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Firefox running as a shadow program?

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  • Last reply by FredMcD

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My computer (Win7) is partitioned. On my wife's side, Firefox works as expected. I did something on my side where it shows my Firefox already running when I try to open, ..but it's NOT.. I already tried to end task, in task manager, but the exe is not even there. I uninstalled and reinstalled, and still same issue. What's going on. Also since I uninstalled, did I lose all my bookmarks?

My computer (Win7) is partitioned. On my wife's side, Firefox works as expected. I did something on my side where it shows my Firefox already running when I try to open, ..but it's NOT.. I already tried to end task, in task manager, but the exe is not even there. I uninstalled and reinstalled, and still same issue. What's going on. Also since I uninstalled, did I lose all my bookmarks?

Chosen solution

Dear All, Problem solved. While trying to show hidden files for some other issue, I, unintentionally, removed all attributes (in my profile). Wifes' side was unaffected. Spoke w/Microsoft L2, explained situation, and she reassociated all. Firefox works as before. You can close this case

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How did you install firefox. And are this on two separate user accounts? If you installed firefox into the admin account either one should be able to use firefox at the same time but not bookmarks since that will be for each account only. As for uninstall loosing bookmarks that I don't know only way to tell is to reinstall firefox to know for sure if bookmarks are gone or not.

Goes like this: Admin install - password protected so malware can't install without consent.

1st user you - standard account 2nd user wife - standard account

This is how it should be so that the admin is only used to install software for standard user to use. That's how I have my and family computers setup. Because people are prone to hey this looks good let's install this popup - a BIG NO.

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Perhaps I did not clarify my issue. Any way we could talk live?

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Firefox comes in three or more folders on all computers. They are;

Maintenance: (Programs Folder) <Windows Only> Firefox itself: (Programs Folder) And two folders in the profile of each user on the computer for each Firefox profile for that user.

If you remove the Firefox folder, the user profiles would not be affected.


Did you install the browser in the computer's Programs Folder or in the user folders?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-version?cache=no Did you update Firefox to the latest version 66.0.4 May 5, 2019 Fixes add-on certificate issue. 66.0.5 May 7, 2019 Further improvements to re-enable web extensions

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ram444 said

Perhaps I did not clarify my issue. Any way we could talk live?

Unfortunately due to online presence calling isn't something users are advised to do on here. We can help on here if need be.

Depending on which bit version of firefox you install that will impact which ProgramFiles folder it goes to:

1. 64bit installs goes to ProgramFiles aka 64bit location 2. 32bit installs goes to ProgramFilesx86 aka 32bit location

This is base on you firefox64 or firefox32 bit version you installed goes to those directories and your O/S bit version as well.

What you should do is go back to check each user account to see how it was installed.

This is how I did my firefox install.

0. Create Admin Password and never use it only use it to install software update aka Windows Update or recognized software update only. 1. Use Admin to make software install-never use admin password in Standard account to make installs(Security reasons) malware could be hiding to install without you knowing. 2. Then I created a Family account that can be used but can't install software without the Admin password and to which you can determine does this really need to be installed. 3. Protects your system from anyone just installing software they want to it rather then the Admin deciding ok do we need this.

1. From Admin create:

   a. Your standard account
   b. Wife standard account

2. By doing this you will only allow user to run software not install software in-case you get some offsite asking to install thus the Admin password will come up and you will ask what is this program really asking. If you don't know it then research it first. 3. This setup works cause I use it for me and family members computers-this has helped prevent kids installing programs they shouldn't be install aka Steam Games without Parent's permission. 4. This helps protect your system from malware and virus trying to install and the Admin password helps stop this.

Alot to digest but this is the crutch to frontline protect without doing much in-case your A/V fails the Admin Password adds layer of protection from malicious program doing what they want. And another bonus with Admin Protected you can wipe the standard account should it get infected and recreate it without problems. Also on a daily or weekly bases backup your bookmarks a USB memory stick as insurance should something go bad you got the bookmark still to restore back if you have to delete and redo the standard user account.

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As to the bookmarks you have to go to each user account to see if they are still there that is the only way to check for the bookmarks. And if it is there you need to backup the bookmark ASAP to USB stick so if you had to wipe or redo firefox you can restore it back. But this would mean if you and the wife has two user accounts you have to backup each separately if that is the case. But generally bookmarks don't disappear I've seen this only happen when the firefox crash then the chances of it gone are 50/50 if you can't get firefox to load backup. This happened to of my co-workers in the way past and the IT said unless she backup those bookmarks which was alot during a system crash or firefox crash all is lost. As to the partitioned not sure why one would do that instead with W7 you can create Limited user for both user but create a Admin password to protect your system from authorized user or unintended software installs like clicking on a online link and it installs something you didn't know.

Modified by WestEnd

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Hi ram444, could you install and run the following Microsoft utility program. It is similar to Task Manager, but shows whether a parent program is launching Firefox as a child task:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

(Maybe there is a way to figure that out from Task Manager, but I haven't seen one.)

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Chosen Solution

Dear All, Problem solved. While trying to show hidden files for some other issue, I, unintentionally, removed all attributes (in my profile). Wifes' side was unaffected. Spoke w/Microsoft L2, explained situation, and she reassociated all. Firefox works as before. You can close this case

Modified by ram444

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That was very good work. Well done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem so others will know.