Malwarebytes says it found infections during latest scan and redirects me everytime I try and use Firefox
When I try to run Firefox from a shortcut on my desktop, it opens with a Malwarebyte message saying that during the latest scan it found infections that have caused changes to the system. It then gives instructions on deleting the shortcuts. So I delete the shortcuts and then use Internet Explorer to go to Mozilla and download the latest version of Firefox--but the same thing continues to happen. Any suggestions?
All Replies (2)
Hi, certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location.
To do a clean reinstall of Firefox, please follow these steps: Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.
- Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
- After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu
and click the close button 
).
- Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
- Windows:
- C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
- Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
- Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
- Windows:
- Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
- Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
- Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.
More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.
WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.
If you're still getting the message, it's likely that Malwarebytes is throwing up a false positive, which you will need to look into within that program.
Please report back to say if this helped you!
Thank you.
Thank you for the quick and comprehensive reply. I followed the instructions and after the new install, I elected to 'start Firefox now'. It brought me to the same Malwarebytes page:
"Why did we send you here?
During your last scan, we found some infections that have caused changes on your system, which may need to be manually altered. We’ll show you how to do that on this page."
I can't get past that page.