Hello Gene.

You may be having a problem with some extension or plugin that is hindering your Firefox's normal behavior. Have you tried disabling all add-ons (just to check), to see if Firefox goes back to normal?

I don't think this is a Firefox problem. I have the same error message and I get it regardless of whether I'm using Firefox or another browser.

In checking http://www.whatsrunning.net/QueryProductID.aspx?Product=16854 it is a file owned by Microsoft. I suggest you check your registry for errors.