firefox and flash problems - but are they malware?

[kladyelf]

*aaaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!*

Excuse the screams of frustration over here but i'm getting pretty fed up! Especially with the way my firefox and flash have been acting.

I have a problem with my computer (I'll list it below, under "the problem") but i thought i'd let people know that I have updated everything, run full system scans with my Norton's and with Malware bytes as well, the former has not solved the problem and the latter says it finds no malware on the system. On advice of another message board i've been directed here to see if you guys can help me.

The Problem:

I am a user who tends to be online a lot, whether for work or relaxation. The trouble is I am having a problem with playing clips on the system – a problem which I think is starting to affect my computer in other ways. I have the latest version of Adobe flash and Firefox also.

For example: when using the internet I often get a message saying “The Adobe Flash plugin has crashed” and any programs using this plugin show a grey screen and a face – this tends to happen a lot, even though I send reports and reload the pages, sometimes it crashes again straight away after reloading.

It also slows the computer down, effectively freezing firefox (usually I can access other programs, like MS Word) before it tells me it has crashed. Lately even though the flash player has not crashed my computer has slowed to a crawl as well, which is supremely frustrating

While this could be attributed to having too many tabs open in firefox, I have managed to have both more and less tabs open in this program with no problems. (This problem has turned up last year and my attempts to solve it have yet to work.)

Sometimes while online, I get a message on my computer saying Flash is a high amount of memory/CPU via Norton’s File Insight, even though I am not doing much. Once or twice the File insight says firefox.exe is using a lot of memory instead (this would also explain why the problem, whatever it is, seems to slow down my computer in general, it seems to spend more time “thinking” while I try to do something seemingly innocuous like open up a file or click on a tab or even when just trying to select firefox itself – I receive a “Not Responding” message on the top of the screen instead, just so whatever it was can crash on me) which is a great source of frustration.

Lately, on occasion, while I have firefox open, for no apparent reason all the tabs disappear only to be replaced by an advertisement for something or other. I cannot go back to what I was doing before, my only recourse is to shut the program down and restart it again. (I have yet to click on the advertisement as I am concerned what the effects would be – definitely not a beneficial one!!) and then I am able to re-access the tabs via the recall function on firefox.

And the completely annoying thing is that these problems happen at random – there is absolutely *no* warning or discernable pattern at all!!!

I am also concerned that this problem would eat up my allocated internet bandwith, I don’t have direct evidence but I have had pointed out to me lately that I am using up my available monthly allocation more quickly.

Finally, when I tell the computer to shut down it seems to freeze/hang while shutting down and never shutting down fully or completely. I have to manually shut the computer down, which cannot be good for it. Again, this happens randomly, but the one consistent point is that this happens when I shut down the computer after firefox/flash crashes.

My previous attempted Solution:

I have tried to solve the problem (particularly the flash problem) according to the help/troubleshooting site for firefox by uploading the latest Flash (whether on top of previous versions or by an uninstall/reload – I’ve done both) which has not helped. I have also tried to upload an earlier version, which has also not helped with the problem and additionally made the sound desynchronize with the picture of videos, as well as making the picture “jerky.”

Please help!

[Maurice Naggar]

Hello K and welcome to MalwareBytes forum.

Download DDS and save it to your desktop from http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/dds.com here

or http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/dds.scr or

http://www.infospyware.net/sUBs/dds

Disable any script blocker if your antivirus/antimalware has it.

On Vista/ Windows 7/ Windows 8 do a RIGHT-click on dds and select Run As Administrator

On Windows XP double click dds to run the tool.

DDS will run in a command prompt window and will take 3 to 4 minutes or so.

Follow and answer the prompts as appropriate.

• When done, DDS will open two (2) logs:
• DDS.txt
• Attach.txt
• Save both reports to your desktop.

Please Copy & Paste contents of the following logs in your next reply:
DDS.txt
Attach.txt
To Reset Firefox to its default state:
Start Firefox
in the address bar, type in

about:support

Click on the Reset Firefox button at top right of screen.
While in Firefox, press Shift+CTRL+Delete keys and delete temporary internet cache files.
Still in Firefox, on main menu, choose Tools >>> Options
click the General tab
Under the Downloads block
IF the SAVE files to is selected, then Click on (to select) Always ask me where to save files
Then press OK button
Close & exit Firefox.
Task 2
To de-install Flash Player
Use Programs and Features (Windows 7 & Vista) or Add-or-Remove Programs (Windows XP) to de-install older versions of Flash Player.
For stubborn cases,
Download and save the Flash Player uninstaller >> uninstall Flash Player for 32-bit Windows<<
If you have Windows 64-bit, use this Flash Player uninstaller >> uninstall Flash Player for 64-bit Windows<<
Close all browsers and instant messenger (IM) programs.
Run the uninstaller.
To get latest Flash Player
Go to http://www.adobe.com/go/getflash
and get the latest Flash Player
Un-Check any checkbox for Google Chrome, or McAfee Security Scan Plus, or any other widget or toolbar or add-on!!!
Reference: How to determine whether a computer is running a 32-bit version or 64-bit version of the Windows operating system
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827218
Task 3
Download Security Check by screen317 from here.

• Save it to your Desktop.
  
• Double click SecurityCheck.exe and follow the onscreen instructions inside of the black box.
  
• A Notepad document should open automatically called checkup.txt; please post the contents of that document.
  

Download DDS and save it to your desktop from http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/dds.com here

or http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/dds.scr or

http://www.infospyware.net/sUBs/dds

Disable any script blocker if your antivirus/antimalware has it.

On Vista/ Windows 7/ Windows 8 do a RIGHT-click on dds and select Run As Administrator

On Windows XP double click dds to run the tool.

DDS will run in a command prompt window and will take 3 to 4 minutes or so.

Follow and answer the prompts as appropriate.

• When done, DDS will open two (2) logs:
• DDS.txt
• Attach.txt
• Save both reports to your desktop.

Please Copy & Paste contents of the following logs in your next reply:

DDS.txt

Attach.txt

Be sure to do a Preview prior to pressing Add Reply because all reports may not fit into 1 single reply. You may have to do more than 1 reply.

Do not use the attachment feature to place any of your reports. Always put them in-line inside the body of reply.

[Maurice Naggar]

Due to the lack of feedback this topic is closed to prevent others from posting here. If you need this topic reopened, please send a Private Message to any one of the moderating team members. Please include a link to this thread with your request. This applies only to the originator of this thread.

Other members who need assistance please start your own topic in a new thread. Thanks!