Troubleshoot problems in case of Firefox startup problems due to extensions

Recently I had problem where I could not get Firefox to start using a certain profile. As soon as Firefox started it would crash.

I was perplexed. Thinking I was the geek I tried starting Firefox by giving the command firefox.exe -safe. No luck. Then I tried the command firefox -safe. Still no luck. I tried searching on the Firefox website but the crash help there did not help me. I was confused and a little frustrated because I love Firefox and use it as a primary browser because of the extensibility the extensions of Firefox allow.

I set about searching and on one of my favourite site Lifehacker I came across this post - Troubleshoot Firefox in Safe Mode - Firefox - Lifehacker: "firefox -safe-mode"

Gina - one of my favourite techies (though she might not agree with the fact that she is a techie) suggested using the command "Firefox -safe-mode". When I used this command a safe mode popup came up which asked me if I wanted to turn off extensions, toolbars, reset Firefox defaults and other adjustments. I disabled the addons and I was able to use Firefox. This option was not being offered when I used the earlier commands.

The reason I'm writing this post is that many n00bs like me might use the wrong safe command and get frustrated. I learnt my lesson and I hope I do not forget it in my life (and that is about 20 years more).