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Win 7, Pad lock symbol appeared onthe taskbar icon, how to get rid of it, how did I get it?

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I got a padlock on the Firefox icon in my task bar. Don't know how I got it. Don't know how to get rid of it. the "back" arrow in many forums I frequent doesn't work now. How do I get back to normal?

Thanks

I got a padlock on the Firefox icon in my task bar. Don't know how I got it. Don't know how to get rid of it. the "back" arrow in many forums I frequent doesn't work now. How do I get back to normal? Thanks

All Replies (8)

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Hello, thanks for asking. From my understanding the padlock symbol is so that other uses can't see your file (usually on a folder), don't quote me though. Check out this How To Geek Website on how to remove it, it should be pretty similar to editing the folder as described in that article. If it doesn't help, shoot a reply so we can get this worked out.

Have a great day!!

Jon

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It's not a folder, it is the actual FireFox icon in the task bar that has the lock symbol on it. It just appeared the other day and makes some Firefox features act differently.

Thanks for the reply though. Arne

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Can you attach a screenshot?

  • Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
  • Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB

Did you try to right-click this icon and check the Properties?

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Here is the screen shot. Look at the bottom at the Firefox task bar option. See the pad lock?. Properties tells me nothing, As I've said, I have NOOOO clue what I may have done to get this.

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This could possibly be something that shows under the Security tab or the Properties.

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I've spent a LOT of time looking through the various options and properties. I don't have the lock symbol on either of my laptops, just on the desk computer and it just appeared a couple days ago. WHAT DID I DO???

I can't believe that Mozzila doesn't know what is going on!

Thanks for the replies but this is GOOFY!!!

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Did you try to delete and recreate a new shortcut?

You can try to uninstall and reinstall Firefox and make sure to remove all desktop shortcuts.

You can find the full version of the current Firefox release (41.0.1) in all languages and all operating systems here:

Your bookmarks and other personal data are stored in the Firefox profile folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure NOT to remove personal data when you uninstall Firefox as that will remove all Firefox profile folders and you lose your personal data.


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Hi, have a look at the security settings in your PC's firewall and anti-virus.