ubuntu meltdown...firefox ?

[bigvoo]

I have been using ubuntu 8.4 for quite a while, just 10 minutes ago, I tried to read an online newspaper artical, and had a complete ( windows like ) meltdown, got the " your computer is infected, bla bla, and could do nothing but shut down, when i restarted, as soon as i opened firefox, it all started again, so I nuked ubuntu and installed mint, which is working fine at the moment, but i havn't done any updates yet...was there an attack on firefox today ? all the info on the warning page, had windows specific details, had my i.p and location wrong also, any one else have this happen ? thanks

[teenytinylinuxgrl]

You nuked Ubuntu because Firefox melted? A bit extreme, I think. You might have simply removed Firefox and reinstalled it from the repository and had alot less trouble. Sometimes when Firefox upgrades some of your addons may not be compatible and it goes whacky maybe.

Ditching an awesome distro because one application got goofy doesn't make alot of sense... but maybe you just needed an "excuse" to try a new distro without guilt, lol.

I hear Mint is awesome! Probably because it's Ubuntu with new skin.

Amy

[egan]

You might have been tricked by a malicious web page. They assume you are on Windows, so they make references to Windows-related problems. There are ways to make it near-impossible to close a tab or close Firefox with just JavaScript. Just remember that you are most likely safe from all the stuff that attacks Windows on a regular basis.

[bigvoo]

thanks, no offence to ubuntu tinygirl, I just had a mint live c.d in front of me is all, I did kind of suspect that website, however, even after a restart, firefox was unusable, so I just wondered if something had happened to firefox today, IM not really worried that i have win32 virus, or 687 trojans. lol. just wonder what i should do next time this happens ? will it show up in TOP ? to kill it, or should I KILLALL ? and re-install firefox ?

[reed9]

If Firefox becomes unresponsive, you can open a terminal, type xkill and click on the firefox window to shut it down. I've never noticed these fake "virus warnings" persist after restarting firefox, but if it's somehow hijacking your start page, I suppose you could always remove the config files in ~/.mozilla and then restart firefox fresh with the default global settings.

[rokytnji]

You can use xkill, htop, or top to shutdown firefox. Next time you open firefos you can clear history and cookies. That is all I have ever had to do to feel better about those drive by windows scans. You can take your time shutting down firefox so don;t panic. And clearing out cache,history, and cookies is easier than a new firefox install or a distro reinstall. If you are running Gnome Desktop, you can backup your settings via my post to me and a buddies blog.Yet Another Technology Site: Backup

That way if you bork your Gnome Desktop for any reason or you think your browsers are acting funny you can use the backup like a system restore in Windows. It has saved me some headaches a couple times in the past year twice.