Hi there,

It sounds like you've fallen victim to a phishing scam-type fake email. Mozilla will never officially send you emails telling you of Firefox updates as far as I am aware currently. You may have accidentally installed malware onto your computer as well as this.

To keep your computer secure, you can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

• Microsoft Safety Scanner
• MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware
• Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller
• AdwCleaner (for more info, see this alternate AdwCleaner download page)
• Hitman Pro
• ESET Online Scanner

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one.

If you live in the UK, you should also forward the email you got to [email protected], as they are the UK Police's phishing & email abuse team.

Hope this helps!

Curtis Parfitt-Ford Mozilla Support

Hello,

Your user agent shows you are on Firefox 26; the latest version is 33.0.2.

Are you updating by going to:

• Help > About Firefox

If that doesn't work, try downloading a newer version from one of the two links and installing that file:

• https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
• https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

Please see the article [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-version] for more information.

Edit: The article Firefox can't be opened after you install it on a Mac - How to fix might be relevant to you as well.

Also, Curtis's post is correct, based on your home page setting you seem to be infected by Genieo. If you downloaded an infected version of Firefox, you will need to uninstall Firefox, and download a copy from the links I posted earlier.

To remove Genieo, it looks like you may need to reset your Firefox profile, please see Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings. The following is also a Windows guide but may provide some hints:

• http://malwaretips.com/blogs/genieo-search-removal/

If you want you can try following this guide as well: http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-mac-os-x-virus/

Thanks to both of you. I think that the answer possibly lies in an answer from Curtis It was mentioned that I've contracted some scam/phishing problem. Recently, I tried to update my Safari browser and in trying to find upgrades, I inadvertently did it through Geneio which I later found out is some kind of internet hacker. It crashed my Safari & I uninstalled it but can't get it off of the main page when I click on Firefox or Google Chrome. Do you know how I get if off there?

I was on with a Applecare technician last evening who verified that I uninstalled all of Geneio but told me to contact Firefox & Google Chrome so that you can get Geneio off main page again.

Thanks for any help.

Possible Mal-Ware Scan For Macs {web link}

. Whenever you get a message / popup that software / files need to be updated;

DO NOT USE ANY OF THE PROVIDED LINKS

While this may be a legitimate message, it could also be Malware or a Virus. Any time you want or need to check for upgrades, go to the web site of the True Owner of the program in question. For example, to check out Firefox, go to Mozilla.org. {web link}

You can sent a report to The FBI via their web site Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) {web link}

You can also report such a site at; Google Report Phishing Page {web link} which is the same when done while on site by going to Help > Report Web Forgery

Help us safeguard Mozilla’s trademarks by reporting misuse {web link}

Thanks to all of you...I will try working on your suggestions and hope that I can get it resolved. I appreciate your replies. Judy

Hey Judy,

You sent me further information separately, and I think I see what's happened here. Judy didn't receive an email - it was a Google banner letting her know Firefox was outdated and thus no longer supported for Gmail. And it's right - you do need to update Firefox by going to Help > About Firefox. Use this method in future. Geneio seems to be a separate problem, so my advice would be once you are sure you've got rid of it to perform a clean reinstall. You can do this by following these steps:

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
3. 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.
4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
   1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
   2. 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.

Hope this clarifies things and helps to resolve the problem.

Curtis Parfitt-Ford Mozilla Support

The first reply is useless as it is for Windows users and not for Mac OSX as the OP is using.

I doubt is a was a fake update notice considering that they are pretty much always a .exe for Windows and a .tar (or .rpm/.deb) for Linux and not a dmg for Mac OSX as the OP is using.

It is possible you did download Firefox 33.0.2 from mozilla.org and have both 26.0 and 33.0.2 in their folders and just start 26.0 instead of 33.0.2

Again, thank you so much for your replies. Curtis, I am copying your instructions and will follow them. In your instructions, you've said 'once I've gotten rid of Geneio' to then do a complete reinstall. Part of my dilemma is that, getting Geneio off the home page. I uninstalled Geneio and from what the Applecare technician determined who took remote access of my computer, there are no Geneio files in there. He said I would need to contact Firefox to get help removing the Geneio page and get the Google page back on that I had before when I clicked on the Firefox icon.

So, to follow you're instructions...I'd like to figure out how to get Geneio off the home page so I can do the clean reinstall. I think James is right in that I'm pretty sure I've updated (more than once too) to the 33.0.2 version & I think the folder(s) there, but 26.0 my older version is what is coming up instead.

Whew...any help/advice on how to get Geneio off?! Thanks again for any and all your help!!!

Hey Judy,

Genieo publishes instructions on how to get rid of Genieo on their website. The link to the Firefox for Mac information is here.

Hope this helps!

Curtis Parfitt-Ford Mozilla Support

Brilliant! Thank you soooooo much Curtis! Got my Google home page back and feeling like a huge loads been lifted and life is good again! LOL!! Thank you thank you thank you...

Now onward and upward...I'll tackle the list of instructions for uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox with the light of day.

Again...thank you all so much..I can't thank you enough. You are the best!!

Thanks Judy :) Hope it works! *crosses fingers*