Firefox briefly opens to home page, closes, then continually opens to page last linked to from e-mail, and I want to know how to stop it from doing this.
Months ago, out of curiosity I clicked on the link in an e-mail from someone I didn't know who asked me to be a Yahoo friend. Ever since then, when I click on any desktop icon to open Firefox the home page briefly flashes, then closes, then opens to whatever was the last URL link I clicked on in subsequent e-mails.
Of course now I realize I should not have opened the e-mail in the first place, although I'm not certain whether clicking on this particular link actually started the problem or not. Norton Internet Security scans have not fixed the problem, although a Norton window pops up occasionally and tells me that Firefox is using an excessive amount of memory. Perhaps the solution is a relatively simple matter of changing a parameter or disabling something, e.g. ActiveX controls?
I uninstalled Firefox but opted not to remove the personalization and customization file(s). I wouldn't want to lose my Firefox bookmarks. The problem remained.
FWIW there is a problem with my microsoft.net controller. Some version is missing but I don't know which one. I gave up on fixing it myself. I will have someone fix that. I don't know if this problem is related.
Does anyone know what might be causing this and how to fix it? Thanks.
All Replies (1)
Do a thorough check for Malware.
Install, update, and run these programs in this order. They are listed in order of efficacy.
(Not all programs detect the same Malware, so you may need to run them all to solve your problem.)
These programs are all free for personal use, but some have limited functionality in the "free mode" - but those are features you really don't need to find and remove the problem that you have.
Note: If your Malware infection is bad enough and you are mis-directed to URL's other than what is posted, you may have to use a different PC to download these programs and use a USB stick to transfer them to the afflicted PC.
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware - http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
SuperAntispyware - http://www.superantispyware.com/
AdAware - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Spybot Search & Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Windows Defender: Home Page - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/prod.../default.mspx
Also, if you have a search engine re-direct problem, see this:
http://deletemalware.blogspot.com/2010/02/remove-google-redirect-virus.html
If these don't find it or can't clear it, post in one of these forums for specialized malware removal help:
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/index.php
http://forum.aumha.org/
http://www.spywareinfoforum.com/
http://bleepingcomputer.com