Firefox Community Forum

I'm sending this from my phone. My desktop FF (Win 10) suddenly displayed a black wireless globe type icon called Prox-Media pinned to my taskbar. I can't find the app on my system, though, but the full path leads it to a firefox.exe file. Before my brain kicked in, I'd clicked on the icon right after noticing it, and Firefox came up with the attached error message displayed.

"Prox-Media" comes up nowhere in my searches - not as legit, not as a virus - just no results. Can you help?

I have a paid AVG account and I ran a deep scan but it found nothing.

seems that after Firefox 150.0.3 (20260511200624). I cant access locally deployed servers that are not secure. the Firefox forces https when hitting http://localhost. I've tried to disable the HTTPS setting altogether. Even in developer mode it still overwrites http to https.

This happens occasionally for many months. It is still happening on v147.0.1. I start the computer, open Firefox, and the browser loads previously viewed pages, including my Gmail account. The Gmail page has me already logged in, and I DID NOT provide my password! This has to be a big security risk. If some one were to use my computer, or it was stolen, they would have complete access to my Gmail and all Google properties! OS - Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) Kernel v6.1.0-42-amd64 Firefox v147.0.1 (and MANY previous versions)

So, as I’m sure everyone has heard by now, the new CEO wants to make Firefox an “AI browser”. As a long time user, I think I speak for a lot of us when I say WE DON’T WANT THIS. In fact, the reason many of us were here is that Firefox was pretty much the last major browser not to give in to using generative AI for everything. I hope the CEO backtracks on this, or Firefox is going to lose a TON of users and money. Let’s go over the facts.

- Generative AI uses an unsustainable amount of energy and water, and AI data centers are responsible for a lot of air pollution. - AI tools are frequently incorrect, and lead to misinformation being spread. - Data is frequently scraped for AI training without user permission, and leaks are very common. This goes completely against Mozilla’s commitment to privacy, which was one of the big reasons I started using Firefox to begin with.

This announcement is very disappointing, and the CEO really needs to reconsider. Keep Firefox secure. Keep “AI” LLMs OUT.

Some users are abandoning Firefox because of the difficulty of protecting against Firefox fingerprinting. Therefore, I strongly recommend adding an option in the settings that allows the digital fingerprints to be made random, or at least, if it is difficult, to make the fingerprints indistinguishable. This will help improve Firefox’s reputation and the privacy of its users. Love you all 3:

Seriously Mozilla.

First with ramming AI everywhere in Firefox, now a browser VPN, why?

I do not want a VPN the web browser that I didn't ask for or other features you think people need without asking.

Corporate and business users would not have a bar of this either.

Enough!

Remove this from Firefox please in the next release.

In the meantime, tell users how to disable this VPN via the Settings and "about:config" so this never gets turned on.

I assume Mozilla developers are working on this?

https://singularityhub.com/2026/04/10/anthropics-mythos-ai-uncovered-serious-security-holes-in-every-major-os-and-browser/

Quote from the article

"Its capabilities are a step change from the previous best models. Given the challenge of attacking the Firefox web browser’s JavaScript engine, Anthropic’s previous most powerful model Opus 4.6 succeeded just twice, compared to 181 times for Mythos. Most worryingly, the team found that engineers with no security background could use it to develop successful attacks overnight."

Hello! Long time Firefox user here, grew up with a father working in IT security. He's mentioned this a few times before, but now we've both really noticed the push towards using generative AI in roles in IT where it's really unsuitable, and honestly quite a risk to security and privacy, not to mention quite a waste of time having to fact check things properly because I cannot even be sure that the first result in a Google search for "how far away is the moon" will be correct. We're quite concerned that Firefox is following suit, especially with the new CEO evidently not understanding some of the fundamentals of why this browser has such a dedicated user base. Just wondering if saving the money by not having to hire competent, trained professionals who can provide the human touch needed to run a browser is truly worth eroding Firefox's reputation of being the genuinely good alternative to Chrome? How long before the AI stops being optional? How much of the code is going to end up written by some language learning algorithm and passed off as safe? If this push is to continue, what alternatives does anyone in the community suggest? Thank you for any responses from both myself and my father :-)

i am having pop-up messages that there are viruses on my computer causing security & privacy issues, your timely help required as my work using my computer is lingering on.

I know some underpayed tech or a volunteer who's not getting paid at all is going to read this and not the CEO but my hope is I'm not only one complaining and that if enough people complain your new CEO will realize that the reason most people who use Firefox do is because it's the browser that respects their privacy and security the most. Adding "AI" slop into it will only contribute to bloat and privacy loss, and a lot of people will likely move on to another browser thats faster, more reliable, and less insecure. Don't try to compete with Chrome by becoming Chrome please.

I had switched to Firefox some time ago because of the privacy-invading AI that Google and Microsoft were implementing at the time, and it appeared Mozilla had their consumers' interests in mind when it came to privacy and performance. I suppose even they are willing to shoot themselves in the foot with the market failure that is generative AI, despite the recent reports about Copilot's abysmal sales proving that this maneuver is incredibly short-sighted.

Not only are these AI "features" enabled by default upon updating, the options to disable each of them are all hidden away in the about:config page. On top of that, having these options enabled leads to worse performance overall, and the breach of privacy inherent to these features is quite worrisome as well.

The best step now is to remove these features completely. If Mozilla won't remove them, they should at least have them disabled by default, making them opt-in as opposed to the opt-out situation currently in place. Perhaps they could be listed as proper options somewhere in about:preferences so that people don't have to comb through the about:config list?

I know I would appreciate not having to switch browsers again, and I'm sure plenty of users would like to have their privacy respected as well. We don't want to see this browser become as terrible to use as other big-name brands. If Mozilla keep pushing these invasive features, we will find something else to use.

I switched from chrome to firefox earlier this year because I was TIRED of google chrome and its horrific privacy and security. I'm extremely disappointed to hear that your new CEO wants to further integrate AI into Firefox. If this course is not reversed, I WILL be uninstalling Firefox. I will also encourage all of my friends (whom I just convinced to switch from chrome with me) to switch as well.

I have dealt with the shortcomings of Firefox because it does not integrate AI.

If Firefox is also going to integrate AI, there is absolutely no reason for me to continue using it.

I switched to firefox because I was annoyed at the integration of ai into my previous browser. If the new CEO of firefox fulfills his plans to add more ai into firefox, I will switch browsers again. The integration of ai is completely unnecessary, the vast majority of users will not use the features at all or will leave firefox as I plan to. Firefox has always stood apart by protecting the data privacy of those who use it and integrating ai will ruin that.

If Firefox becomes an "AI browser" as it's new CEO says I will switch to another browser. The privacy and environmental problems alone are enough for me to warrant this change, to say nothing of how it's slowing the browser itself down and making it worse. I'm sick and tired of AI shoving itself into every single aspect of life, taking things that already worked fine on their own and making them worse for no reason, in addition to ruining the planet and encroaching more and more on the privacy of everyday folks like myself. Anthony Enzor-DeMeo's insistence that we should "trust" this hypothetical version of the browser is frankly sickening, and everyone involved in this scam should be ashamed.

there's no way I'll continue to use Firefox if AI is implemented, for years the reason I used this browser is because of it's safety and security and I believe if AI is implemented that will indefinitely go away. I will ditch this browser if this comes to pass.