DAMN Firefox's stupid "reopen last session" option ! I turned it off, it is now back on !

[eppur_se_muova]

This morning I had some kind of bizarre meltdown where Firefox kept trying to open new window after new window. Even when there were dozens of windows open, it kept opening more, slowing down as the processes ate up more and more memory. Response to the mouse and keyboard took several minutes. I had to click on the desktop and use Force Quit to get out. But if I try to relaunch Firefox now it starts doing the same thing ! I re-installed Firefox and the problem persists. Does anyone know where the file containing the last session info is kept ? Can I delete it without affecting bookmarks ? Any other hints ?

OOOOOPS ... I know better, but still didn't say I'm running this instance of Firefox under OSX 10.9.

[PoliticAverse]

1. Using Windows? Terminate the firefox process using task manager. Restart firefox.

If it is still popping up the windows terminate the process again. When you next restart firefox you should
get a message that firefox crashed and be given the option to reload specific pages or start fresh.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Using OSX, but thanks for the hint ...

Activity Monitor can kill individual processes. Gotten too used to using Firefox under Linux.

[CountAllVotes]

2. Download & install Malwarebytes

Sounds like you have a virus.

Opt for the FREE version (unless you care to pay), not the trial (pay) version.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Best of luck!

[eppur_se_muova]

4. I've already got Avast. nt

[CountAllVotes]

5. Malwarebytes might solve your problem

Avast never did a thing for me. It sounds like you have a PUP virus IMO. This is what they do.

I strictly use Malwarebyes and SUPERAntiSpyWare. These two programs cover me nicely and also REMOVE things that should not be on a computer, esp. Malwarebytes.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Hmmm ... I recall there is a new MWB for Mac trial version ...

we're already using MWB on Windows. It's caught plenty of PUP's.

May be worth a try.

[CountAllVotes]

7. I would try it

You can always delete the program if it does not help but it sure sounds like a PUP virus to me -- all of those folders opening up like that = PUP IMO.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

8. I'm not sure how to advise you to stop the...

...recurrent 'open new...' problem but having hit that a few times, I created a shortcut on my desktop (Win7pro):
"C:_Program Files (x86)_Mozilla Firefox_firefox.exe" www.google.com (replace the underscores with backslashes)

This opens a single window (not the last session) pointed to google. (You can change the web address to anything.)
This works even if the option to open the last session is enabled.

I'm not sure how to do this for an apple OS.

[katmondoo]

9. Firefox always sucked for me.

Would not let me download or print a lot of pictures I use in research. I would always have to switch to windows then back to Firefox

[eppur_se_muova]

10. UPDATE -- problem solved itself.

Weird.

Just waited a while before launching and I got an error message "can't re-open tabs from last session" or something like that. Everything is back to normal.