It is probably because you are not properly closing Firefox. Restarting your system would make sure that Firefox had terminated, but you do not have to do that.

To properly close Firefox on Windows systems, use

File > Exit or "Firefox:" button > Exit

When you get the message "Firefox is already running" it is too late, and you must force termination of Firefox through the Windows Task Manager before restarting Firefox. Windows 7 has a keyboard shortcut to save you a step "Ctrl+Shift+Esc" then on "Processes" tab, select "firefox.exe" and use the "End Process" button. More thorough would be to right-click on the "firefox.exec" and choose "End Process Tree".

You would find firefox.exe in a Mozilla folder in your program files, but y0u would not want to delete it there, you would need to use the Control Panel which you have already identified and do it from there -- but generally you would not need to do that, and there is nothing in what you have posted to indicate that you should. But if you did do that, then don't let the install start Firefox for you as you would want to use you existing desktop icon or method of starting Firefox, and should decline having Firefox install start Firefox for you. When the install starts then invoke Firefox in your normal manner. This should eliminate problems of creating a new profile rather than using your old profile.

I edited my original post with more details, that should clear my situation up for you. I have restarted my computer several times, and restored, to no avail.

since there is only 5 minutes difference between my reply and your reply , I think you are referring only to your original post without seeing my reply.

If you are lost then simply

1. download the latest version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.com rather than mess with updates
2. make a note of your current profile name via about:support then "Open containing folder"
3. Make a note of where your actual download is, so you can start the install from there after removing the Firefox application. If you know how backup your current profile.
4. exit Firefox properly, but also use the windows task manager to ensure that firefox is not running
5. Uninstall Firefox from the Control Panel, you do not want to uninstall by removing libraries that could get you into trouble in cases where applications use the Windows registry. When uninstalling just uninstall the application do not uninstall personal data.
6. Install the new Firefox version.
7. When Firefox ends, don't let the install start Firefox for you, instead use your existing desktop icon to start Firefox after the installation ends.

The problems you could have afterwards would be not using the same profile, or with firewalls. Make sure you have your bookmarks, and history. If you can't access the internet you would have a Firewall problem.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firewalls

At this point, my computer has crashed several times. Restore to earlier date does not solve the problem. Firefox icon does not work at all. No newer Firefox update will install. Remove program through control panel does not work at all. I need to clean out everything from the failed download and start over. How can I do this without taking the machine to be fixed by a professional? BTW, your frequent updates have become annoying. They make my favorite add-ons useless & cause my W7 desktop (with plenty of power and ROM/RAM) to crash. I do not want to update to every new version and constantly have problems. My XP portable has 3.6, but I am not going to update it to 7,8,9. I would update it to an older version, if you would make it available.

You should avoid to use System Restore to go back to a previous Firefox version as that may only restore some of the files and leave other in their new state.

Do a clean (re)install and delete the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\).

Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.

• Firefox 9.0.x: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html

Uninstall your current Firefox version, if possible.

• Do NOT remove personal data when you uninstall the current version or you lose your bookmarks and other data in the profile folder.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

• It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.

Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by a reinstall, but make sure that you do not select to remove personal data if you uninstall Firefox.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Clean_reinstall