all the xxxxxxxx.default folders that we find inside. Alternatively we can manage the profiles present in Firefox by opening WIN + R and typing the following command:
firefox.exe -P
A special browser window will open where we can create, edit and remove all user profiles present in Mozilla Firefox.
To delete a profile, select it and press the Delete profile button; to create a new one, click on Create profile, click on Next in the new window and choose a name to assign to the new profile. Finally press on Finish, select the new profile, make sure there is a check mark on the item Use the selected profile without asking at startup and finally press on Start Firefox to end the restore.
Conclusions
If the browser that we are using starts to give too many problems, surfs slowly or tends to get stuck constantly, resetting will solve most of the problems, also allowing us to resume work from where we left it.If even after the reset our browser appears slow or blocked or does not surf the Internet anymore, we recommend you read our two guides If the PC is not connected to the Internet, how to restore the network and web browsing and how to clean the PC infected with malware by removing all traces .
