CCleaner says need to close browser but it's not open

[Piano]

I ran CCleaner this morning and got a message saying that CCleaner needs to close my browser before it can run - it's already closed. I went into Task Manager to verify that and ran it again and got the same message. I said yes to CCleaner closing the browser but got a little arrow spinning round and it shows no signs of completing.

 

[nukecad]

Which browser are we talking about?

Some browsers do pre-load
Some browsers do leave extensions, addons, and associated apps, running when you close the browser.
Some do both of those things.

Chrome and Edge Chromium are prone to it, but other browsers can do it as well.

If we know what browser it is we can (usually) point out how to stop it doing that.

This is about Chrome still running in the background: https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/204210674-Why-is-Chrome-cleaning-being-skipped-#why-does-chrome-get-skipped-if-you-don-t-have-it-open--0-1

If it's Edge then turn off  both 'Startup Boost' and then 'Continue running ...' see this:

 

[Piano]

Thanks for your reply. I use Firefox. It's up to date and CCleaner doesn't usually perform like this so I wondered whether or not it was a bug on an update?

 

[nukecad]

I also use Firefox.

Sometimes if you have only just closed Firefox (especially after a long session) it hasn't had time to full close before you run CCleaner.
(I have written my own, very fast, cleaner for Firefox and I often have to run it twice because the first time Firefox hasn't had time to fully close yet).

Sometimes it may just be a one-off that Firefox hasn't closed properly on that occasion for some reason.
(The spinning circle/arrow does indicate that something is 'stuck' and preventing CCleaner from closing Firefox).
A 'Restart' (not Shutdown) of your computer would fix that by terminating Firefox altogether. (A Restart will terminate all running processes).

if it's happening frequently though then a couple of questions:

Did you get your Firefox from mozilla, or from the Microsoft Store?

Are you using your Firefox with an account? maybe synced to that account?

Do you have a lot of add ons or extensions?

Next time you get that message from CCleaner, if you do, then try the following:
Close CCleaner without doing anything else. (just 'x' out of it top right).
Try to open Firefox.

Do you get a message saying that 'Firefox is already running but not responding'?
If you do then the profile may have become locked, see this:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-already-running-not-responding

 

[Piano]

Sorry for the delay - had to go out.

I got the browser from Mozilla - I've been using it for years. It is up to date. I have HTTPS Everywhere and Privacy Badger installed.

I don't think I have an account synced with it.

I got the message from CCleaner and closed it - I deliverately left the browser open, thinking it might actually do it. The Blue line highlighting the Firefox logo disappeared as if it was going to close then it just hung. I closed CCleaner then opened up Firefox again and it opened without the message you mention.

I should say that I now also have a problem with 2 step authentication on FB. Sends me the usual message on my phone but when I try to say yes this was me - it tells me I've already replied to it and kickc out an error something went wrong message.

I don't know if they're related or not?

 

[Piano]

Interestingly I just tried to login to CCleaner and got a similar message.

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Piano
wrong image

[nukecad]

That message when logging into this forum is common, it's a glitch in the underlying forum software.

All forums running on the 'Invision Community' sofware are currently seeing it.
I get it everyday both here and at the Malwarebytes forum which runs on the same software.
So it's not your machine or CCleaner, it's something that Invision need to patch.

To get back to the 'need to close the browser' message.
You did say that CCleaner "CCleaner doesn't usually perform like this", so was this just a one-off or has it started happening regularly?

One though I had if it was a one-off, was there a Firefox update pending? ie. downloaded but waiting for Firefox to be launched again before it installs.

You can check if you are signed in to a Firefox account (and syncing) by clicking the hamburger icon, you can see here that I'm not signed into one:

HTTPS everywhere shouldn't keep running once Firefox is closed.
BTW that extension is no longer needed, the function is now built into Firefox. Go to Settings>Privacy & Security and scroll to the bottom of the page.

I don't use Privacy Badger but wouldn't have though that would continue running after Firefox is closed.
If you keep getting that message from CCleaner then you could try temporarily disabling PB to see if it makes a difference.

If this is a recurring message that you are getting from CCleaner then there are a couple of things you can try in Firefox, such as running it in Safe/Troubleshoot Mode to rule out any interference from add-ons or Firefox/Windows settings.
If running FFx in Safe Mode stops the problem then you know that it's an add-on or setting that is causing it.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems

 

I don't think that your FB oddity with the 2FA is related, reading around it seems that FB's 2FA does throw up issues like that from time to time.

[Piano]

Thanks for your reply. I wasn't signed into an account. I've seen the problem over the last two days only. I can't remember having done anything to trigger the problem or seen any "funny" messages or been on any strange websites.

However, I wondered if my system had had a hissy fit and decided to do sfc /scannow and this appears to have fixed the problem. There were apparently some errors in the file system which have been repaired. I don't know how to read logs so I suppose that I will never know what the problem was.

I have read the articles you linked to and changed a couple of settings which also may have helped - thanks very much.

[nukecad]

Good to hear that it's solved for you, even though we may never know what it was being caused by.

As you say that you ran sfc and it found and repaired some filesystem errors that was probably causing the problem.