Startup error of Zotero for Firefox

jbfretig
I have a startup error for Zotero in Firefox (Windows 7) although using the last version of both Firefox (37.0.2) and Zotero (4.0.26.4).
The error still occurs after restarting the computer.

Here is what is written in the Error Consol:

Error loading http.js zotero-service.js:241:0
TypeError: Zotero is undefined overlay.js:189:3

I have scanned the computer as well and don't see any malware.

Do you know how I could solve this?
Thanks a lot!
  • dstillman
    edited May 9, 2015
    As far as we know this is caused by malware:

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/48461/there-was-an-error-starting-zotero/#Item_25

    If you're not detecting any, you can try what worked for this person:

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/48463/error-starting-zotero-even-after-install/#Item_2

    We can't really vouch for it, though. If you try that, disable auto-sync first, if you're using Zotero syncing, and make a backup of the entire profile directory, including the Zotero data directory. You'll want to copy various files (your Zotero files, bookmarks, history, cookies, etc.) back in afterward.
  • mosessister
    I am getting this error too. Soooooo frustrating!

    I'm running Windows 7, Zotero 4.0.26.4, the latest Firefox. I had to manually add Zotero.dot when I recently loaded Word 365, but now I'm getting "there is an error starting zotero" message.

    I have cleaned all the malware off my pc with superantispyware, uninstalled both Mozilla and Zotero numerous times, deleted the Mozilla files in appdata, and reinstalled.

    Nothing works.

    I'm in the middle of a big term paper. This is a disaster...
  • dstillman
    You can always install and use Zotero Standalone, which will share your existing data directory by default, while we're waiting for more information on this.
  • dstillman
    But out of curiosity, do you see either of the two files mentioned in that other thread?
  • mosessister
    edited May 10, 2015
    I got this fixed. I will try to explain what I did, but I'm not a techy, and I'm old, and I can't remember everything I actually did which may have caused the problem. LOL.

    Since there was chatter about malware, and since I did have a big infection yesterday, although I had already run superantispyware, I decided to do a system restore to 2 weeks ago, way before I got the infection.

    The first thing that I did after the system restore is run superantispyware again. It removed some adware and 2 trojans. Then I installed the mozilla firefox add-on for zotero. It worked!!!

    However, I am not convinced the malware was the problem. I then needed to get the zotero add-in into Word, but when I looked for the Zotero.dot file, it wasn't there. Then I remembered that I had (at some point, so sorry my memory isn't helping) loaded the stand-alone version. Does that create the zotero.dot file? Maybe it creates a conflict w/ the zotero firefox add-on? I don't know...I read some more, and then decided to try running the Word processor plug-in for Word this time instead, not sure why I didn't do that before. That worked, I tested zotero in Word and it seems to be working fine.

    Hopefully that information is helpful, I do appreciate everyone's input, so I wanted to give back. :> If you have any questions about what I (think) I did, I'll try to jog my memory some more.

    Thank you, and good night.
  • dstillman
    Zotero.dot isn't related to this issue (and yes, installing Standalone does install that). This problem was almost certainly caused by the malware you had — and it seems that whatever is causing this isn't detected by all malware scanners. We've had other people report that it took running a number of different malware scanners to fix this.
  • mosessister
    Ok, obviously I shall defer to your conclusions. In which case, I'll just point out in the interim that system restore is a viable, tho drastic solution.

    Thanks!
  • mrcvandenheuvel
    For what it's worth, I ran into the same problem, and it indeed seemed to have been caused by malware/adware in my case.

    Yesterday I followed the steps outlined by someone on a Mozilla forum (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1058574)

    As already stated by Dan Stillman above, don't just try one malware remover. I had already run a few of these over the past weeks (MalwareBytes, HitmanPro), but without solace. In other words, only after running them all did it resolve my problems.
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