This as only started happening over the last few days. When I come off the web I close Firefox. But, later when I run CCleaner it tells me to close Firefox so it can clear the cache. Because of this I look at 'Task Manager' and find Firefox is still running. Why is Firefox still running when I have already closed it earlier ? This has not happened before and now happens every time I come off the web.
Check "Startup" to see if, for some reason, Firefox is "running at startup"...if so, disable Firefox "running at startup"*** *** Windows 7 and earlier : type " msconfig " in search - open "microsoft configuration utility" - click on "Startup" tab - remove "Check" from box in front of Firefox - apply - restart *** Windows 8/8.1/10 : got to "Task Manager" - click on "Startup" tab - Highlight firefox and click on "Disable" - apply - restart If you are running some other OS - Post back for further help
Many applications keep a helper version of themselves running. This is because they have gotten so large (bloatware) that starting from scratch would take forever in the perception of the user. Killing the running stub of Firefox won't hurt anything, but the next time you open it, you'll likely find it takes longer. It's worth it for me. I disable as many as I can find in Startup.
Add-ons like "Quick Notes", a progress panel of a download manager, etc will be still be hanging around half-hidden if they aren't closed prior to shutting down Firefox itself. But these occasional incidents probably aren't responsible here, if FF has started routinely / constantly doing this now.
On the Task Manager start-up tab, Firefox is not even on the start-up list. I will give it an up date to see if this goes away Thanks all so far Back again...I have found it running under the Task Manager users tab. So, I can kill it there and by CCleaner. But, it's inconvenient. May just re-install Firefox from scratch
