BenYandell said

I just installed Firefox. Every time I open the browser, some sort of calculator app appears, and I have to delete the app. How can I stop this

calculator.swf terrence.com

Hi BenYandell, you mentions a .swf (Flash media) file. Is that something which is popping up in its own window, or does Firefox show a Download dialog? I'm not sure what is happening.

Here are some general thoughts:

(1) Was your home page/startup page changed to an unwanted page? You can check that setting here:

How to set the home page

(2) Could one of your add-ons be pushing this file?

You can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
• type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions.

Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any extensions Firefox installs for built-in features are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything suspicious or that you just do not remember installing or why? If in doubt, disable (or remove).

Any improvement?

(3) Could Firefox be resuming a failed download from a previous session?

You can call up your Download history using Ctrl+J and if there is a failed download you want to remove from history, you could try right-click > Remove From History.

I do thank you for your response. Let me respond to your suggestions as best I can, but, I did forget to mention that I just bought a new computer and just installed Firefox on the new computer.

Firefox shows a download every time I refresh the home page. I am given the usual options of saving or opening the file. The file is named calculator.swf and is make by the Terrence Corporation. www.terrence.com. I am forced to delete every time.

I did set my homepage after installing Firefox.

I only have three add-ons, and I recognize all three. There is nothing else in extensions.

Firefox is definitely not resuming a failed download.

Nothing has changed, but I do appreciate your response.

Ben Yandell

Hi Ben, if the calculator.swf is a Flash calculator, which sounds like what it is, it's strange that Firefox is being told to download the file instead of running it embedded in the page.

Since this is a new computer, it's possible that Flash isn't installed, so Firefox has no idea what to do with the file?

If you haven't installed Flash yet, check out: Install the Flash plugin to view videos, animations and games.

Or if you installed a video downloader, perhaps it's not smart enough to distinguish different kinds of .swf files??

If you use a video downloader, try disabling it temporarily and see whether that makes any difference.

Just installed Flash. That did the trick!!! Thank you very much

Ben Yandell

Hello Ben Yandell,

Woud you be so kind as to mark jscher2000's last post as
Chosen Solution ?

It's the "Solved the problem" button to the right of his post.

Thank you in advance !

I think I did as you asked. I certainly tried to. Let me know if you need me to do anything else.

BenYandell said

I think I did as you asked. I certainly tried to. Let me know if you need me to do anything else.

You marked jscher2000's first post as Chosen Solution instead of his second post, but that's alright - don't worry about it.

Thank you  !