This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Mulongo oyo etiyamaki na archive. Tuna motuna mosusu soki osengeli na lisalisi

Problem with closing other firefox windows when window in use has more than 1 tab open

more options

If I have multiple firefox windows open, and the one that I am using has more than one tab open, when I try to close one of the windows that I am not using by hovering over the firefox icon on the taskbar, then clicking the cross on the other windows, a message appears asking me if I want to close a window with more than one tab open. This means that firefox is trying to close the window that I'm using, not the one I'm trying to close. Please note this only happens when I hover over the icon on the taskbar then click the cross for the window I want to close. If I open the window properly, then click the cross on the window itself, it works fine. Just wanted to know if anyone else has this problem, and if they do, then mozilla should probably fix it in their next update, it's getting really annoying now

If I have multiple firefox windows open, and the one that I am using has more than one tab open, when I try to close one of the windows that I am not using by hovering over the firefox icon on the taskbar, then clicking the cross on the other windows, a message appears asking me if I want to close a window with more than one tab open. This means that firefox is trying to close the window that I'm using, not the one I'm trying to close. Please note this only happens when I hover over the icon on the taskbar then click the cross for the window I want to close. If I open the window properly, then click the cross on the window itself, it works fine. Just wanted to know if anyone else has this problem, and if they do, then mozilla should probably fix it in their next update, it's getting really annoying now

All Replies (6)

more options

Yes, this problem of the task bar thumbnails acting on the wrong window was also mentioned on Saturday. I was not able to replicate the problem on my system.

See this thread which doesn't yet have a solution for all the various things we explored: Firefox will open a New Pop-up Window in Windows 7 Aero. When trying to Close it, it thinks it wants me to Close the Main Window. Why?

When did this problem start for you? Can you associate it with a particular Firefox or Windows update?

more options

Yeah it was just the other day when I updated Firefox to 20.0.1

more options

I'm having this exact same problem. It's unbelievably annoying for such a small problem that it is.

more options

I can't find a bug on file for this on https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ (although there are many taskbar-related issues under review).

(1) Just to confirm, do you both have "Show tab previews in the Windows taskbar" turned off here:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Tabs

(2) Have you tried disabling Firefox use of hardware graphics acceleration?

You usually need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced

On the "General" mini-tab, uncheck the box for "Use hardware acceleration when available"

If you restart Firefox, do you notice any changes?

Ezalaki modifié na jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

more options

I am running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) Firefox is 24.0 In the FIle scroll menu, there once was a 'cloe window' option. It is no longer there. Why, why, why, why ??????? I have three windows open and I have not yet figured out the way to close the two I do not need. This is really annoying.

more options

Hi caan74, this sounds like a different issue (i.e., not the Windows Task Bar).

Occasionally, menu items are hidden when you access them using the mouse, but are visible if you access them using the keyboard. On Windows, if you press Alt+f (or tap Alt then f) Close Window is still on the menu.

My guess as to the reason for this kind of difference is that the operating system's window close button (X on a red background in my case) is a more direct option for mouse users. But I agree it's confusing to have different lists depending on how you access the menu.

Does your OS/shell provide "close" buttons for application windows?