Is there a way to identify firefox tabs in task manager and force close only one of them?
As with all of us, sometimes I get an annoying tab open in Firefox with a javascript (or similar) prompt that stops me from closing it For now what I do is force close Firefox using task manager and then open it again and close the annoying tab before it loads However I think it would be better to have the tabs identifiable in task manager so I can force the one I want without shutting down Firefox altogether Is there a way to do that?
PS: I already have the ublock origin addon installed but some scripts go past the filter
All Replies (3)
Hi John, Have you taken a look at Firefox's Task Manager?
Go to: 3-bar Menu -> More -> Task Manager
You'll see which tabs and extensions are working and all the way to the right you can close a tab or jump to manage your extensions.
Hi John, what does the prompt/dialog say? Is it this one:
Normally clicking Leave will get you out. Is there a page that recycles it endlessly?
Let me address the other kinds of "traps" evil pages use:
Unfortunately Firefox's phishing and malware protection is based on lists of bad sites. Because these scammers keep creating new sites, it is difficult for the feature to keep up.
There are a few common patterns to these annoying pages, and these are some techniques for closing them without having to take drastic measures.
The "key" (ha ha) is the keyboard shortcut for closing the current tab, which is Ctrl+w (or on Mac, Cmd+w). Try it after each action to see whether it is available yet.
(1) Large alert dialog (lots of text)
If you cancel this dialog, it may reappear. After two or three appearances, Firefox should add a checkbox at the bottom of the dialog to stop the site from showing more alerts. Check that box and click OK to block further dialogs.
(2) Authentication dialog (asks for username and password)
If you cancel this dialog, the page may reload and immediately show it again. Pressing the Esc key numerous times in a row can cancel the reload as well as the dialog.
(3) Reacting to mouse movement
Some pages have a script that detects when you are moving the mouse pointer up toward the tab bar and takes action to show another dialog, or moves to full screen view to hide the toolbar area. On these pages, the keyboard shortcut is essential.
Hopefully this will let you close problem pages without having to "kill" Firefox in the Windows Task Manager. (I don't recommend using that method because the tab will come back during automatic crash recovery anyway.)
I hadn't seen the FF task manager yet, will see if it's accessible next time @jscher2000 I will certainly "Ctrl+W" down annoying pages when I get them again
Thank you all for your fast and useful replies :)