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My firefox has gotten a virus three times, is there a way to avoid this?

  • 3 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

kmbrly4583
kmbrly4583
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Recently, something has gotten into my firefox files and about once a week I have to redownload it to fix the problem. It shows up when I open firefox from my desktop, a pop up comes up from my user account control asking for permission for mozilla to update. I know this is a virus because I had the same problem with my java. I use avast for virus protection and it doesn't seem to be catching it. Is this something you can help me with or is this an issue with my virus protection? It is really annoying. I really like mozilla and I don't want to switch but I will have to if this keeps happening.

Recently, something has gotten into my firefox files and about once a week I have to redownload it to fix the problem. It shows up when I open firefox from my desktop, a pop up comes up from my user account control asking for permission for mozilla to update. I know this is a virus because I had the same problem with my java. I use avast for virus protection and it doesn't seem to be catching it. Is this something you can help me with or is this an issue with my virus protection? It is really annoying. I really like mozilla and I don't want to switch but I will have to if this keeps happening.

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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Check that you do not run Firefox as Administrator.

Right-click the Firefox desktop shortcut and choose "Properties".
Make sure that all items are deselected in the "Compatibility" tab of the Properties window.

  • Privilege Level: "Run this program as Administrator" should not be selected
  • "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" should not be selected

Also check the Properties of the firefox.exe program in the Firefox program directory.

kmbrly4583
kmbrly4583 Question owner
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Thank you. I went into the properties and none of the items were checked. So I'm not sure if that would've been the problem.

cor-el
cor-el
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If files already have been downloaded then you need to remove the files in the updates and updates\0 folder.

You can delete active-update.xml and updates.xml as well if present. 

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox\updates
(%LOCALAPPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox)