Why dont you warn people that refresh comes full of viruses
I was asked to refresh FF 2 days ago, along with that came viruses that hijacked many parts of my computer. I have since found out I am by far not the only person. My computer was so jacked up from it I did a system restore which had to remove the refresh. So when it removed the refresh it also deleted every bookmark I had saved over the past few years. I have had to do a system restore over the years, NEVER have I had everything wiped out by doing one. Why aren't the people being warned about Bigsearches and Searchgg hitch hiker viruses that come with it and screw uop the computers. If I thought it was only me I wouldn't care, but I have spoken to at least 20 others who after refreshing FF have had it screw their computer up. Ive had FF for years and never had this problem before.
All Replies (8)
Are those add-ons in the Mozilla repository? I would be very doubtful about adding anything that wasn't.
Have you considered upgrading to a reliable secure operating system that can still run windows programs, then you would get rid of 99% of your malware issues. Take a look at what most servers are running, there are desktop versions of the same.
It was recommended by FF to refresh when I did I ended up with hitchhikers when FF refeshed. I have always had a clean computer, I only run programs that are checked out . This was the first time that I did the refresh when recommended but have found out since then many people on my FB had the same prob, its not just me.
Firefox recommends a Refresh when things are slowing down. It is meant to do that. When you have issues, come here. Do not after the fact as would have been able to help you and your bookmarks.
So there is not a folder on the Desktop called OldFirefoxProfile ?
You probably had these things sitting in Firefox or your system and when refreshed it set them loos. This happens sometimes. As you have mentioned names they are something that Malwarebytes would have cleaned out with out having to do a system restore.
Which by doing you may have just made them dormant as doing the Restore you possibly put them back.
Please download Malwarebytes and do a scan : https://www.malwarebytes.com/ If need help :
Aimee-Lynne said
It was recommended by FF to refresh when I did I ended up with hitchhikers when FF refeshed. I have always had a clean computer, I only run programs that are checked out . This was the first time that I did the refresh when recommended but have found out since then many people on my FB had the same prob, its not just me.
The Refresh feature is basically a awkward way of creating a new Firefox Profile instead of using the Profilemanager to create a new one.
What the Refresh feature does https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings
A refresh or new Profile does not ever cause your Firefox install to get infected in any way whether on Windows, Mac OSX, or Linux. In fact you may be the first I have seen claiming a Refresh infects your Firefox install with insert something.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
Actually one of the ways you can get infected with Big Searches is if you fell for the (obviously) Fake "Firefox requires a manual update" scam that was popping up every so often awhile back and you installed the fake extension it prompt you to install.
ex: https://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-big-searches/
Firefox updates are only done internally as a software update (with a .mar file) and by download from mozilla.org like say www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ and not ever by a patch or extension from some random website.
Modified by James
Both BigSearch and Searchgg are browser hijackers, malware that you will of course need to get rid of.
Go to the Firefox menu (≡) => Add-ons => Extensions
( Mac : Command + Shift + A)
and look for any other unfamiliar or suspicious looking extensions.
When you find any : remove them.
Do the same here : for Windows => Control Panel for Mac and Linux => System Preferences
However : most malware will be 'hiding' somewhere , so let's run malware scans (even though you already have run some) :
Further information can be found in this article : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware?cache=no
Run most or all of the listed malware scanners. They all work differently - what one program doesn't pick up, the other might.
Also see : https://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-big-searches/
James said
Actually one of the ways you can get infected with Big Searches is if you fell for the (obviously) Fake "Firefox requires a manual update" scam that was popping up every so often awhile back and you installed the fake extension it prompt you to install. ex: https://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-big-searches/ Firefox updates are only done internally as a software update (with a .mar file) and by download from mozilla.org like say www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ and not ever by a patch or extension from some random website.
no it wasnt that It was a bar at the bottom to fix speed Actually I want to thank you I didnt know about old data folder and I just recovered all my bookmarks. I was frantic as I have pics of relative that passed and thought they were gone forever,,thank you again.
After a Refresh, Firefox will scan the Windows Registry and shared folders for add-ons you might want to activate. Normally you would see a tab for each extension asking if you want to enable it. If Firefox enabled them automatically, that should be changed.