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Multiple firefox tabs open at once{as seen in task manager} but only one shows onscreen

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Whenever I open FireFox it takes quite a while to load for several months now. I found out in task manager that six or seven browser windows are opening at once with varying amounts of sizes. I can manually close all but three of the smallest tab amounts. I have never had to do this before! What can be done to prevent all but the one tab I want from opening at once. Is this a virus, hijack,or malware problem? I thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Thanks Gay Felder

Whenever I open FireFox it takes quite a while to load for several months now. I found out in task manager that six or seven browser windows are opening at once with varying amounts of sizes. I can manually close all but three of the smallest tab amounts. I have never had to do this before! What can be done to prevent all but the one tab I want from opening at once. Is this a virus, hijack,or malware problem? I thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. Thanks Gay Felder

All Replies (2)

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Hi, you can use the Firefox Task Manager to see what each process listed in the Windows Task Manager (Details tab) is for. To open that in a new tab, either:

  • Shift+Esc (this takes several moments to load)
  • Open a new tab first, then type or paste about:processes in the address bar and press Enter to load it

If you cross-reference the process ID number and discover some in Windows Task Manager that Firefox isn't aware of, this can indicate a hidden instance of Firefox, which is suspicious.

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You can check for problems with the sessionstore.jsonlz4 file in the Firefox profile folder that stores session data.

  • rename/remove sessionstore.jsonlz4 and sessionstore.js when present with Firefox closed

You may also have to rename the sessionstore-backups folder.

When sessionstore.jsonlz4 is deleted you lose pinned-tabs and open tabs and you will have to recreate them, so if necessary make a note or bookmark them. sessionstore.jsonlz4 is only present in the Firefox profile folder when Firefox is closed.

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).