firefox 3 hangs on exit when web shield is on

[freeman3]

it allways hangs when web shield is on. the firefox process become unkillable when i exit firefox. when i turned off the shield it works fine

[Lisandro]

I've experienced this sometimes... but I could never troubleshoot it... Strange uh?
Hope some words from Lukas...

[freeman3]

i hope so
this happens always. i have vista, i think there was the same problem on xp and ff2

[alanrf]

Never seen this problem with FF2 or FF3 in XP for myself or those I support.

No reports of this for FF3 (at least yet) for those I support on Vista.

[Lisandro]

No reports of this for FF3 (at least yet) for those I support on Vista.

Sometimes this happens when the user closes Firefox and, not that much after, try to start it again. The executable detects the program running and alerts. It's ok.
But sometimes, the firefox.exe process remains there...

[Twinkletoes]

I too have something like this problem.  When WebShield is running, Firefox 3.0.1 (running on XP Home) can take up to a minute to close.  With WebShield disabled, 10 seconds.  Very irritating, especially as I had no problems with Firefox 2!!!

On the Mozilla Firefox Bugs forum I was initially advised to install TCPView to see what was going on.  From observing what appears to be going on in TCPView, it seems to me (I consider myself a non-techie here) that Firefox, WebShield, and a related System Process are all scrapping over Port 12080. As soon as all the connections to that port close - and as I said, it can take about a minute - Firefox closes very rapidly.

Any suggestions anyone, please? 

[DavidR]

No point chasing any problem/issue with an old version of Firefox, we are on Firefox 3.0.3 now. So my first suggestion is to update firefox as it also closes some security vulnerabilities.

[Twinkletoes]

No point chasing any problem/issue with an old version of Firefox, we are on Firefox 3.0.3 now. So my first suggestion is to update firefox as it also closes some security vulnerabilities.

I don't really want to upgrade to FF 3.0.3 yet, if I can avoid it, because some of my favourite add-ons have not yet been updated!  Your suggestion that I should upgrade to 3.0.3 first implies you think the "fault" probably lies with Firefox.  Hmm.  With WebShield running, problem.  With WebShield disabled, no problem.  Chicken and egg! 

I initially encountered this problem some time in July, after FF 3.0.1 was released.  And I'm currently running Version 4.8 Home Edition (Build Jul2008), which I assume was also released in July? 

If one were to assume that the fault was possibly on Avast's side of the fence, so to speak, where would one start looking?

[DavidR]

I believe that the add-ons if they work with 3.0.1 will work with 3.0.3.

Based on your reply that the problem happened after ff 3.0.1 was released would make it even more crucial to get the latest version of firefox over and above there is little point trying to fault find on an old version of firefox.

It doesn't imply I think the problem is with firefox, just that it really is pointless starting to do any checking if either firefox or avast weren't fully up to date.

I haven't had a single issue with firefox and the web shield and XP Pro, that is from ff 1.5 through to 3.0.3.

[Vladimyr]

This phenomenon is not as simple as 1 + 1 = conflict.

I have
2 x XP PRO SP2 machines with avast! 4.8 Home and progressively FF 3.0 to 3.0.3.
1 x Vista Home Basic Notebook with avast! 4.8 Home and progressively FF 3.0 to 3.0.3.
1 x XP PRO SP3 office PC with avast! 4.8 Pro and progressively FF 3.0 to 3.0.3.
and have never seen or had reported anything like this problem.
 

[Twinkletoes]

...I haven't had a single issue with firefox and the web shield and XP Pro, that is from ff 1.5 through to 3.0.3.

...I have 2 x XP PRO SP2...have never seen or had reported anything like this problem.
 

Very helpful!!! Thanks guys!!!  I'm sure there are millions of "FF/Avast" machines out there with no problems at all but I don't need to know about all of them - I have 5 of them myself crunching happily away on BOINC projects!!! 

My problem is with this one which I use daily, and I was just hoping that somebody else who has, or has had, this same problem would be able to point me in the right direction...

[Abraxas]

With this "Hanging" problem are you guy's getting any memory issues  ? How much RAM are you using , Virtual Memory ?  Have a look in your Task Manager , sometimes Firefox can take awhile to close also ... you may be running twice if you restart too quickly . Just a few thoughts 

[TedNelly]

This may be of some help?
Firefox Hang at exit

Firefox hangs (mozillaZine KB)

[Twinkletoes]

With this "Hanging" problem are you guy's getting any memory issues  ? How much RAM are you using , Virtual Memory ?  Have a look in your Task Manager , sometimes Firefox can take awhile to close also ... you may be running twice if you restart too quickly . Just a few thoughts 

For my particular machine, it doesn't appear to be memory issues...it seems to be the TCP connections between FF and Port 12080 (the port which Avast Web Shield uses), those connections take a long time to close (30 - 60 seconds).  As a consequence, sure,  initially I was trying to restart too quickly, now I just wait.

This may be of some help?
Firefox Hang at exit

Firefox hangs (mozillaZine KB)

Thanks for those links - I've seen them already while checking around the Mozilla forum.  The most "relevant" thread at the moment - the one I came here from - is:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=695335&p=4634115#p4634115.  As you can see if you skim through it, for several of the "patients" in that thread Norton seems to have been lying behind it.  One guy actually solved it by changing from Norton to Avast!  !!!***£££

[Lisandro]

Firefox Hang at exit

Sometimes when you close Firefox, it may stop responding and remain in memory, even though no Firefox windows are open.

When you next start Firefox, you may see problems in the new session, such as missing bookmarks or history and a blank Firefox window, which are resolved when you end all Firefox processes or restart the computer and then reopen Firefox. Other times, Firefox will not open at all and you will see a "Close Firefox" dialog box with the message, Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.. You must then end all Firefox processes or restart the computer before Firefox will reopen. (See Firefox is already running but is not responding for other causes and solutions.)

If Firefox processes that remain in memory at exit are a recurring problem, try these solutions:

    * Problematic extensions, including AVG Safe Search, PicLens, and Skype Extension for Firefox, can cause the problem, which can be fixed by disabling or uninstalling the extension. See Troubleshooting extensions and themes for more information.

    * Sometimes Java applets can cause the Firefox process to persist after exit. Try updating Java to the latest version or, if you don't need Java, disable the Java plugin by clearing the "Enable Java" checkbox in Firefox (see Using the Java plugin with Firefox for details).

Windows:

    * Using certain Internet security software is reported to cause the issue on some systems:
          o If you use ZoneAlarm on Windows Vista, uninstall it and use another firewall product (or use the Windows Firewall).
          o If you use Avast! Antivirus, switch to another antivirus product if you also have ZoneAlarm installed.
          o If you use Norton 360 2.0, make sure that you have all available Norton updates (for more help, contact Norton Support) and that you have followed the instructions in the Configuring Norton 360 article.

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+is+already+running+but+is+not+responding
Hmmm... Something makes me think that Mozy could be blocking parent.lock.parentlock file and it couldn't be deleted, so Firefox keeps running in background... Not so sure about that.