How to open new tab as blank?
When I open a new tab I want it to be blank, it keeps defaulting to my home page (Google.com). I have followed the steps (pasted below) many times. I have set it to about:blank and restarted firefox, i even set it then rebooted my entire machine... still no luck. Why is it so difficult to simply revert back a new tab to be blank? Originally there was a gear icon in the top right when it was set to blank, that's where i set it to google.com the first time, but now there is no way to go back to that user interface to change it, and the about:config does not work either. I'm on a Windows 7 PC running Firefox 36.0.4.
These are the steps that don't work: (1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful. (2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered (3) Double-click the browser.newtab.url preference and enter your preferred page: Blank tab => about:blank
What else can i do? Completely uninstall Firefox and re-install it? Seems a bit ridiculous.
Chosen solution
If you test immediately after making the change to about:blank (press Ctrl+t) does it work at that point before you exit and restart Firefox?
If "No":
cor-el's suggestion that it might be one of your extensions is the next thing to check. You can review, disable, and/or remove extensions on the add-ons page. Either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
In the left column, click Extensions. Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right and disable (or remove) anything unknown.
If "Yes" but the change is reverted at the next startup:
You might have a user.js file in your personal Firefox settings folder (your Firefox profile folder). This article describes how to track down and remove the file: How to fix preferences that won't save.
Another reason users find that they can't save changes from one session to the next is utility software or security software that reverts browser settings changes. For example, Advanced SystemCare has this feature. You may need to turn off "home page protection", "browser protection" or "surfing protection" in your utility/security software at least until you have Firefox working the way you want.
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If you set browser.newtab.url to about:blank then you should get an empty page.
Did you check if an extension is causing this?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
- Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
See also:
Chosen Solution
If you test immediately after making the change to about:blank (press Ctrl+t) does it work at that point before you exit and restart Firefox?
If "No":
cor-el's suggestion that it might be one of your extensions is the next thing to check. You can review, disable, and/or remove extensions on the add-ons page. Either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
In the left column, click Extensions. Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right and disable (or remove) anything unknown.
If "Yes" but the change is reverted at the next startup:
You might have a user.js file in your personal Firefox settings folder (your Firefox profile folder). This article describes how to track down and remove the file: How to fix preferences that won't save.
Another reason users find that they can't save changes from one session to the next is utility software or security software that reverts browser settings changes. For example, Advanced SystemCare has this feature. You may need to turn off "home page protection", "browser protection" or "surfing protection" in your utility/security software at least until you have Firefox working the way you want.