# Browser hijack? Help, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768 "2009-08-08T20:19:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/1 "2009-08-08T20:19:08Z")
My setup: Firefox 3.012 Adblock Plus 1.1 Win XP, user (not admin) account Yesterday I visited a website and I got a popup message from Firefox to the effect that my computer was not protected and I should click “yes” to run virusscansitewhatever. I got suspicious, so instead of clicking on “yes” or “no”, I just killed Firefox with Process Explorer. That apparently may not have been enough. Later I signed on to my admin account and I got a message that there was a Windows update. I downloaded it. When I finally went to turn off my PC, I got the message “installing updates 1 of 1” and there was the usual delay while it did that before automatically powering off. Current symptoms: 1. All ads showing even though Adblock Plus is fully enabled. I uninstalled and reinstalled it and that made no difference. It did pick up my old preferences after the reinstall. 2. When starting Firefox, I now get the following messages twice: > [@](#): > > Firefox is installing your updates and will start in a few moments. > > The update could not be installed. Please make sure there are no other copies of Firefox running on your computer, and then restart Firefox to try again. There are no other copies running. 1. I went to add-ons/extensions and clicked the “find updates” button. One of my add-ons (I can’t remember if it was Google Redesigned or Better Greader) came up with an error message to the effect of “error occurred while finding an update for this extension”. I uninstalled both of them, but I still get the messages in #2, and another “find updates” scan showed no newer updates and no errors. 2. Ad Aware full scan and Spybot turned up nothing unusual. 3. I quickly skimmed about:config for all the data names including the string “extension”, and I didn’t see anything untoward. I guess I could try a new Firefox profile and see what happens. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/2 "2009-08-08T20:59:47Z")
Why don’t you download Firefox 3.5.2 and install it. This may alleviate your problem. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/3 "2009-08-08T21:15:15Z")
Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is a great anti-spyware and is free (get the free version). I would just uninstall Firefox totally and if you have restore points go back to before then. Then reinstall the newest version of Firefox and download any add-ons to Firefox again. Download everything fresh. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/4 "2009-08-09T03:02:03Z")
I doubt you have malware. Sounds like you alt-f4’ing broke something in firefox. > [@](#): > > Later I signed on to my admin account and I got a message that there was a Windows update. I downloaded it. No malware does this. WHy would it ask you to install anything, if its running as an app on your machine it would just install the malware and not ask you. Most likely this is a legitimate windows update. MS released a couple out of schedule recently. > [@](#): > > Firefox is installing your updates and will start in a few moments. Yes, there’s a new version of FF and your FF is set to update itself. This has nothing to do with windows update. > [@](#): > > I guess I could try a new Firefox profile and see what happens. I would consider fully uninstalling it and reinstalling it before trying a new profile. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/5 "2009-08-09T04:01:46Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is a great anti-spyware and is free (get the free version). I got it and ran it. Nothing important showed up. > [@HorseloverFat](#): > > I doubt you have malware. Sounds like you alt-f4’ing broke something in firefox. That’s what I’m beginning to think. I brought up Firefox under my admin account, added Adblock, and it functioned correctly. > [@](#): > > No malware does this. WHy would it ask you to install anything, if its running as an app on your machine it would just install the malware and not ask you. Most likely this is a legitimate windows update. MS released a couple out of schedule recently. That’s what I thought. I mentioned it because I thought that added complication might have been a factor. > [@](#): > > Yes, there’s a new version of FF and your FF is set to update itself. This has nothing to do with windows update. I did get the little FF popup when I brought FF up in my admin account. I’ll hold off on that for the moment. > [@](#): > > I would consider fully uninstalling it and reinstalling it before trying a new profile. Given that Adblock worked fine in my admin account, I’ll try the new profile first. Tomorrow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/6 "2009-08-09T15:23:06Z")
go to the firefox .exe in the Program Files directory and right click on it, select “Run as” and run it as administrator. Hopefully it will write the correct info into your profile then. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/7 "2009-08-09T17:54:02Z")
I started up my computer today and now Firefox is working fine. The error messages no longer appear and AdBlock is blocking ads again. Must’ve been gremlins. Thanks to all for the suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/8 "2009-08-09T18:03:49Z")
Install NoScript along with Adblock. DO update to the latest version of Firefox. ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/browser-hijack-help-please/505768/9 "2009-08-09T18:17:26Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > When starting Firefox, I now get the following messages twice: > > > [@](#): > > > > Firefox is installing your updates and will start in a few moments. > > > > The update could not be installed. Please make sure there are no other copies of Firefox running on your computer, and then restart Firefox to try again. > > There are no other copies running. If you Google the error, you’ll find a host of links (including one to this thread). Here’s the best solution, from Mozilla’s Knowledge Base: ["Firefox is already running but is not responding" error - How to fix | Firefox Help](http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+is+already+running+but+is+not+responding?s=profile+in+use) Excerpt from there (you should read the whole thing): > [@](#): > > If restarting the computer didn’t help, it may be that Firefox previously exited without deleting the lock file. > > 1. Restart your computer. After it restarts, don’t try to start Firefox. > 2. Open the profile folder. > \* For information on finding your profile folder, see Profiles. > 3. Delete the lock file parent.lock