I'm not sure what exact Icon you are seeing, but that isn't the Firefox icon. Something on your computer must have caused a change there.

I have the this problem too. I think I did have the green cross as the icon for my Firefox shortcut in the Windows start menu at one stage, but I managed to change that back to the fox. Now on my computer the problem is specific to the task bar.

Tylerdowner, if you are not convinced the green cross is a Firefox icon, please try this:

1) Right-click on a Firefox shortcut. 2) Select Properties from the pop-up menu. 3) On the Shortcut page of the Shortcut Properties dialogue box, click the Change Icon button.

The icon deodand and I can see on our task bars when Firefox is running is the third one down on the list shown in the Change Icon dialogue box. It really does look like a washing machine with a green cross on it, deodand. Like you, I wonder what the point of such an icon could possibly be.

I've read discussions about the green cross icon elsewere. But none I could find address the question deodand and I are asking, i.e how change the green cross icon back to the fox icon when it appears only on the task bar.

Yes and the reason that icon is there is it must be some built in Windoes icon, that list of icons isnt from Firefox (do the same to any icon to see the same list).

I've just done the same check for three other applications. I only see the green cross Icon in the Change Icon dialogue box for Firefox.

I can see that it could still be possible that Windows has messed with Firefox's icon, as oppposed to the green cross icon being installed with Firefox. But, if that's true, then Windows has messed with the icon in a way that appears to be specific to Firefox, on my computer at least.

What is the location of that icon?

Can't you change that icon via its properties (right-click context menu)?

According to the "Look for icons in this file" text box of the Change Icon dialogue box, the location of the icon is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" (in the case of Windows 7 64-bit).

When an icon like this on the task bar is right-clicked, Properties does not appear on the context menu.

deodand and I both got rid of the green cross from Firefox shortcuts via Properties. We are now stuck with it on the task bar, where icon context menus don't show properties.

I had this same problem.

First, this icon IS INDEED A FIREFOX ICON, and no it's not a mistake or a joke. It actually stands for "Open New Window" - hard to tell with the grainy low-pixel image, but look again at it will make sense. There is a similar icon that looks like a glass wine jug (without the handle) and same green cross, this is "Open New Tab". There is a third obscure icon of a masquerade-style mask-on-a-stick, of a foxes eyes, which stands for "Open private browsing session". I dont know why the icon list has two of the fox/blue ball icons listed.

Remove the icon from taskbar by closing the program, and if it's pinned to the taskbar, un-pin it. Place a shortcut on the desktop (if you have one already, delete and re-create) and verify that it has the correct icon. If not, try switching back and forth between the two fox/blue ball icons listed in the Shortcut section of Properties until it works. Now with this proper icon, right click and select "pin to taskbar", and see if the icon is fixed on the taskbar. If not, undo it ("undo pin to taskbar") and re-do a few times until refreshed to the proper icon. I also had the problem on the start menu preview section, where it shows the list of most used programs. I had to do the same thing - "remove from this list" and then with a fresh icon on my desktop I selected "pin to start menu" and that worked.

Hello ra2dc. First, thanks for clarifying what the icon is for.

Unfortunately, your fix did not work for me. I should explain that I don't normally have Firefox pinned to the taskbar. The problem is with the icon that appears in the taskbar when Firefox is running. Anyway, here's what happens when I try the fix:

When I create a Firefox shortcut on the desktop, it straight away has the fox icon. I don't need to select the fox via the shortcut's Properties.

When I then pin the shortcut to the taskbar, the fox icon gets shown on the taskbar.

But when I launch Firefox, whether from the taskbar fox icon or from the desktop shortcut with the fox icon, the green cross icon appears on the taskbar in addition to the fox icon. This is shown in the image below.

See - http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2526647

Thanks for the link, old fox. That thread provides some info about the green cross and the other icons that are embedded in the Firefox executable. I cannot see anything in it that addresses the specific problem being discussed in this thread though.

Cheers, Simon

I gave the same exact info as provided in that link, TheOldFox.

I have never witnessed two icons in the taskbar for 1 running program. Does it allow you to "right click" on both the Fox and the 'green +' icon, SimonOR? Your screenshot makes it appear that the Fox is indeed pinned, but not running (it doesnt have the Aero shadow around it). Try right clicking the 'green +' and if it lets you, then pin that?

I can right-click either icon in the taskbar. So I right-clicked the green cross icon that appears on launching Firefox was running and then selected "Pin this program to taskbar" from the context menu. Sure enough, when I closed Firefox, the green cross icon stayed on the taskbar along with the previously pinned fox icon.

The screenshot below shows both pinned icons as they appear when Firefox is not running. In contrast to the screenshot in my previous post, neither icon has an Aero shadow around it. As you explained, that proves that both icons are on the taskbar because they have been pinned there, not because the program is running.

With both icons pinned to the taskbar, when I launch Firefox from either of the two icons that are pinned to the taskbar or from the desktop shortcut with the fox icon, the green cross icon that is pinned to the taskbar gets an Aero shadow around it until Firefox is closed.

I have tried various combinations of unpinning one or the other or both icons from the taskbar, just in case it might fix the problem. But it did not help.