Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

When I close Firefox, the window closes but the Firefox.exe process and Plug-in Container remain running in the background and have to be shut down using Windows Task Manager.

  • 7 replies
  • 37 have this problem
  • 434 views
  • Last reply by John99

more options

This happens frequently. Something in Firefox continues to run even when the program is closed. The process has to be stopped before I can open Firefox again.

This happens frequently. Something in Firefox continues to run even when the program is closed. The process has to be stopped before I can open Firefox again.

All Replies (7)

more options

try to update your firefox 6.0.1 to 6.0.2 which is latest

more options

Chosen Solution

more options

This may not be too relevant but note Firefox still has a bug (#633427) that results in plugin containers being opened for all plugins, even disabled ones when history/cookies are cleared. If your firefox is set to clear history on closing you will suddenly unexpectedly see some plugin container instances opening up, but they should close down again. (it appears you have about 20 plugins installed - I do not know if you have others that are not enabled)

If that is the problem maybe considering an alternative profile with fewer plugins would be a work around until the bug is fixed.

more options

Thank you!

more options

Thanks. Closing with File/Exit instead of the X closes Firefox properly. AT LAST! A solution!

more options

I'm not sure if that's true. It seems like I did use File/Exit to close Firefox. Was this bug fixed in version 7?

more options

The bug about plugin container opening multiple copies is not resolved as far as I am aware. The problem should only occur if Cookies or History are being cleared.

I have recently seen this problem occur in Firefox 10.0.a1 (Nightly).

There are currently other known issues that may cause Firefox to hang or freeze, some of which relate to the use of the places.sqlite database that holds bookmarks.