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Why does a pinned FF taskbar icon generate a second taskbar icon for the executed program?

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by jhvance

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With the upgrade to v57.0 (now at v57.0.2) running on 64-bit Win7 Ultimate a few weeks back, the pinned FF icon on my taskbar (far left placement) has begun acting differently than in previous versions -- when the pinned icon is clicked, it generates a new FF icon on the taskbar (far right placement) which represents the active program. The program itself acts normally, but if I have shifted to a different program on the Windows desktop and wish to go back to FF I now have to click the new, far-right icon; if I click the pinned, far-left icon, a completely new FF window is launched into a different desktop location with all of the proper startup tabs as set in the program options. Why is this?

Previously, the pinned icon was always just the one which was displayed, and I guess by habit as a really longtime FF user I tend to click on the pinned icon rather than the launched program's icon. The result is an irritated closure of the newly-launched window, and it's occurred frequently enough that I've come here to complain about it in hopes there's an easy solution.

With the upgrade to v57.0 (now at v57.0.2) running on 64-bit Win7 Ultimate a few weeks back, the pinned FF icon on my taskbar (far left placement) has begun acting differently than in previous versions -- when the pinned icon is clicked, it generates a new FF icon on the taskbar (far right placement) which represents the active program. The program itself acts normally, but if I have shifted to a different program on the Windows desktop and wish to go back to FF I now have to click the new, far-right icon; if I click the pinned, far-left icon, a completely new FF window is launched into a different desktop location with all of the proper startup tabs as set in the program options. Why is this? Previously, the pinned icon was always just the one which was displayed, and I guess by habit as a really longtime FF user I tend to click on the pinned icon rather than the launched program's icon. The result is an irritated closure of the newly-launched window, and it's occurred frequently enough that I've come here to complain about it in hopes there's an easy solution.
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Chosen solution

uninstall Firefox. Then Delete the Mozilla Firefox Folders in C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files(x86) Then restart system. Then run Windows Disk Cleanup. (Note: This should be Pinned and run Weekly, If never done below expect 10's of gig's) Then run it again and click the button that says Cleanup System Files. Note: your Firefox Profile is saved. But you should make a back up before you do :

Reinstall with Current Release Firefox 57.0.3 with a Full Version Installer

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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Chosen Solution

uninstall Firefox. Then Delete the Mozilla Firefox Folders in C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files(x86) Then restart system. Then run Windows Disk Cleanup. (Note: This should be Pinned and run Weekly, If never done below expect 10's of gig's) Then run it again and click the button that says Cleanup System Files. Note: your Firefox Profile is saved. But you should make a back up before you do :

Reinstall with Current Release Firefox 57.0.3 with a Full Version Installer

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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Thanks very much for the explanatory steps -- took me awhile to get the time to address this, and reinstalled the latest version without issue successfully with all profile information intact and the extra taskbar icon gone. The only thing I might add to your instructions is to decline the reinstallation's query (something about a clean refresh), since it recognized I was reinstalling the program and not installing anew.