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I have the Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu. After an auto-update a few weeks ago, whenever I try to launch Firefox I get the message: 

Failed to execute child process
No such file or directory

So I tried uninstalling it in the Add/remove applications menu, then I told the command line

sudo apt-get install firefox

but it responds by telling me that Firefox is already the newest version. So I try installing it again in the add/remove menu, and it claims that the operation is a success... except it still doesn't work after that.

Is there a more thorough way of deleting the program? I'm not too experienced with Ubuntu and unsure how to proceed.

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Try removing and installing again

sudo apt-get remove firefox 
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox

If still you're getting an error try launching Firefox from console firefox

and update the question with any messages that's coming on screen

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sudo apt-get remove firefox worked fine. sudo-apt-get clean appeared to do nothing--i hit enter and it just goes to the next line without giving any feedback at all. then update worked fine and install worked fine, but afterward i tried to launch to program again and got the same error message from before – user50626 Sep 28 '10 at 3:19
The same error comes when you try to launch from the console ? – Sathya♦ Sep 28 '10 at 3:23
oh i just looked up what that meant. it worked! thank you. – user50626 Sep 28 '10 at 3:29
Can post an answer on what exactly you did ? It'll help others. – Sathya♦ Sep 28 '10 at 3:37
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