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I cannot shut down Firefox unless I shutdown the pc.

  • 4 replies
  • 27 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by pammie

pammie
pammie
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I am running Firefox 5.0.1 on Windows XP. DSL. Frequently, it uses a ton of memory, so I exit. However, it continues to run under 'processes' in the Windows taskbar, not releasing memory. Often, I have to actually turn off the pc. Turning it back on, I try to open Firefox and sometimes I have to try more than once. It works fine for a while, sometimes a whole day!! Yippee. I have installed and uninstalled. I have run every diagnostic I have, even a disk defrag without success. I have updated all my plugins. What else can I do?

I am running Firefox 5.0.1 on Windows XP. DSL. Frequently, it uses a ton of memory, so I exit. However, it continues to run under 'processes' in the Windows taskbar, not releasing memory. Often, I have to actually turn off the pc. Turning it back on, I try to open Firefox and sometimes I have to try more than once. It works fine for a while, sometimes a whole day!! Yippee. I have installed and uninstalled. I have run every diagnostic I have, even a disk defrag without success. I have updated all my plugins. What else can I do?

Chosen solution

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox%20hangs
See hang-at-exit

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All Replies (4)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
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Chosen Solution

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox%20hangs
See hang-at-exit

pammie
pammie Question owner
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Here's a bit more info - I loaded Firefox and opened my email (gmail) then I got no response when I clicked to open a message. I shut down the browser and opened the task manager. Sure enough, there was Firefox. I tried to stop the process, but no response to that. I was able to open IE and my email. Found your reply (thank you very much!) and decided to try some of the steps. In the meantime, I had to manually turn off my pc to get rid of Firefox. Rebooted and am using IE to print out some of the help items to work on. I will let you know how it works.I am going to try some of the steps mentioned in your reply. Again, thanks for responding. Pam

Modified by pammie

pammie
pammie Question owner
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Well, phooey! I tried the step where I started Firefox in safe mode. No problems. Ran perfectly. Then I started Firefox and unchecked the hardware acceleration box. I got the same problem. Worked fine for a while, memory usage high (however, it did stop at around 450000kb), started slowing down. I did some searched, used email, went into facebook and worked on my Farmville farm. Then exited the browser and sure enough, the thing was still running in processes. It is running as we speak (I'm using IE now), and I can't stop the process. I will have to turn off the pc power to get rid of it. I'll check some more of your suggestions and get back to you.

pammie
pammie Question owner
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I was able to remove an add-on (Greasemonkey) that seemed to make the difference. I had installed it a couple months ago, but it never worked, then I couldn't find how to remove it. Going through all your suggestions, I finally found where I could blast the sucker. So far, things are working. No issues with Firefox hanging around after exiting, still slow, but better. I'm going to call it solved.

Thanks again for the help now I can shop and farm without fear!

Pam