Firefox will open a New Pop-up Window in Windows 7 Aero. When trying to Close it, it thinks it wants me to Close the Main Window. Why?
I use Windows 7 Ultimate in Aero-mode. When a new Firefox window is opened, or a Pop-up window appears, I can't close it without first clicking on that page and clicking the "X" in the corner. Instead, whenever I try to close a window that is not the first window (my main window), it will ask me if I want to close the main window with all the tabs... I have noticed some other slight quirks in this stable release as well, but this one is always present.
All Replies (10)
Make use of POP up blocker
Popup Blocker Addon
How does this help me with a window I open up and want to close? The problem isn't pop-ups, I can get an ad-blocker extension for that. If you've ever used Windows 7 and have had multiple windows for a single program, you can close them by clicking the specific window from clicking the specific program at the bottom and having multiple windows open for that program shown (a preview as well for Aero view). You can then click the small red "X" for whichever window and close them. Not sure if this explains the problem better, if you do not understand I can try to guide you through how this works on a Windows 7 machine step-by-step.
Are you closing the window with the keyboard, e.g., Alt+F4?
There's a possibility this is related to a bug that kicks in when you do not have Flash running in any tab and you open a new window to a page that does use Flash. The focus switches back to the earlier window. Usually this is visible, but if the pop-up is set to stay on top, perhaps it's less obvious (only the toolbar color would change to indicate it is no longer the active window). Could you review the details in this recent thread: Opening New Windows and Shockwave Flash.
Upon review of your latest post, I can't think of a reason that the red X on the Windows 7 task bar thumbnails would not work correctly. When I mouse over them, the window under the cursor comes to the front (at least temporarily) and is correctly targeted for closing. Do yours not do that?
When I hover over the window, it does come up front, but as soon as I press the red "X" it goes immediately back to the main window and acts as if I was trying to close that one. Once in a while it will work, but shortly thereafter, it will just go back into this manner. Quite odd. This is the first time I've truly had any problems with Firefox.
In addition to that problem I have noticed a few things, but one that may be linked is sometimes I'll click a link. Although I haven't specified to open it in a new window, it will do so anyhow. This gets annoying quickly. Usually shutting down Firefox and reopening will fix this (and once in a while just leaving it be for a long time). Somehow, I think this issue is somehow linked to the one above.
I'm stumped on the first problem. Do any of your other Windows apps exhibit this behavior when you us the same steps on them?
On the second, Firefox is behaving as though you have the Shift key held down. Next time this happens, could you stab the Shift key several times to make sure there isn't a mechanical issue there? Also, if you run any extensions that change how Firefox works with windows and tabs, make sure they are up-to-date.
Is there anything unusual about the windows you're trying to close?
Is there a reason you prefer using the task bar to close windows? As a workaround for closing the active window, you can use Alt+F4, which is a generic Windows key combination, or Ctrl+w, which is a Firefox shortcut to close the current tab (it closes the window if there's only one tab).
It only seems to happen on Firefox. I use numerous folders in a day's work, and never have the problem present itself when closing them down with that method.
The second one I suspect may be true as I think that has happened in the past. But oddly, it does not produce capital letters when this issue does occur...
It's much quicker to close numerous windows with the method I try, however It can be argued that Alt+F4 is faster. But this is only true if you're trying to close all windows and not certain ones they may be in the middle of the "stack" order.
Another user posted this problem today: Problem with closing other firefox windows when window in use has more than 1 tab open. No solution there as of yet.