The browser first needs to close all of the files it has open. Then it will close. Otherwise, those files would be corrupted.

Or are you just talking about the current tab/window leaving Firefox running?

FredMcD said

The browser first needs to close all of the files it has open. Then it will close. Otherwise, those files would be corrupted. Or are you just talking about the current tab/window leaving Firefox running?

Neither, really. I am talking about FF continuing to process commands from a window that I have closed. E.g., I hit alt F4, then for a few seconds the status line [lower left] shows continued activity while the window remains on the screen.

Thanks for your quick response.

PS, the corruption of files does not seem to matter when I kill the power with windows open.

Closing the browser normally attempts to close things down cleanly. This includes allowing some web pages, in particular web apps like gmail, to get shutdown messages. This is better for those websites than immediate shutdown.

If you want the closest to instantaneous you can get, I think you have to use Task Manager and use "End Process", or "End Process Tree" on the main Firefox process. Those attempt to terminate the process(es) with out sending the usual friendly "request shutdown" events first. If that fails to be fast enough, look into how to use the "KILL" console command.

You probably shouldn't do this regularly, as slightly slower clean shutdowns help avoid causing other issues in the future.

The quit request needs to to done on the main Firefox processor thread. If this thread is busy doing other things then it can take time before the shutdown is initiated. This quit request needs to be send to all other sub processes to make sure that Firefox closes cleanly and all session data is stored in the profile folder. Using a Kill in the Task Manager would prevent Firefox from closing properly and will likely corrupt files in the main profile folder and in the second location for temporary data.

Use one of these to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the Firefox title bar.

• "3-bar" menu button -> Exit (Power button)
• Windows: File -> Exit
• Mac: Firefox -> Quit Firefox
• Linux: File -> Quit

From the moment you tell Firefox to close, how long does it take? More than 5 seconds? 10,20 . . . .

Note that it takes longer if you use "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear data like the disk cache.

I see that all our replies in this thread are marked as unhelpful, so apparently we are not able to answer your question satisfactorily.

If you use the close X in the top right corner then this merely makes Firefox close this window. If this would be the last window then a quit operation is initiated, so using the close X is the slowest way to close Firefox.

cor-el said

Note that it takes longer if you use "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear data like the disk cache.

I am not trying to close and quit FireFox. Only one of several open FireFox windows.

cor-el said

I see that all our replies in this thread are marked as unhelpful, so apparently we are not able to answer your question satisfactorily. If you use the close X in the top right corner then this merely makes Firefox close this window. If this would be the last window then a quit operation is initiated, so using the close X is the slowest way to close Firefox.

I am sorry I have not been clear. I am not talking about closing and exiting FF, only one FF window. Only if this is the only open FF window will I be closing and exiting FF.

Usually this [the processing of commands from the closing window] takes only 2 or 3 seconds, but it can take up to 10 seconds.

I do not use tabs unless forced to.

With more than one Firefox window open, closing just one should not take more than a moment.

Is there anything special in the window you are closing? clips, heavy calculations . . . .

Is this with many window/websites, some, a few?

If there is only one tab in each window then closing this tab should close the window as well.

Does this still cause your problem?