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I think I have malware on my Firefox browser, and I don't know how to get rid of it to use it securely.

  • 2 replies
  • 6 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

MicheBel
MicheBel
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I had a series of eight bookmarks which loaded every time I use Firefox. (Three versions of www.facebook.com.). It appears that something is overriding these. They appear instead to be going through https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net. So even though when I look at the browser a minute later, and it seems to say https://www.facebook.com, and everything seems to be ok, once at the end of signoff, I caught it saying something like "redirect at logoff" to the fbstatic address. I tried deleting the bookmarks, and making the fbstatic address "untrusted" (I also have NoScript 2.6.3 installed, in an effort to get a handle on this problem.) But it will not let me choose just www.facebook.com.

I don't know what to do. I fear my information is compromised. And I mostly use Twitter and Facebook in this browser. I do much prefer Firefox, cause I thought it was safer. I also couldn't use the browser to send a help message because there was a redirect on that too. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I had a series of eight bookmarks which loaded every time I use Firefox. (Three versions of www.facebook.com.). It appears that something is overriding these. They appear instead to be going through https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net. So even though when I look at the browser a minute later, and it seems to say https://www.facebook.com, and everything seems to be ok, once at the end of signoff, I caught it saying something like "redirect at logoff" to the fbstatic address. I tried deleting the bookmarks, and making the fbstatic address "untrusted" (I also have NoScript 2.6.3 installed, in an effort to get a handle on this problem.) But it will not let me choose just www.facebook.com. I don't know what to do. I fear my information is compromised. And I mostly use Twitter and Facebook in this browser. I do much prefer Firefox, cause I thought it was safer. I also couldn't use the browser to send a help message because there was a redirect on that too. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

All Replies (2)

iamjayakumars
iamjayakumars
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Malware is short for "Malicious Software". It is a term generally used for software installed on your computer that is designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. Sometimes a problem with Firefox may be a result of malware installed on your computer, that you may not be aware of. This article describes what common symptoms are and how to prevent malware from being installed and get rid of them. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware

cor-el
cor-el
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The akamai servers are used by a lot of web servers to store large files (e.g. images and media files)

A domain with fbstatic in it is likely a domain that is used by Facebook (fb), so you may have other problems if you stay on such a web page or get redirected

If you use extensions (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) like Adblock Plus or NoScript or Flash Block that can block content then make sure that such extensions aren't blocking content.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

  • Do not click the Reset button on the Safe mode start window or otherwise make changes.

Clear the cache and the cookies from sites that cause problems.

"Clear the Cache":

  • Firefox > Preferences > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"

"Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:

  • Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > Cookies: "Show Cookies"