Where did you install Firefox from? Help Mozilla uncover 3rd party websites that offer problematic Firefox installation by taking part in our campaign. There will be swag, and you'll be featured in our blog if you manage to report at least 10 valid reports!

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Why does 55.0.2 (64bit) try to access Amazon AWS after it is closed?

  • 3 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

Composmentis
Composmentis
more options

I use Zonealarm with Win 7, so I know when a program is trying to access the Internet. Of course, I need to give Firefox access through Zonealarm, and that works fine. However, since updating to 55.0.2, Zonealarm flashes up a warning that Firefox is trying to access a certain URL after Firefox has shut down. I deny this attempt to access the Internet after Firefox has shut down. Researching the IP addresses that Zonealarm reports, I find that there are several and they all trace back to Amazon AWS. The Firefox installation file was downloaded from your web site. I have done an antivirus scan and a Malwarebytes scan, and both turn up nothing. What is going on? Is this some kind of tracking or reporting gimmick?

I use Zonealarm with Win 7, so I know when a program is trying to access the Internet. Of course, I need to give Firefox access through Zonealarm, and that works fine. However, since updating to 55.0.2, Zonealarm flashes up a warning that Firefox is trying to access a certain URL after Firefox has shut down. I deny this attempt to access the Internet after Firefox has shut down. Researching the IP addresses that Zonealarm reports, I find that there are several and they all trace back to Amazon AWS. The Firefox installation file was downloaded from your web site. I have done an antivirus scan and a Malwarebytes scan, and both turn up nothing. What is going on? Is this some kind of tracking or reporting gimmick?

Chosen solution

Upon further examination of the Zonealarm message, I see in the small print that pingsender.exe is the application being used by Firefox that causes this. After doing a search for pingsender.exe, and reading a lot of the links that the search brought up, I find that pingsender.exe is used by Firefox to send data (supposedly) back to Firefox programmers. However, the information indicated that pingsender.exe was only used in the nightly versions of Firefox. My solution was to go into the Firefox directory and delete pingsender.exe.

Thanks for your help. You may mark this "Solved".

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Amazon AWS is used for emails and possibly Sync.

Are you using Sync?

Composmentis
Composmentis Question owner
more options

Chosen Solution

Upon further examination of the Zonealarm message, I see in the small print that pingsender.exe is the application being used by Firefox that causes this. After doing a search for pingsender.exe, and reading a lot of the links that the search brought up, I find that pingsender.exe is used by Firefox to send data (supposedly) back to Firefox programmers. However, the information indicated that pingsender.exe was only used in the nightly versions of Firefox. My solution was to go into the Firefox directory and delete pingsender.exe.

Thanks for your help. You may mark this "Solved".

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

PingSender is used by Telemetry to send data on shutdown.

Not sure if this all still applies.

Note that you should be cautious with deleting files in the Firefox program folder.