Yesterday, my laptop started acting funny. It's running Windows 7 and Firefox. Now when I click on Firefox from my desktop, I get a popup asking if I want to allow Firefox to make changes to my computer. Every time. Also, I noticed that in the top right corner of the screen where I used to have icons to close Firefox, minimize the screen, etc, now I just have a blacked out rectangle.
I am running the most current version of Firefox, all Windows updates are installed and I've run two virus scanners that came up empty. I tried clearing my cookies.
The other thing I've noticed is that when I hit the Reply button to a Craigslist ad, the popup window with the seller's email address won't open. I'm not sure if this is related or not, as I haven't been on Craigslist for a week or so.
I'm currenttlu running System Restore to bump things back a few days.
Any suggestions? ...(aside from "Get a Mac" or "Run some shareware operating system that you're never going to do")...
Thank you.
Uninstall / Reinstall would be quick first step
In reply to Grtechguy:
I hesitate to do that because I have a million well organized bookmarks that I'd lose.
Export or backup your bookmarks, uninstall, reinstall, import said bookmarks.
Which AV programs did you run?
I ran MS Security Essentials and ESET NOD 32.
After System Restore, Firefox looks normal again and came up without the "Changes" popup. Craigslist Reply window still won't open, but that might be something else. I'll keep working on it.
Hard to say exactly what happened. Try a Malwarebytes scan just to be sure - I've found it more comprehensive than most others.
02Pilot wrote:
Hard to say exactly what happened. Try a Malwarebytes scan just to be sure - I've found it more comprehensive than most others.
I used to use Malwarebytes, but then it started letting bad stuff through. I've had much better luck with ESET Nod32.
Until yesterday...
Sounds like it could be malware, perhaps in the form of a Firefox plugin. +1 for export bookmarks, uninstall & reinstall. Probably overkill but it's a quick solution.
UPDATE:
I went back three days with system restore and things looked normal again. Then I reinstalled the Windows update that came out a day or so ago. Everything works now except those Craigslist Reply windows. I'm not sure but that may be a cookie / private browsing issue, I'm just not sure how to approach that.
I think I'm having the same problem you are, now that I do some testing (also Firefox & Windows). If I enable JS the reply button does nothing. If I disable it, the button becomes a link that shows the contact details.
Edit: To me it looks like something Craigslist has to fix in their JS.
From Craigslist Help page:
Q: The reply button won't open.
A: We have received reports of the reply button not displaying a pop-up menu
when clicked. Users have reported success in fixing this issue by taking
either of these steps:
-
Check the add-ons that are installed on your Internet browser. (An
add-on is a browser extension, or a piece of software, that modifies the
browsing experience.) You can view your browser's add-ons by navigating to
the Tools or Preferences menu and clicking on Add-ons. You can disable any
unfamiliar add-ons one by one until the button works.
-
Check to see if you are navigating the web using 'Private Browsing'.
This setting can be found in the Preferences menu of your Internet
browser. Unchecking this and re-starting your web browser may resolve the
issue.
I have no add-ons and I'm not using Private Browsing.
Javascript...and the fact that they admit theirs doesn't work in Firefox's private browsing mode tells me that they know it's basically broken.
