First, you may want to run some supplemental scans. These two tools are highly regarded and do not conflict with your regular full-time protection:

Malwarebytes Anti-malware : http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free

SUPERAntiSpyware : http://www.superantispyware.com/

Next, an add-on may be hijacking your Firefox. As a quick test, to bypass add-ons, hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. This will invoke Safe Mode. Just Continue without checking any boxes. (This article has more info: Safe Mode | How to | Firefox Help). If that cures it, then you may need to hunt through your add-ons to discover the problem, and disable or uninstall it.

Don't what to say but WOW! downloaded and ran malwarebytes. It found a Trojan and something else. At the same time, my Trend Micro finally ran a scan and found 2 trojans and a cycbot, both associated with Adobe. Did the superantispyware program too, found a couple things. Uninstalled reinstalled firefox without any of the old personal settings, so NO add-ons at all. Opened in SAFE MODE and the error STILL persists. Computer does not want to shut-down and I find that I can do a few things then programs won't open anymore (such as my Trend Micro antivirus and even firefox.) I have no idea how any of this happened. I know a fair amount about computers and do NOT open links etc that I am not sure about. It was working fine while using in my truck yesterday. When I brought it in the house, it started doing all this. Just plain WEIRD! Any other ideas?

Can you try starting up in a new profile to see whether the problem happens there?

After closing Firefox,

Start orb > search box > firefox.exe /ProfileManager {ENTER}

Create a new blank profile and see whether it also gets the extra tabs. If that's okay, you can import your bookmarks, saved passwords, etc., from your old profile (assuming you didn't uninstall completely).

By the way, what version are you using now that you've reinstalled?

After rebooting (well, sort of) a couple times, I am not getting those extra tabs anymore. Thankfully! But there is obviously something affecting my computer, because I can open Firefox once. If I close it, it means I have to reboot the computer because it won't open again. Other programs won't open either. The computer will not shutdown properly. It very slowly gets to a black screen with my mouse pointer on the screen, but will not close down any further unless I press and hold the power button to shut down completely. Then of course that means on reboot it tells me it did not shut down properly. Maybe I am making headway, but it is definitely a long slow process. I have Firefox 5.0 installed right now, with no add-ons and have not brought my favorites/bookmarks back yet.

additional - programs even like a game of Free Cell, my DeLorme Street Atlas program, etc, will not open more than once without rebooting (or as I said - pressing the power button until the unit shuts down. Thank you so much for your help! I really do appreciate you taking the time to help me out!

This isn't the best site for help with rebuilding/repairing Windows. That might be the next step. You could try the Windows 7 board at Windows Secrets Forums: http://windowssecrets.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/52-Windows-7

Another update - Still having the issues with having to reboot after opening and then closing firefox. But also, I am getting a lot of "Not Responding" on web pages. Have to wait anywhere from 1-2 minutes and upwards of 10 minutes for it to clear. A friend had this issue previously and it was found to be caused by the "Bing Toolbar". I don't believe I have that toolbar installed on my computer.

I'll give that a shot. Originally the problems seemed only associated with Firefox. New little issues just keep popping up. So off to that Forum I will go. And again, Thank you for your help. I really do appreciate it.