Why is Firefox already loaded once Windows is loaded?

Just about once in a full moon, Firefox would be already loaded once I turn on my laptop.

I open up Task Manager and there it is, running around 3k of memory. Yet the browser is not open. I try to open up the firefox browser but it refuses to open.

Then, I have to restart, which takes care of the problem.

Once again, this happens rarely.

Any clue why?

 

I'll rattle off the usual responses:

- Remove Firefox from start-up folders/ msconfig
- Set all settings to default/ un-install all extensions
- Scan for spyware (Yes, Firefox is attracting spyware now)
- Re-install (after running a registry cleaner with the keyword 'firefox')

 

^^I did all of that and then some about 4-5 times now.

This is probably the 3rd time this has happened in a span of 3.5 months.

 

Can you just end the task in Task Manager then try starting FF? This usually works for programs that get confused when multiple instances start at the same time. All of them will stall, and you can end one of them which typically jump-starts the process. I don't know why this happens, except that I get click happy when my work computer gets crazy bogged down.

Check for startup items and services for FF, and try just ending the task and starting FF normally.

Are you up-to-date with Windows? What security software are you running? Try running Hijack This and posting the report.

 

I have had something similar to this happen, but not lately. I would click on the desktop icon, a dialog box would come up saying firefox was already running. It said to end it in the task manager or restart the computer. I would go to task manager and it wasn't running, so I would have to restart. It really got be a pain. But lately it has been working okay, so fingers are crossed.

 

Yeah, theres no way of ending it via Task manager once its already loaded upon boot-up. I tried. Only thing to do is just restart.

And yes, I have up-to-date drivers, etc etc. with windows. I'm running all the security software I can.

Hopefully, this doesn't happen again...

 

Have you tried ending it through processess rather than applications?

 

^Yep. Tried that too.

 

What happens when you try ending it?? You should be able to end any of the processes in that window (some with not-so-good consequenses.) Really does sound like a hijack to me.

Have you tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling FF?

 

Nothing happens when I try ending it. Literally. Nothing.

Yes, I have uinstalled, reinstalled like 5 times already. Again, this happened at most 3 times in the last 3 months...

 

If you're so adamant about it happening rarely, then why discount every reply that has been made so far? Everyone's just trying to help. Clearly this isn't the typical issue, and probably has more to do with the circumstances surrounding the events (and the state of the computer) when they happen. Any pattern as to when this happens? Check the event log for the specific times/days.

If you aren't really serious about troubleshooting the problem, however, then I'm not sure there's a quick answer for you.

 

Heh, really, I just wanna know if anyone else experienced this. I'm guessing its a freak occurance type thing for me.