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Why is CTRL+W is closing whole windows instead of just a single tab?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

Kenyx
Kenyx
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Windows 7 Prof. OS - Firefox 4 Basically, almost *everytime* I try to close just one tab using Ctrl+W, the entire Firefox window closes. That's not right. I keep losing pages I'm on. I have to re-launch Firefox, then go back into history and re-load the pages I was on.

How do I get it to stop?

Windows 7 Prof. OS - Firefox 4 Basically, almost *everytime* I try to close just one tab using Ctrl+W, the entire Firefox window closes. That's not right. I keep losing pages I'm on. I have to re-launch Firefox, then go back into history and re-load the pages I was on. How do I get it to stop?

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox (Tools) > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).

If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all extensions and then try to find which is causing it by enabling one at a time until the problem reappears.

  • Use "Disable all add-ons" on the Safe mode start window to disable all extensions.
  • Close and restart Firefox after each change via "File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit")

In Firefox 4 you can use one of these to start in Safe mode:

  • Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • Hold down the Shift key while double clicking the Firefox desktop shortcut (Windows)

Set the pref browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab to false on the about:config page to prevent closing the last tab from closing the browser and make a close button appear if only one tab is open.

To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.
You can use the Filter bar at to top of the about:config page to locate a pref more easily.