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Why is Firefox opening a separate browser window for each link instead of a new tab in the current browser window?

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Suddenly firefox has started opening a new, separate browser window for every link and thing I open. It used to just open a new tab in the current browser. I must have closed down 15 browsers when trying to get back to a previous web page - the back button doesn't work when each click leads to a new window opening! I went into options and my settings have not changed, they still say "open new tab" for links. This just started happening out of the blue today. What's up?

Suddenly firefox has started opening a new, separate browser window for every link and thing I open. It used to just open a new tab in the current browser. I must have closed down 15 browsers when trying to get back to a previous web page - the back button doesn't work when each click leads to a new window opening! I went into options and my settings have not changed, they still say "open new tab" for links. This just started happening out of the blue today. What's up?

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Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of your add-ons is causing your problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).

  • Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.

See Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems and Troubleshoot issues with plugins like Flash or Java to fix common Firefox problems

If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all your 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")