When I open a blank tab, it goes to some weird webpage. How do I get it to open as something useful?
When I open FireFox to begin with, it opens a tab in my home page, as it should. But, when I open a new, blank tab it goes to some website. I can't find options to tell the current version of FireFox what to do with a blank tab, and I'm certain I saw that option in older versions. I would like the tab to be either completely blank or to have thumbnails of recent/frequent pages I visit.
Chosen solution
You can look at the browser.newtab.url pref on the about:config page and set that pref to the URL of your preferred new tab page.
- the default new tab page with the tiles is about:newtab
- the default home page is about:home
- for a blank page you can use about:blank
The browser.newtabpage.enabled pref should be set to true to use the page set via browser.newtab.url as the new tab page.
If you do not keep changes after a restart or otherwise have problems with preferences, see:
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Hello,
Let's check to see if an add-on of yours may be causing this. Sometimes, malware may also cause this so I've posted a list of malware providers we trust below the safe mode instructions below.
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:
- Click the menu button
, click Help 
and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.
You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:
- Microsoft Safety Scanner
- MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware
- Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller
- AdwCleaner (for more info, see this alternate AdwCleaner download page)
- Hitman Pro
- ESET Online Scanner
Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one. Windows 8 has antivirus built-in already.
Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
It still did the same thing in Safe Mode. So, should I try those malware scanners one at a time next? I use Norton 360 Premier as my anti-virus and security software.
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You can look at the browser.newtab.url pref on the about:config page and set that pref to the URL of your preferred new tab page.
- the default new tab page with the tiles is about:newtab
- the default home page is about:home
- for a blank page you can use about:blank
The browser.newtabpage.enabled pref should be set to true to use the page set via browser.newtab.url as the new tab page.
If you do not keep changes after a restart or otherwise have problems with preferences, see:
Thank you! That worked!