What happened to my Ghostery?
I noticed that I was getting customized ads on websites and suspected tracking cookies. Checked and Ghostery had disappeared completely from Firefox add-ons - not simply disabled. Privacy option to "delete cookies on closing Firefox" (and other settings) were also changed. Did this occur as a result of a Firefox update, or did something else get loose in my computer? Daily AVG scans have not indicated a problem.
I have re-installed Ghostery and re-set my privacy settings, but does anybody know how this might have happened, so I can watch out for it later?
Chosen solution
Is it possible that Firefox's Refresh feature ran? The telltale sign is that a folder named Old Firefox Data appears on your desktop, and a freshly updated, semi-randomly-named settings folder is inside. If you see that folder, a common scenario is that during the installation of an update Firefox indicates that it is sluggish and you can speed things up by restoring some default settings. If you click that button, the Refresh feature runs.
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Ghostery still looks as installed and enabled in the System Detail list.
Try to uninstall and reinstall Ghostery.
You can check the "Accept third-party cookie" settings and possibly select "From visited".
- Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history"
You can set network.cookie.thirdparty.sessionOnly to true on the about:config page to make third-party cookies behave as session cookies that expire when Firefox is closed.
Yes, it was not there so I re-installed it before submitting the question. Does anyone have any idea how it might have been uninstalled so I (and others) can be alert to a potential problem.
Chosen Solution
Is it possible that Firefox's Refresh feature ran? The telltale sign is that a folder named Old Firefox Data appears on your desktop, and a freshly updated, semi-randomly-named settings folder is inside. If you see that folder, a common scenario is that during the installation of an update Firefox indicates that it is sluggish and you can speed things up by restoring some default settings. If you click that button, the Refresh feature runs.
Yes, thank you for the correct answer. I was not aware of this. I was afraid something 'evil' had accessed my computer.