explorer.exe and auto-restart of process

[Guest]

Auto-update to Firefox 1.5.0.8 failed on windows xp. Somehow Firefox alters
explorer.exe's behavior so that there is a named thread firefox and child
process, Firefox.exe which is automatically restarted even after it has been
killed. If explorer.exe is killed then the rogue Firefox process can be
killed. Once explorer.exe is restarted it autmatically restarts Firefox.

I've checked all the MS documented registry keys that would cause autostart
of a process, e.g. HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run, and
practically every subkey of HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Explorer, but
cannot find anything in the registry to account for this behavior. I've even
looked at all the file handles that explorer.exe has open. Again I can't find
a reference.

I've checked explorer.exe with other versions from same xp build. It is a
genuine file. Now I've reached the limit of my Windows knowledge. I can't
find any documentation explaining such a phenomenon on microsoft.com. If any
Windows guru knows how to fix such a problem please let me know. It's very
annoying.

Thanks
Mark

 

[Malke]

Auto-update to Firefox 1.5.0.8 failed on windows xp. Somehow Firefox
alters explorer.exe's behavior so that there is a named thread firefox
and child process, Firefox.exe which is automatically restarted even
after it has been killed. If explorer.exe is killed then the rogue
Firefox process can be killed. Once explorer.exe is restarted it
autmatically restarts Firefox.

I've checked all the MS documented registry keys that would cause
autostart of a process, e.g.
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run, and practically
every subkey of HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Explorer, but cannot
find anything in the registry to account for this behavior. I've even
looked at all the file handles that explorer.exe has open. Again I
can't find a reference.

I've checked explorer.exe with other versions from same xp build. It
is a genuine file. Now I've reached the limit of my Windows knowledge.
I can't find any documentation explaining such a phenomenon on
microsoft.com. If any Windows guru knows how to fix such a problem
please let me know. It's very annoying.

Firefox is at version 2.0. Download it and try the update; you don't
need to uninstall the older version although you may want to since it
isn't working correctly.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Malke

 

[Guest]

Firefox is at version 2.0. Download it and try the update; you don't
need to uninstall the older version although you may want to since it
isn't working correctly.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Hi Malke, I've done all that already. Had to do it from safe mode. However
the uninstall of 1.5 didn't undo whatever trick previously done to explorer.
Everything is working but there's still this rouge process being started...

Thanks anyway
Mark

 

[Malke]

Hi Malke, I've done all that already. Had to do it from safe mode.
However the uninstall of 1.5 didn't undo whatever trick previously
done to explorer. Everything is working but there's still this rouge
process being started...

If you have completely uninstalled Firefox, then there can't
legitimately be a Firefox process running. The behavior you're
describing has never appeared on any of my machines which run Firefox,
Windows or Linux. For "rogue processes", scan for viruses and malware
which can be named anything.

Malke

 

[Plato]

Auto-update to Firefox 1.5.0.8 failed on windows xp. Somehow Firefox alters

I was wondering when MS and Google would battle it out...

 

[Malke]

I was wondering when MS and Google would battle it out...

That may happen, but it isn't over Firefox which has nothing to do with
either MS or Google.

Malke