This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

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

a box titled "Set Home Page" pops up

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

Recently I keep getting a popup titled "Set Home Page".

In the box is this message, "Do you want this document to be your new home page?" Is there any way I can stop getting this popup?

Is this Firefox, or malware? I'm afraid it's the latter.

Have run TDSSKiller, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware as well as their mbar.exe, SuperAntiSpyware, Avast Full Scan and Boot scan.

Can't find anything, but I fear I picked it up from streaming sites. Afraid to click on it, sometimes I close Firefox and then reopen to get rid of it, sometimes I click on the popup's "x' to close it but afraid that will also trigger some sort of spyware or Trojan installation.

Recently I keep getting a popup titled "Set Home Page". In the box is this message, "Do you want this document to be your new home page?" Is there any way I can stop getting this popup? Is this Firefox, or malware? I'm afraid it's the latter. Have run TDSSKiller, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware as well as their mbar.exe, SuperAntiSpyware, Avast Full Scan and Boot scan. Can't find anything, but I fear I picked it up from streaming sites. Afraid to click on it, sometimes I close Firefox and then reopen to get rid of it, sometimes I click on the popup's "x' to close it but afraid that will also trigger some sort of spyware or Trojan installation.

All Replies (3)

more options

Hi,

This you can try to stop the popup. It sounds like a setting was changed on your new tab page. These changes are usually caused by third-party toolbars or add-ons. I understand that you would like to know how to change it back. Not a problem, please follow the steps below:

  1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter. The "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear.
  2. Click I'll be careful, I promise! to continue to the about:config page.
  3. Type browser.newtab.url in the search box to find it on the list.
  4. Double-click on browser.newtab.url and type in about:newtab in the window that pops up.

Restart Firefox and open a new tab to make sure the change was made. If there is any issues with plugins please also see: Troubleshoot issues with plugins like Flash or Java to fix common Firefox problems If still happens you can do this:::: Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. Please follow these steps:

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

  1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
  2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu New Fx Menu and click the close button Close 29).
  3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
    • Windows:
      • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
      • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
    • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
    • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
  4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
    1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
    2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.

WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles. Please post back with your results, we are happy to help.

more options

What page are you on when you get that popup?

more options

You can check for recently installed suspicious or unknown extensions.