Re: I need help!

[Daniel Veditz]

> I really do like the firefox browser but there is something really
> screwing going on with it. I've had to download it and remove it over
> and over because after a few days of using it, all of a sudden
> something hijacks it and as soon as I open a website (one of my own
> so I know it isn't the website doing it) my screen becomes filled
> with one window after another telling me I need to download a Firefox
> update, then another one will open that says I have to down load a
> video player before I can continue, then another window opens with an
> advertisement about zombies, and another ad will open about cars,
> then another will open with a video and someone starts talking. I've
> sat there and watched as over 20 windows open. Then tabs start
> opening up to other websites. At one time 11 tabs opened up on their
> own. It's as if that browser is possessed!!!
>
> I've tried getting help from your crazy community and asking
> questions at your so called "support" area but nothing comes up to
> help me solve this problem.
>
> I have Norton Internet Security and have scanned my computer
> repeatedly for viruses and there are none This only happens when I
> try to use Firefox, not Safari or Internet Explorer.

You have some kind of malware or "ad-ware". Did you install anything
around the time this started? This kind of junk is sometimes bundled
with software you want, sometimes even otherwise-reputable software if
you download it from the wrong location. That Norton scans don't find it
speaks for itself: either Norton is not very good or you're just
imagining all these symptoms.

First let me make sure you're downloading a legitimate copy of Firefox,
because we're one that people like to serve up bundled with junk. We try
to take them down as fast as we can but it's difficult to do anything
involving the legal process quickly (especially when these guys are
sometimes in other countries). Get it from
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

That probably didn't fix it, but let's eliminate that possibility.

Since IE and Safari aren't affected my guess is you've got a malicious
add-on causing the trouble. You could go to about:addons and see if
there's one you don't recognize, but sometimes malicious addons can hide
themselves. The simplest approach might be to do a "Firefox Reset". This
preserves your data like bookmarks, history, and tabs, but will remove
ALL add-ons (since these are usually the trouble).

If you do have some add-ons you like you could then go an install them
one by one. Hopefully the problem wouldn't come back, but if you install
one at a time you might be able to figure out which one is causing the
problem.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/reset-firefox-easily-fix-most-problems

If there's also a malicious executable running on your machine this
won't fix the problem since the executable would most likely restore the
add-on. But a malicious executable is more likely to have been spotted
by Norton than an add-on is so I'm hoping you don't have one.

Good-luck,
-Dan Veditz

[Devdatta Akhawe]

Wonder if this post should be on a Mozilla Wiki somewhere, so that anyone
can point to it.

[Frederik Braun]

On 26.02.2014 08:11, Devdatta Akhawe wrote:
> Wonder if this post should be on a Mozilla Wiki somewhere, so that anyone
> can point to it.

The wiki in question would be SuMo (i.e., support.mozilla.org). I'll
forward Dan's email to my friendly SuMo desk neighbor :)