Firefox constantly runs in the background even when closed

Hi
I have Firefox 3.6.8 running on Windows Vista.
I have found that Firefox constantly runs in the background even when i have just booted up the computer or when i have closed it.
Firefox seems to constantly run with 5000-20000 K bytes in the memory.
When i have Firefox running to look at webpages, there are two processes running. When i close Firefox there is one process running. If i end the process using the task manager, it only takes seconds before it starts to run again.
I know this isnt normal because i keep a good eye on the processes running on my computer. So unless the latest version of Firefox requires this process running all the time, it looks like i have a probably.
Ive scanned my computer with zonealarm, avast, superantispyware and spybot to scan my computer for viruses. One of the pieces of software found a virus and it deleted it successfully.
Im not too sure if this is a virus that is hiding in my system or whether its part of the latest version of Firefox.
Firefox isnt showing the usual signs of a virus. As in it doesnt try to redirect me to random websites and it doesnt try to get me to download something.
I hope someone can help me please.
Rob

After talking to someone very helpful on the live chat support.
It appears like i have a virus that is very good at hiding from detection from anti-virus/spyware software.
No idea what intentions the virus has as its not showing any sort of virus like behaviour.
I called the old installation a different name and closed the Firefox process. A few seconds later, instead of a Firefox process starting again a different executable started.

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