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Why does the backspace key now make the browser go back to the last page viewed, and how can I change that setting?

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When typing in a browser page to reply to a blog, when I pressed the backspace key to correct a typo, suddenly the browser went back to the previous web page. How can this setting be changed or turned off?

When typing in a browser page to reply to a blog, when I pressed the backspace key to correct a typo, suddenly the browser went back to the previous web page. How can this setting be changed or turned off?

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This should never happen when the cursor is in an editing control, but it has always done that if the focus was on the page itself.

Here's how to change it:

(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 that appears above the list, type or paste backs and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.backspace_action preference and enter the desired value:

  • 0 => back (default)
  • 1 => page up
  • 2 => ignore (actually, anything other than 0 or 1 does nothing)

OK to save the change. You're done.