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Only the third day of using a new Windows 11 Pro machine. (Incidentally the first time using Windows 11.) I had opened the "Windows Store" and had searched for "firefox", but did not do anything and just left the window open. I switched to Google Chrome (full screen), which was already open, to respond to emails in Gmail.

Some while later (possibly 1 hour) there was a Windows notification that Firefox had been installed!? I had not been back to the Windows Store in that time.

This was rather alarming to say the least. Why/how can this happen?! I'm 100% confident I did not initiate the installation.

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  • Maybe check the logs: superuser.com/questions/1257486/… There doesn't appear to be others reporting similar things yet, so I'm not sure we can answer.
    – music2myear
    Commented Jul 3 at 18:21
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    Did you by chance install it on a different PC while logged into the same Windows account? Also, is this a personal PC or is it tied to an organization (work, school, ...)?
    – squillman
    Commented Jul 3 at 18:31
  • @squillman No, I don't have Firefox installed on any other PC that uses the same Windows account. This is a personal PC.
    – MrWhite
    Commented Jul 3 at 21:45
  • The only way Mozilla Firefox would have been installed is if you hit the button to download it and install it. It also wouldn’t have taken an hour to download. So are you positive about that timeline?
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 4 at 0:02
  • @Ramhound Although I agree that it's possible that somehow the button was clicked (animal? accidental? hardware issue?), it's entirely possibly such a download would take an hour, or even longer. Plenty of people on our planet have slow internet access.
    – End Antisemitic Hate
    Commented Jul 5 at 9:47

1 Answer 1

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There are 4 most-likely explanations:

  1. The first likely explanation is that your new computer was supposed to come pre-installed with Firefox, but that the manufacturer did not actually install it (as it would be outdated by the time you received the computer). Instead, they simply configured the computer to download Firefox while the computer wasn't being used for strenuous activities. This would match your experience of responding to emails (typically a very light CPU/network task) and receiving the notification after an hour of performing that task.

  2. The second likely explanation is similar to the first, but with a little twist. For Windows (not for Linux, macOS, or Android), Mozilla recently switched to a different type of installer that launches when Windows starts. If Firefox was supposed to be pre-installed on the computer, but its installer determined Firefox wasn't properly installed (or was outdated), it would have triggered a download of the latest Firefox release.

  3. Another explanation is that somehow, despite the best of your recollection and knowledge, the Install button in the Windows Store was somehow clicked. Perhaps you momentarily flipped to another window by accident. Perhaps an animal pressed a key on a keyboard. Perhaps you were tired and a heavy finger hit the button. Perhaps your computer experienced a hardware issue (bad keyboard, bad cable, etc.).

  4. A final explanation is that you already have malware on your computer that caused the download to take place without your consent. This could be malware present when you received the computer (especially if it was a refurb or open box), or that infected your computer after you received it.

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