Thread: Firefox does not exit completely

Sometimes when I close Firefox after I have completed my tasks and try to re-open the browser after a while, I get an error saying that Firefox is already running. Do I need to uninstall the application? What is causing this problem?

No, you do not need to uninstall the application. This error does not indicate that Firefox has been corrupted. It means there is an instance of Firefox that hasn't been terminated before the next launch. Although it may not be visible on your screen in the form of a browser window, Firefox is still running on your system and utilizing system resources without your consent. Thus, in some cases it is impossible for you to know what's consuming your system resources. This situation often arises if the browser is closed when it's in the middle of some activity. For instance, if a Flash plug-in is connecting and you exit the browser, you may see the dialog box that asks you if you want to 'End Task'. This leads to an unhealthy termination of the application that can leave processes of it still running. Follow these steps to close Firefox completely without leaving any traces behind.

1.Press the key combination [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] or right-click the task bar and select 'Task Manager'.

2.Once the 'Task Manager' dialog box opens up on your screen click the 'Processes'tab.

3.Look for a process called 'firefox.exe'.

4.Right-click this entry in the list and from the context menu click 'End Process'.

5.A 'Task Manager Warning' message box will appear on your screen. Click 'Yes' to confirm the termination of the process.

Even if you are not suffering from this problem with Firefox but are interested in knowing whether your browser is eating up your system resources without your knowledge, then simply start the browser and exit it. Follow the above steps to check if the process is still running.