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Why does the download icon flash when I start Firefox?

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When I start Firefox, as the start page is loading, the little animation that signifies that I am downloading something appears, with the arrow appearing and moving to the downloads icon and the icon flashing. Looking at the downloads there is no evidence of something actually downloading, and it happens before I even click on anything so I don't think I'm downloading a virus by accident. I don't really have aproblem with this, I'm just curious why it happens.

When I start Firefox, as the start page is loading, the little animation that signifies that I am downloading something appears, with the arrow appearing and moving to the downloads icon and the icon flashing. Looking at the downloads there is no evidence of something actually downloading, and it happens before I even click on anything so I don't think I'm downloading a virus by accident. I don't really have aproblem with this, I'm just curious why it happens.

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Hi jafcake, It may be a homepage that was saved or a session restoring a downloaded url.

Please reset the homepage:

Clear the cache of the download url website if the tab is open as well.