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Since v.24 (and perhaps v.23), Firefox doesn't quit properly on my Win7 computers (2 of them, anyway). THe exe file remains as a process until I kill it. Why?

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When I quit (using the close button), the window closes. However I am frequently unable to restart Firefox -- I get a system message saying that it is still running. When I look process tab of the Task Manager, a process called firefox.exe is in fact still running. However, there is no application in the application tab, and I can't switch to it. The process never ends buy itself.

I have to end the process or the process tree using the Task Manager. Only then can I restart Firefox. It seems to me that the problem has only begun to occur recently, perhaps with v.24.

This happens on two different Win7 machines. They are both fully patched

When I quit (using the close button), the window closes. However I am frequently unable to restart Firefox -- I get a system message saying that it is still running. When I look process tab of the Task Manager, a process called firefox.exe is in fact still running. However, there is no application in the application tab, and I can't switch to it. The process never ends buy itself. I have to end the process or the process tree using the Task Manager. Only then can I restart Firefox. It seems to me that the problem has only begun to occur recently, perhaps with v.24. This happens on two different Win7 machines. They are both fully patched

Modified by ChuckSott

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Some possibilities are suggested in the "Hang at exit" section of this article:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs#Hang_at_exit

There's quite a bit to work through there.

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Does this also happen if you use "Firefox > Exit" (Windows: Firefox/File > Exit; Mac: Firefox > Quit Firefox; Linux: Firefox/File > Quit) to close Firefox?

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

  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.

You can also check for problems caused by plugins.

In case you are using "Clear history when Firefox closes", try to exclude the cookies.