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Firefox won't uninstall from my pc. It is 21.0 (x86 en-US)

  • 11 replies
  • 13 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by RomCat

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TO remove this has me in an endless circle of re-booting my computer. IT still won't remove! What to do?

TO remove this has me in an endless circle of re-booting my computer. IT still won't remove! What to do?

All Replies (11)

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Performing a Clean uninstall.

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

  1. close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
  2. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
    • Windows:
      • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
      • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
    • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
    • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
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1. Restart your computer.
2. Manually delete the Firefox and updater installation folders,

  • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\
  • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Maintenance Service\

3. If you also want to delete your Firefox personal data like bookmarks and passwords,
a. Click the Start button and choose Run.
b. Paste the following in the Run box and then press the Enter key.

  • %AppData%\Mozilla\

c. Delete the Firefox subfolder in the above Mozilla folder. If you don't have any other Mozilla applications, like Thunderbird or Seamonkey, it's safe to delete the Mozilla folder itself.
d. In the Windows Explorer address bar, paste the following and press the Enter key.

  • %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\

e. Delete the Firefox subfolder in the above Mozilla folder. If you don't have any other Mozilla applications, like Thunderbird or Seamonkey, it's safe to delete the Mozilla folder itself.
4. At this point you'll probably still have a Firefox entry under Control Panel's Add or Remove Programs section. If you click it, Windows should prompt you to delete the entry because the uninstall program no longer exists.

Modified by Gingerbread Man

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Thanks to both of your suggestions, but neither works. Still get the same thing.

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Try to Boot your windows in safe mode and uninstall it.

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Thank You iamjayakumars....I was able to start in safe-mode; found all firefox and deleted them. I went to restart, went to control panel and to add/remove programs. Firefox is still there but not with the usual icon. I click remove and it still won't move but only flashes. Won't budge from the list.

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Gingerbread man, your ideas are good but the path is not recognized in 'run'....tells me to be sure I've spelled it out correctly, but I have. I went to safe mode as jayakumars suggested, but I'm still left with the results you will read. I wonder if I got a 'knockoff' product that FF Mozilla wouldn't recommend....Looked like an official site for download.

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Thank You to jayakumars and Gingerbread_Man! Your concern and intentions are so very much appreciated! Truly!

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RomCat wrote:

the path is not recognized in 'run'....tells me to be sure I've spelled it out correctly, but I have.

There was a typo in the second path; I've corrected the original post. Click here to read it in context.

RomCat wrote:

went to control panel and to add/remove programs. Firefox is still there but not with the usual icon. I click remove and it still won't move but only flashes. Won't budge from the list.

RomCat wrote:

I wonder if I got a 'knockoff' product that FF Mozilla wouldn't recommend....Looked like an official site for download. 

The official site is at http://www.mozilla.org

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In what way does Firefox show?

If this is only in Add and Remove programs then you may have some orphaned registry keys left, but the real Firefox program is no longer present.

If you are comfortable with the registry editor then you can remove Firefox entries that no longer apply in this registry key.

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Mozilla Firefox (????)

Be careful with editing the registry as there is no Undo possible: all changes are applied immediately.

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I'm overwhelmed at that outpouring of helpful suggestions here....You can't know how much I appreciate them.... I was finally able to figure out how that thing got on my machine and now I can share that with you. Once in a while, I watch free tv on the pc at: http://www.zahipedia.info/2009/07/01/watch-online-fox-news-live-free/

When I click on the 'full screen' button, the screen flashes and another screen comes up showing a very "helpful" advertisement. When I first looked at it- it looked legitimate. It was a "FireFox" ad asking me if my Firefox had been "up-dated" recently. Upon quick reflection, I thought: "no it had not" and like a 'dummy' I clicked on it. Well, thats when all this fun started. I ran a scan using my Avast and sure enough it told me that my Firefox was 'infected with a virus' and advised me to 'move to chest' which I did. Since then, Firefox has been running in the 'sand box'- I noticed an orange border around the whole screen of Firefox each time I opened it. Other weird things were happening too when I opened Firefox that I knew weren't normal. Such as: My desk-top icon would only open FF and when I went to start menu column of choices to open it, I'd get a "this button has been removed from list" message and I know it hadn't been removed. Well, Now that I've thoroughly bored you all with all that excitement, it's 'happy hour'! The drinks are on me! Thank You,

JS.
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