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advertising add ons keep installing unasked into firefox

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

Nobby1961
Nobby1961
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Every now and again Firefox automatically closes and reeopens with an advertising add on installed - this was unrequested and my settings are ask me before installing add ons.

Anyone else had this and how can I stop it happening?

Every now and again Firefox automatically closes and reeopens with an advertising add on installed - this was unrequested and my settings are ask me before installing add ons. Anyone else had this and how can I stop it happening?

All Replies (2)

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Sometimes a problem with Firefox may be a result of malware installed on your computer, that you may not be aware of.

You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one.

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Your System Details list shows that you have a user.js file in the profile folder to initialize prefs each time Firefox starts.

The user.js file is only present if you or other software has created this file and normally it wouldn't be there. You can check its content with a plain text editor (right-click: Open with) if you didn't create this file yourself.

The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)

Windows hides some file extensions by default. Among them are .html and .ini and .js and .txt, so you may only see file name without file extension. You can see the real file type (file extension) in the properties of the file via the right-click context menu in Windows Explorer.

See also: