Could you try downloading the "full" installer from this page: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ (scroll down to your language)

What antivirus do you have as a few have given false positives on the stub installer before but not on the full setup.

Tried it, but the same answer.

I use malwarebytes and windows defender

I tried both the stub and the full install. Both generate the same reply. A virus is discovered in the (either the stub or the full program) program, the program has been removed.

Are you sure the virus message came from Internet Explorer and not Windows Defender or Malwarebytes? That would be very unusual.

Suggest you try another browser like Opera or Google Chrome to download Firefox. If you need to download Opera or Chrome that could be instructive in itself. Nothing wrong with your two programs but if you have Windows7 or earlier I would suggest you beef up your protection with, say, the Anti-Virus program from Windows Live Essentials.

I believe the message came from windows defender. I had the same problem when I tried to download Opera or Google chrome. Luckily I still had an earlier version of the Mozilla Firefox installer on my PC and I installed and updated Firefox again. So, problem solved for now.

Thank you for your assistance.