How to Stop adware add-ons from autodownloading and enabling
Lately I have noticed that in my add-ons, I will get an adware that will automatically download itself onto my add-on list and then enable itself. I've got adblock up, but these adware add-ons seem to be able to bypass this and still overtake my window and try to make full tab ads, or become a fake windows alert on the whole browser page.
I go in and disable/remove them as they add on (It's usually one a week), but I would like to get down to the bottom of how they are adding themselves to my Firefox profile. I don't want to completely disable add-ons because I have a few that I DO use.
Chosen solution
Hidden add-ons should become visible if you start Firefox in Safe Mode.
You can start Firefox in Safe Mode by holding down the Shift/Options key.
Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer. Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - AdwCleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml - SuperAntispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/ - Microsoft Safety Scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Windows Defender:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender - Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Kasperky Free Security Scan:
http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan
You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.
- Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware
All Replies (3)
Your Additional System Details doesn't show any extensions, the usual cause of your problems. Can you tell us the few extensions that you do usually use(not plug-ins) such as Ad Block?
You may have ad / mal-ware. Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac Options) key, and then starting Firefox. Is the problem still there?
Discovered Hidden Add-on On Firefox. How To Check Yours https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/support-forum-contributors/711335
Chosen Solution
Hidden add-ons should become visible if you start Firefox in Safe Mode.
You can start Firefox in Safe Mode by holding down the Shift/Options key.
Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer. Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - AdwCleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml - SuperAntispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/ - Microsoft Safety Scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Windows Defender:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender - Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Kasperky Free Security Scan:
http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan
You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.
- Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446
See also: