Firefox troubles

[Setra]

Recently I've been having troubles with firefox, I've tried reinstalling it, uninstalling it, deleting it entirely, but still nothing.

What happens is, when I open it.. well it does nothing, it just locks up then and there. Then it proceeds to cause a huge drain on my processing power until I end-task or end-process it.

[Haruki-kun]

=O it happened to me too.

With me the problem was that the anti-virus was blocking it. Have you checked that?

[Setra]

<_<; I don't have an anti-virus (I suspect it might be a virus)

Edit: Just tried opening firefox in its 'safe mode' and disabled everything.. still locked up.

[RTGoodman]

Are you running Windows XP? If so, you could see if the (pre-installed) firewall is blocking Firefox for some reason.

Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Security Center->Manage Security Settings for the Firewall (at the bottom)->Make sure Firefox is listed as an exception.

[Haruki-kun]

What he said ^.

By your description, it's either the Anti-Virus or the Firewall. I doubt a Virus would block you like that.

[Setra]

Neither of them have ever been on though. I turned them off soon after installing the OS after reformatting some time back.

The reason I suspect it was a virus is because I had an infection recently from a bad site (momentary stupidity), though I thought I had gotten rid of it.

This is what happens
http://i7.tinypic.com/80kimmu.jpg

Well, running Windows with no antivirus at all...........

Try downloading Avast.I never run it with an anti-virus. Ever. However I will try Avast... if it's free >_>;

Edit: Am downloading it now.. though my net seems slow.. or maybe it's the site.. or maybe because it's wireless -.-

[Haruki-kun]

Well, running Windows with no antivirus at all...........

Try downloading Avast.

^: It's free.

[B-Man]

Do you have the Foxmarks addon installed? I've experienced a lot of resource hogginess when Foxmarks tries to synchronise my bookmarks if there are some new bookmarks on the server.

[valadil]

It might be that your preferences in firefox are corrupted somehow. You can test this by opening firefox with a different user.

[Samiam303]

Not really related to Firefox, but I'm just gonna say that I've had a much better experience with AVG Free than Avast. My grandparents had a pretty obnoxious piece of adware that Avast couldn't deal with, but I've never had AVG fail to remove anything.

And seriously, I'm stunned that you've run Windows without an antivirus for any amount of time and not had your computer just destroyed. O.O

[Zeb The Troll]

I'd recommend getting a spyware removal tool or two as well. I personally use Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy (both free as well). If you're experiencing lagginess online, that's always the first thing to check.

Also, I can't even fathom not running an antivirus program of some sort. That's like walking alone at night in the bad part of town. Without a firewall too? That's like walking in that same part of town flashing a wad of sawbucks. You're just askin' for trouble.

[Setra]

It might be that your preferences in firefox are corrupted somehow. You can test this by opening firefox with a different user.
Wouldn't making a new user keep my firefox preferences? I'll try it though...

And seriously, I'm stunned that you've run Windows without an antivirus for any amount of time and not had your computer just destroyed. O.O
In my personal experience.. anti-virus don't work.

I'm usually very careful about what I do, and this keeps any virus away for the most part, and the virus' I've had in the past with an anti-virus weren't removed by the anti-virus and I've almost always had to either find a way to remove it manually or reformat.

[Zeb The Troll]

In my personal experience.. anti-virus don't work.

I'm usually very careful about what I do, and this keeps any virus away for the most part, and the virus' I've had in the past with an anti-virus weren't removed by the anti-virus and I've almost always had to either find a way to remove it manually or reformat.The problem with this strategy is that, especially without a firewall, YOU don't have to do anything in order to get infected so it doesn't really matter how careful you are about what sites you visit or what email attachments you open.

[Setra]

The problem with this strategy is that, especially without a firewall, YOU don't have to do anything in order to get infected so it doesn't really matter how careful you are about what sites you visit or what email attachments you open.
And yet with the firewall and virus protection I've gotten infected just as often as without, possibly moreso WITH the two protections.

Every time I got an infection EVERY TIME the Virus Scanner "Can't remove the file", I've had easier times rebooting and deleting the file manually before it prevents me from doing so.

Or maybe the one I used sucks. I used McAfee (Is that how you spell it?)

[Zeb The Troll]

And yet with the firewall and virus protection I've gotten infected just as often as without, possibly moreso WITH the two protections.

Every time I got an infection EVERY TIME the Virus Scanner "Can't remove the file", I've had easier times rebooting and deleting the file manually before it prevents me from doing so.

Or maybe the one I used sucks. I used McAfee (Is that how you spell it?)That is how you spell it (The bigger question, in my mind, is how you say it. Is it 'MACK-uh-fee' or 'meh-KAF-fee'?). And some viruses are just designed in such a way that you can't delete them easily (e.g. they are designed to be locked by the OS at startup). The good news is that as long as it's detected, the AV companies can tell you how to get rid of them.

And see, even if the AV program can't remove it itself, it at least warned you that it was present. Without it how long would it take you to notice? Maybe not long, maybe too long. Some of those things are pretty nasty and will have your whole home network infected before you realize that it's there. Some you won't realize at all (netbots, for example).

You can do what you want, of course. I only intended to mark my amazement that anyone chooses this way, not to carry it on or insinuate anything. Sorry 'bout that. Do carry on and let us know if anything suggested works and if you get it resolved, let us know what did work.

[valadil]

Wouldn't making a new user keep my firefox preferences? I'll try it though...


Each user gets their own set of preferences. I'm not positive (since I don't use windows) but I think those prefs can persist if you uninstall and reinstall firefox, which is why they could still be lingering around.

[Samiam303]

That is how you spell it (The bigger question, in my mind, is how you say it. Is it 'MACK-uh-fee' or 'meh-KAF-fee'?). And some viruses are just designed in such a way that you can't delete them easily (e.g. they are designed to be locked by the OS at startup). The good news is that as long as it's detected, the AV companies can tell you how to get rid of them.

And see, even if the AV program can't remove it itself, it at least warned you that it was present. Without it how long would it take you to notice? Maybe not long, maybe too long. Some of those things are pretty nasty and will have your whole home network infected before you realize that it's there. Some you won't realize at all (netbots, for example).

You can do what you want, of course. I only intended to mark my amazement that anyone chooses this way, not to carry it on or insinuate anything. Sorry 'bout that. Do carry on and let us know if anything suggested works and if you get it resolved, let us know what did work.
I'm gonna second what he said, and add that yes, McAfee pretty much just is crap. I've had far better results from the free version of AVG than from either McAfee or Norton, which are both commercial products.

[Gungnir]

And seriously, I'm stunned that you've run Windows without an antivirus for any amount of time and not had your computer just destroyed. O.O

No antivirus, no firewall for like 3 years, and I've gotten nothing of any real note stuck my my compy. I run Ad Aware like every 3 months and it comes up with a few minor things it wants to remove.