I have managed to stop annoying pop up windows from amazon today by uninstalling a program called firefox maintenance. Was this spyware or legitimate software?
I started getting the pop ups very recently (oct 2015) so I went to control panel and programs an features and ranked the list by install date. At the top was this one I was suspicious of, firefox maintenance, and on a hunch decided to uninstall it. have I done the right thing - and how did this spyware/adware type programme get onto my computer.
Chosen solution
Hi, there is a legitimate program called Mozilla Maintenance Service, which in your programs, should show the same version number as Firefox - What is the Mozilla Maintenance Service?. If that is what you mean, it wouldn't be responsible for ad pop-ups. If it actually is 'Firefox Maintenance' then I would definitely regard it with suspicion.
You can check your pop-up settings here - Pop-up blocker settings, exceptions and troubleshooting.
If the problem continues, you can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:
- Microsoft Safety Scanner
- MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware
- Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller
- AdwCleaner (for more info, see this alternate AdwCleaner download page)
- Hitman Pro
- ESET Online Scanner
Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one. Windows 8 has antivirus built-in already.
Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
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Chosen Solution
Hi, there is a legitimate program called Mozilla Maintenance Service, which in your programs, should show the same version number as Firefox - What is the Mozilla Maintenance Service?. If that is what you mean, it wouldn't be responsible for ad pop-ups. If it actually is 'Firefox Maintenance' then I would definitely regard it with suspicion.
You can check your pop-up settings here - Pop-up blocker settings, exceptions and troubleshooting.
If the problem continues, you can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:
- Microsoft Safety Scanner
- MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware
- Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller
- AdwCleaner (for more info, see this alternate AdwCleaner download page)
- Hitman Pro
- ESET Online Scanner
Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one. Windows 8 has antivirus built-in already.
Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!