Uninstalled Firefox - something strange (to me!)

Hey y'all!

I have a desktop with Windows XP - I know, I'm a dinosaur, but mostly through poverty! AND, it's the family computer with five user accounts. My son was having trouble accessing a school website so we downloaded Firefox to try it instead. It didn't help and my hubby got mad because all his favorites got screwed up somehow (technically it is "his" computer and the kids can only use it for stuff like homework) so I uninstalled FF and everything (seemingly) went back to normal.

Being well-trained by MG, I ran my weekly scans using the all the free stuff I got from MG, and that's when I spotted the strange things. I ran CCleaner under everyone's account, and ONLY under Hubby's account on the Applications tab it shows Firefox/Mozilla. Then I ran SpyBot S&D and when I immunized it showed some 15,000 files under Hubby's name again. Then, under Spyware Blaster, under Mozilla Firefox it used to say "undetected" and now it says "protection disabled". Can anyone tell me what this all means??!! And tell me before Hubby :tas gets on the computer again??

Thanks!
legolass

 

Hi legolass

I am having a hard time understanding what your problems is. You say 15,000 files? Under what programs is it showing up in? why does 15,000 files scare you?

Are you in Spy Blaster? I don't use it, but I don't imagine others will fully understand what you are saying here. Also, as a side note, if something says "protection disabled" in terms of anti spyware type stuff, just try and right-click it and try to Enable the protection.

Brahman

 

I use SpywareBlaster on an XP Home SP3 machine.
Usually the Protection Disabled message is for when the browser is not installed or there are updates added.
As stated, click on Enable.
If the Disabled message reappears, I would say that Firefox has been removed.

 

Hi again!

Sorry, Brahman, I will try to be a little clearer! I am just wondering why Firefox is coming up under my antispyware programs when I uninstalled it, and only under one user account, and that's not the user account we were in when we installed it, either. I use Spybot S&D, and when I get the updates and then immunize, there is a list that shows, I guess, what it has immunized. Right at the top of the list, only under Hubby's account, it says Firefox in bold print, and then it lists:

HUBBY default Cookies 193
HUBBY default Images 15016
HUBBY default Installations 15016
HUBBY default Popups 15016

Then it goes on to list Internet Explorer with all our user account names, the same categories and the same numbers under those categories. But I see this only under Hubby's user account. I checked all the other ones, and when I open Spybot S&D and get into the immunize feature, it just lists Internet Explorer, with no mention of Firefox. The same happens with SpywareBlaster. It is only finding Firefox under Hubby's user account - when I open it in any of the other user accounts, it lists Firefox, but beside the name it says "Not detected" - like it always did before. Only under Hubby's account did it say "Protection disabled". It is still showing as "Undetected" on the other user accounts. I enabled all the protection like you and hrlow2 suggested, and it now shows [under Hubby's account only] "Protection enabled". Firefox also shows up in Ccleaner, but only under Hubby's account. So why is it doing that when I uninstalled it, and why only under one user account? I tried running the registry feature under Ccleaner to remove any traces, but Firefox still comes up as above. Did I do something wrong??

Thanks for your help!
legolass

 

legolass try downloading this program. After download create a folder, name it whatever you want, I suggest something like, "SearchMyFiles" and extract the zipfolder to that folder. Next click the "SearchMyFiles" icon with the magnifying glass on it. Then when the window pops up go to the "Base folders" line and hit the down tab, select "C:\", after that look below that line for the "Subfolders Wildcard" delete what is there and type in "Firefox", then towards the middle right of the screen uncheck all the boxes and make sure the "folders" box is check. Then hit "Start Search"..............Whatever folders pop up, then right click on them and hit "Delete Selected Files"

Now if anyone has used SearchMyFiles and knows a better way to search, then I am happy to learn.

Good Luck legolass :cool


http://www.majorgeeks.com/SearchMyFiles_d6716.html

 

This tells me that there are still some Firefox remnants remaining on the computer. If you were trying to complete remove Firefox, you can uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs / CCleaner. If you get a message along the lines of "Firefox has already been uninstalled, do you want to delete this entry from Add/Remove instead?". By pressing yes it should remove it from CCleaner's list (and add/remove list)

15,000 non-immunized files. When you click "+ Immunize button". This number should go down to 0 and it will say something along the lines of "15,000 bad products already blocked."

SpywareBlaster is still detecting the presence of Mozilla Firefox on the computer.

You may want to try the following program: Revo Uninstaller

This program can do a better good job of removing all traces of FireFox (if you still wish to remove it).

If Firefox doesn't appear in the list provided by Revo Uninstaller, you will need to reinstall firefox, and then run Revo Uninstaller.

 

Hey y'all!

Well, I decided to go with the Revo Uninstaller only because I'm not very good with this stuff and it seemed like the more idiot-proof way (always a bonus in my case!). It did not show Firefox/Mozilla when I first opened it, so I followed your advice, thisisu, and reinstalled and then uninstalled with Revo. I told it to use the advanced mode (doing a deep clean), and after it ran FF's own uninstaller it still came up with 46 things that had not uninstalled. I really liked this program - it clearly showed everything, so I carefully ticked only the boxes that referred to FF/Moz and then deleted those. And... it worked :celebrate ! I'm so happy - thanks for your help (as always). And hubby :dancer is now a fan too, since he used it to remove a program he no longer wants, as well. Revo was also extremely fast - it was all over in a couple of minutes.

You've saved me again, MG. Sincerest thanks.

legolass :wave