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why does firefox.exe open addresses that i don't use when starting firefox

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when starting firefox, i look in the network activity and numerous firefox.exe connecting to v10.vortex-win.data.microsoft.com. I've done some googling of this microsoft site, never went directly there in firefox. Why does it try to connect to it on startup, and never goes away. sometimes it opens up more connections to it. I don't mind firefox trying to precache some of the sites i go to, but i don't even think this site is accessible. Any way to refresh the connections to something else or clear this? Thanks! Dave

when starting firefox, i look in the network activity and numerous firefox.exe connecting to v10.vortex-win.data.microsoft.com. I've done some googling of this microsoft site, never went directly there in firefox. Why does it try to connect to it on startup, and never goes away. sometimes it opens up more connections to it. I don't mind firefox trying to precache some of the sites i go to, but i don't even think this site is accessible. Any way to refresh the connections to something else or clear this? Thanks! Dave

Chosen solution

I think it's part of Windows' own code to contact that site. Maybe the earlier links will help you find where in Windows you can turn it off.

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Hi, do you know that it was Firefox was it Firefox being queried by 1 of Windows 10 telemetry wack of sites that Win10 talks to all day : http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ If you know anything about hosts files, you can add the list to your host file and your A/V may find it in a scan and think taken over so keep a extra copy.

Command is OS and Firefox runs under Command so when the boss asks it answers.

Hope this lets you know what's going on.

There are 2 programs for win10 telemetry blocking 1 is called https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 and the other is https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/ this one loads some blocks into the hosts file.

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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Hi Dave, that address appears in this article (and probably others):

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy/configure-windows-diagnostic-data-in-your-organization

I could understand Microsoft keeping track of which users run Firefox, but I wouldn't expect them to use Firefox to send the data.

If you have ever tried to load that address in Firefox, you can remove it from history to see whether that helps. I mention this because the built-in home page and built-in new tab page will try to show tiles from your "Top Sites" and if a site didn't generate a thumbnail the first time, Firefox will connect in the background to try to grab the thumbnail. So removing the site from history will bypass that potential source of connections.

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I'd already put the site in my hosts file. Just didn't understand why it was still trying to access it. I've went to the firefox history and cleared everything and it still persist. So short of an uninstall/reinstall i'm not sure what else to do. Thanks for the quick response! Dave

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Chosen Solution

I think it's part of Windows' own code to contact that site. Maybe the earlier links will help you find where in Windows you can turn it off.