# Has Firefox been hacked? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460 "2009-08-24T03:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/1 "2009-08-24T03:56:10Z")
I’m wondering because I just upgraded, and there has been… wonkiness. First, facebook is extraordinarily slow and sometimes needs resetting of individual pages to respond. Second, even after I close Firefox, upon repoening it, I get an error message that says something along the lines of “Firefox is still running… close Firefox or restart your browser.” There are no vulnerabilities or viruses detected by PC-Cillin. Has anyone else experienced this? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/2 "2009-08-24T04:03:57Z")
Is your second problem also happening when Facebook was loaded. If so, it’s probably facebook, which has been a bit wonky today. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/3 "2009-08-24T04:14:23Z")
Firefox has regular bug fixes to account for things users might discover. I doubt your symptoms reflect real problems. Facebook is wonky. It’s a given these days, given the client base and opportunities to create bad apps that deliberately abuse users. Call them growing pains and abuse by script kiddies. > [@](#): > > Second, even after I close Firefox, upon repoening it, I get an error message that says something along the lines of “Firefox is still running… close Firefox or restart your browser.” It happens. My experience has it when downloading a file the the download hangs. If Firefox dies in this manner, I open Task Manager and kill the Firefox instance. It then restarts. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/4 "2009-08-24T05:55:16Z")
If Firefox begins to run slow and exhibit odd symptoms you could well have a corrupt profile. There’s no sinister reason for this, it’'s just that FF can build up so much stuff in its stored cookies, history, cache, etc that it starts tripping over itself. The answer is to uninstall completely, remembering to check the box which asks you if you want delete your profile. Then install Firefox again. The difference in speed and responsiveness can be astonishing. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/5 "2009-08-24T05:57:23Z")
Open Task Manager. Find and close all instances of firefox.exe. When they are all gone, open the program again. If you didn’t understand that, restart computer. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/6 "2009-08-24T12:53:43Z")
> [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](#): > > … > > Second, even after I close Firefox, upon repoening it, I get an error message that says something along the lines of “Firefox is still running… close Firefox or restart your browser.” > … > > Has anyone else experienced this? Yep, lots. Can’t remembering it happening when FF is given a little time (5+ seconds) to “settle down”. ---
**Author:** ![ascensions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@ascensions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ascensions)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/7 "2009-08-24T14:24:17Z")
I’ve had nothing but problems with 3.5.2, and am desperately waiting for 3.5.3 as I was forced for the first time in years to go back to IE… which is very painful. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/8 "2009-08-24T14:29:20Z")
I was having problems with Gmail and Hotmail loading unbelievably slow. I uninstalled some add-ons (that I don’t even remember adding) and it’s working fine now. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/9 "2009-08-24T15:30:46Z")
Yeah, 3.5.2 has a big problem with hung processes when quitting. It hangs as often now as Netscape did back in the Netscape 4 days. At least Firefox _does_ now tell you what the problem is, it used to be that it just wouldn’t open when you clicked on it, or it would open and then not load any pages at all. That was _really_ frustrating. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/10 "2009-08-24T17:38:01Z")
> [@ascensions](#): > > I’ve had nothing but problems with 3.5.2, and am desperately waiting for 3.5.3 as I was forced for the first time in years to go back to IE… which is very painful. Likewise, I’ve had almost perpetual crash symptoms with 3.5.2, which have been widely reported elsewhere. A simple reinstall back to 3.5.1, whilst trying to maintain my profile, didn’t fix it and the same repeated crashes cropped up in 3.5.1, where I’d previously had none. I had to start from scratch, and just kept hold of my bookmarks and search engines. I would expect Mozilla are looking for a solution _tout de suite_. The problem of firefox.exe hanging around as a process following closure can be assisted by setting up a boolean value of ‘config.trim\_on\_minimize’ set to _true_ in the about:config screen. Other nifty tricks are recommended [here](http://stayupdate.com/tips-tricks/increase-firefox-speed-and-decrease-firefox-memory-usage-20-tips/567). ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/11 "2009-08-24T19:47:20Z")
First off, Firefox has been installing upgrades almost daily on my laptop. Since a recent one, whenever I press home I get a Google window (correct) as well as a WElcome to Firefox window, which I don’t want. I may have to go back to IE. ---
**Author:** ![scarbrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@scarbrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scarbrow)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/12 "2009-08-24T19:53:49Z")
I’ve also had problems with GMail, and a few other things, without having either Facebook, or the other usual culprit Adobe Acrobat, open. Often it’s either GMail freezing, or long pauses of being unable to change tabs. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/13 "2009-08-25T04:12:11Z")
I’ve been having all kinds of script unresponsiveness problems with using Yahoo Mail through Firefox lately. No time yet to try to determine the cause. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-firefox-been-hacked/507460/14 "2009-08-25T15:03:37Z")
I’m on v3.0.13 and have had memory issues with this version. I did use the “config.trim\_on\_minimize” thing and it helped somewhat, but if it’s open for a long time and/or I’m playing around by watching videos on YouTube or any other site that needs memory, it seems to never let it go. It doesn’t always seem to work to close the program. I’ve checked for malware and nothing comes up. Drives me absolutely insane. I refuse to update to 3.5.2 because of the memory issues I have with my current version (which seems to be an odd number, because I kept up with all updates and should be on 3.5.1 right now…) I should also note that I do clear private data when it gets too slow. It helps only very little.