popups appear randomly but only on Firefox
For 6+plus months, I get "popups". The latest shows a box in middle of screen that is in what appears to be another window. The small window has a message "Firewall has defined that your Windows Microsoft system is damaged and irrelevant. ...." plus other junk. No trade marks or anything to identify from whom. In the background, in what looks like another small window but in fact is full screen, it shows System Warning! in blue band around message starting with a "red x Your Windows system is damaged ...." that is partially hidden by the above message.
In the header where normally there is something about the site and an x to close tab, there is only the x. Also, in the address bar, it shows the i in circle, the green locked lock and the address.
Usually, I just shut down Firefox without clicking on screens. I would then restart Firefox which brings up a message "Close Firefox" with the following ? in a circle with message - "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. The old..." with choice boxes to close or cancel. This did not appear in lastest popup.
My settings are that Firefox on closing does not save anything.
The time before was a screen that told me on a specific date, my subscription to McAfee expires, unless.... Only trouble was I don't have a subscription!
The time before that was a McAfee back screen with a small window up front stating "Windows Security Center. Your Mcafee subscription has expired.... " with the choice window "OK".
Only just learned how simple it is to take a screen shot. I used my phone to take photos previously.
Oh and the time before above, there was a popup with Firefox logo and "Dear Firefox user, You re today's lucky visitor for: Feburary 4, 2019 ...".
I have seen multiple times these messages.
I have uninstalled and re-installed Firefox more than once. I just recently did a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro on a reformated M.2 drive. But I have a HDD with most files that I did not touch.
HELP!!!!
Ausgewählte Lösung
Hi MacAl, some of these are probably generated by "malvertisements" distributed through major ad networks. Some others could be locally generated by add-ons or external software that sends a URL to your default browser.
(Note that when you exit Firefox, it may take some time to clean up background processes, so the "already running" may be a matter of starting up again too quickly.)
Extension Cleanup
You can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
- type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return
In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions.
Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any extensions Firefox installs for built-in features are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything suspicious or that you just do not remember installing or why? If in doubt, disable (or remove).
System Cleanup
(1) Open the Windows 10 Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs.
After the list loads, change the Sort by control to "Install date" to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it.
Take out as much trash as possible here. If you're not sure, feel free to post program names or a screenshot of the list.
(2) Search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in this support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.
Hopefully that will flush anything on your system and in your Firefox that could be a problem.
Escaping Scam Pages
Firefox's phishing and malware protection is based on lists of bad sites. Because these scammers keep creating new sites, it is difficult for the feature to keep up and protect you from new scam pages.
There are a few common patterns to these annoying pages, and these are some techniques for closing them without having to take drastic measures.
The "key" (ha ha) is the keyboard shortcut for closing the current tab, which is Ctrl+w (or on Mac, Cmd+w). Try it after each action to see whether it is available yet.
(i) Large alert dialog (lots of text)
If you cancel this dialog, it may reappear. After two or three appearances, Firefox should add a checkbox at the bottom of the dialog to stop the site from showing more alerts. Check that box and click OK to block further dialogs.
(ii) Authentication dialog (asks for username and password)
If you cancel this dialog, the page may reload and immediately show it again. Pressing the Esc key numerous times in a row can cancel the reload as well as the dialog.
(iii) Reacting to mouse movement
Some pages have a script that detects when you are moving the mouse pointer up toward the tab bar and takes action to show another dialog, or moves to full screen view to hide the toolbar area. On these pages, the keyboard shortcut is essential.
Hopefully this will let you close problem pages without having to "kill" Firefox in the Windows Task Manager. (I don't recommend using that method because the tab will come back during automatic crash recovery anyway.)
Try a new ad blocker?
Often these scam pages are promoted through ad networks. As a defensive measure, you could consider using an add-on that is effective at blocking ads, such as:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
As with any content blocker, this will cause problems on some sites, so keep an eye on its toolbar button in case you need to make an exception to get a page to load properly.
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Ausgewählte Lösung
Hi MacAl, some of these are probably generated by "malvertisements" distributed through major ad networks. Some others could be locally generated by add-ons or external software that sends a URL to your default browser.
(Note that when you exit Firefox, it may take some time to clean up background processes, so the "already running" may be a matter of starting up again too quickly.)
Extension Cleanup
You can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
- type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return
In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions.
Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any extensions Firefox installs for built-in features are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything suspicious or that you just do not remember installing or why? If in doubt, disable (or remove).
System Cleanup
(1) Open the Windows 10 Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs.
After the list loads, change the Sort by control to "Install date" to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it.
Take out as much trash as possible here. If you're not sure, feel free to post program names or a screenshot of the list.
(2) Search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in this support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.
Hopefully that will flush anything on your system and in your Firefox that could be a problem.
Escaping Scam Pages
Firefox's phishing and malware protection is based on lists of bad sites. Because these scammers keep creating new sites, it is difficult for the feature to keep up and protect you from new scam pages.
There are a few common patterns to these annoying pages, and these are some techniques for closing them without having to take drastic measures.
The "key" (ha ha) is the keyboard shortcut for closing the current tab, which is Ctrl+w (or on Mac, Cmd+w). Try it after each action to see whether it is available yet.
(i) Large alert dialog (lots of text)
If you cancel this dialog, it may reappear. After two or three appearances, Firefox should add a checkbox at the bottom of the dialog to stop the site from showing more alerts. Check that box and click OK to block further dialogs.
(ii) Authentication dialog (asks for username and password)
If you cancel this dialog, the page may reload and immediately show it again. Pressing the Esc key numerous times in a row can cancel the reload as well as the dialog.
(iii) Reacting to mouse movement
Some pages have a script that detects when you are moving the mouse pointer up toward the tab bar and takes action to show another dialog, or moves to full screen view to hide the toolbar area. On these pages, the keyboard shortcut is essential.
Hopefully this will let you close problem pages without having to "kill" Firefox in the Windows Task Manager. (I don't recommend using that method because the tab will come back during automatic crash recovery anyway.)
Try a new ad blocker?
Often these scam pages are promoted through ad networks. As a defensive measure, you could consider using an add-on that is effective at blocking ads, such as:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
As with any content blocker, this will cause problems on some sites, so keep an eye on its toolbar button in case you need to make an exception to get a page to load properly.