Firefox browser affected by malware... no other browser affected
Getting a mass of fake update pop ups far larger than a typical pop ups. Internet Explorer and Google Chrome not affected. Add/Remove programs show no aberrant applictiaons. Virus and malware scans are negative. Whatever exploit exists on this machine. Looking for a way to scan the firefox browser itself to identify how the problem can be identified.
All Replies (2)
Can you send me your troubleshooting information from the Firefox installation that's having issues? This is a good part in troubleshooting.
- Navigate to
about:supportvia Address Bar - Click the button that says
Copy text to clipboard - Now, go back to your forum post and click inside the reply box. Press Ctrl+V to paste all the information you copied into the forum post.
Can you try to start Firefox in Safe Mode to see if Firefox works properly with no error? You can start Firefox in Safe Mode below:
- Windows/Mac: Go to Help > Restart with add-ons disabled
- Linux: Run firefox -safe-mode in the Terminal/Konsole
If Firefox opens up fine with no problems, it's probably one of your extensions that's causing the issue. You can re-enable your add-ons one by one until you find the one that causes the issue upon being re-enabled.
Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problem.
See "Creating a profile":
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues
If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over the problem
What malware scanners did you try?
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