The little squares with the hex codes inside

Hello,

My Firefox browser today started showing little boxes with (from what I looked up on Google), are Hex codes inside.

This is on these Auran forums, and also on at least one other forum I go to. These are only in certain places, for instance where the words that say Thread and Posts. Those words do not appear. Also on Post New Thread, and so on ...

It also occurs down in the area that gives the users online.

This is Firefox 50.1.0 on Windows XP,SP3.

I had the add-ons Color That Site! and NoSquint Plus operating as usual,for a few years with no problems. I must admit to two things. I had been readjusting some colors and font sizes lately, but things have been operating correctly as late as yesterday.

The other unusual thing I did today was delete a couple of sets of cookies, some for Outbrain, and some for Doubleclick. I never have deleted any Doubleclick cookies, so this was unusual for me.

I have deleted the page settings for the add-ons, and also disabled but not uninstalled the add-ons.

My other browsers display the forum pages correctly.

A Google suggestion has said to clear the browser cache, Which I wouldn't mind since I am sure I have the latest passwords for the forums, but I truly fear losing my email login cookies. I have them in a Password protection program, but did I update it every time? I also fear the stupid Recaptcha which shows the images before changing the email password.

So, I'll ask here for opinions. Thanks much. Bob P.

Sailor Dan, I went to that Mozilla Forum site and looked up "hex". There was just some info there about the squares and that they are hex numbers.
(related to some fonts being missing on the system).

I can't understand how they are missing from the system because my two other browsers show the forums properly.

I started Firefox in Safe Mode which did not fix it. Then I refreshed Firefox (which is supposed to take it back to original condition, without losing cookies and bookmarks). That didn't clear it up either.

I have already done a system restore to before this trouble.

Well, it's time for me to be patient. Eventually, Ill probably uninstall Firefox with Revo uninstaller and delete all the Firefox stuff from the registry. (just hope I'll have the correct password to get back into my email). I'll go slow and patient!

Thanks for your help! Bob P.

Wait, you are using Windows XP to browse the web? That's brave.

I am browsing the web with Windows XP while on dial up, which is not that brave. I can't remember when I got any malware or virus.

I do check the computer with an old but free antivirus program (updated daily) called Clamwin.

On the very rare times it finds something, I just wait a while, then go to Virus Total and check the file(s) with other Antiviruses and it is always Clamwin that has given a false positive. Best Wishes to you!

Bob P.

I am still looking into this (possibly a font problem). Tried lots of suggestions from Mozilla forums. Modified items in about:config, turned hardware acceleration off and on. I will be going real slow on this. Many websites are working ok. I can still get my email which is the most important thing and there are are no little boxes on the email site.

AnalogOldguy said:

I am browsing the web with Windows XP while on dial up, which is not that brave.

Click to expand...

I would suggest that the current problem indicates it is very brave indeed. Something has injected itself in between the page you are downloading and the display you are seeing - a classic symptom of an infection.

Hello,

I'll have to agree with you guys, there are bad things happening on the internet these days. I have thought about it lately with this ransomware currently making the rounds. But I've had much luck using dial up for about 20 years.

It is so slow that a large image will take a minute or more to complete. There is a visual graph on screen that shows me when there is some kind of activity that seems questionable to me (it doesn't happen much at all). And I'll stop all internet activity with my firewall for a while and it goes away.

Really, I suspect the two Firefox add ons that do things to the webpages have something to do with it. Color That Site!, which allows the changing of background and foreground colors (which I used on the two game forums I go to, including Trainz).

The other add on is NoSquint Plus, which more likely could have been the cause. It allowed adjusting the zoom levels of pages along with a separate adjustment for text size. It also had adjustment for the general background color of pages.

I had a feeling that mixing these two add ons was not a good idea. The two forum sites that had changes on them are the most affected right now.

Thanks for your help! I will continue looking into this!:'(

(Right now I am using a Firefox add on named Font Finder which allows you to highlight text. I highlight the little boxes and it tells me it should be the Tahoma font. The Tahoma font is on my computer! Two other browsers show the sites properly!

Hello,

Well I'd say the problem has been solved. I did a deep uninstall of Firefox using Revo Uninstaller, then deleted all the stuff I could find in the registry (pertaining to Mozilla and Firefox) with RegSeeker. I forgot to do the one step the Firefox forums recommended, which is to type %APPDATA% into the Run box on the XP start menu.Then you're supposed to delete the Firefox folder. It's in the Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles. But is supposed to be hidden.

Firefox has gotten very fast, and only one little box is showing on the main Trainz forum screen. It is way down where the Chinese forum is. I tried my other browsers and they all show a garbage character for whatever is down there. If the problems return, I will come back here to report it.

Thanks for all your help. Bob P.