Firefox using 100% memory

This forum has always been able to help me so maybe this time won't be any different. I noticed my computer was getting sluggish when I was playing games or just browsing for that matter. I took a look at the task manager to see if I could get some idea what was slowing down everything and discovered the process firefox.exe was using somewhere between 90 and 100% of my cpu. And I wasn't even using firefox! So I cancelled the process in task manager and things returned to normal with about 1-10% cpu usage. But as soon as I rebooted the system there it was again. Firefox.exe using 100% cpu. So I decided to un-install all instances of firefox on my system and see what happened. And even without firefox being installed it was still using 100% of the cpu. I've run anti-virus and anti-spyware programs but they haven't found anything. The system works fine as long as I cancel the process but that's only a short term workaround. Anybody have any suggestions?

Search your hard drive for firefox.exe. See where it's located. Post back with results please.

There are 7 instances where firefox. exe is located: Four of them are in C:\Windows\Prefetch C:\Program Files|Mozilla Firefox\bin Z:\Firefox 6 (This is the one I installed after deleting the others) Z:\Firefox 3.0 Beta (this file seems to be protected and can't be deleted)

That looks okay. Have you ever used Firefox Preloader and if so is it still active?

Nope, never used it.

Download and install Process Explorer. The next time this happens, start PE then double click on Firefox.exe. This will give you a window where a lot of info is available. The Image tab will show you where the files is running from, something like this: 📎ProcExp.jpg If you uninstalled Firefox, then there should not be a C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\bin folder and certainly not a Firefox.exe in it. If you reinstalled it, can you uninstall it again. then reboot and start Process Explorer and see where it is running from?

Process Explorer tells me that the firefox.exe that is causing the cpu problem is located in C:\Program files\Mozilla Firefox\bin\bin\firefox.exe and the version number is 2.0.1.4120. However, when I navigate to that particular file and double click on it nothing happens. Also, when I attempt to delete firefox.exe a message comes up to tell me "access is denied". So I can't run it and I can't kill it but it uses enough cpu to slow down every other app. on the system.

Did you uninstall Firefox? If so, boot to Safe Mode then delete the entire C:\Program files\Mozilla Firefox tree, or rename it to something else, like C:\Program files\Mozilla Firefox-xxx, then boot normally. See what happens. If FF is uninstalled there should not be any FF programs starting.

I'm running into some problems in trying to navigate in safe mode. First off, I lose the ability to use my mouse and then, when I try to navigate with the keyboard I find that everything (icons) has disappeared from my desktop. I'm sure it's there somewhere but I don't know how to get to it. My computer expertise is just a little bit below average. Anyway, I managed to delete the firefox installation located at Z:\Firefox which is the app I normally use but the file on C:\Program files still remains and it looks like that's the source of my problems. I'm still denied access when I attempt to manually delete it.

You need to take ownership of the Firefox directory.

How to take ownership of a file

Note You must be logged on to the computer with an account that has administrative credentials. If you are running Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, you must start the computer in safe mode, and then log on with an account that has Administrative rights to have access to the Security tab.

If you are using Windows XP Professional, you must disable Simple File Sharing. By default, Windows XP Professional uses Simple File sharing when it is not joined to a domain.

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps:

Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK. The administrator or the Administrators group now owns the file. To change the permissions on the files and folders under this folder, do the following:
Click Add.
In the Enter the object names to select (examples) list, type the user or group account that you want to give access to the file. For example, type Administrator.
Click OK.
In the Group or user names list, click the account that you want, and then select the check boxes of the permissions that you want to assign that user.
When you are finished assigning permissions, click OK.

Above taken from this MS webpage:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?…kb;en-us;308421

Once that is done you should be able to delete the C:\Program files\Mozilla Firefox directory and sub directories.

Still attempting to deal with various difficulties encountered. Please bear with me

No problem. I or one of the other techs will be here when you're ready or if you have any other questions.

The main problem I seem to be having is the ability to be logged onto the computer with an account that has administrative privileges. This has never come up before so I don't know what to do in order to correct it. I am the sole user of this computer and when I boot up I don't sign on. I'm just automatically at the desktop, ready to roll. Apparently when I installed Windows I bypassed the step that set up and administrators account since I was the only user. So, that being the case, I am unable to access the security tab necessary to advance any further. How do I correct this or am I missing a step?

With XP Home, you can only logon to the Administrator account when you boot to Safe Mode. Once you do that the Security tab should be visible.

I'm evidently going to have to track down a ps/2 mouse in order to perform the necessary functions in safe mode. All I have are USB devices and they won't do me any good.