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How to remove Ask.com from New Tabs.

jsnrch003
jsnrch003
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I don't have a question, just a suggestion for others with a similar issue.

I recently upgraded to FF 17.0. I also tried a couple of new extensions because my old ones were incompatible. It seems that one of the new extensions installed Ask.com on any New Tabs that I opened. I searched for a fix and could only come up with

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/837470

I started FF in Safe Mode with everything disabled and it still happened. I removed all the new extensions and it still happened.

Finally, I figured something out that DID work. If you are having a similar problem, try this:

Type "about:config" into the address bar.

Type "ask" into the Search bar.

Find the following entry:

browser.newtab.url

Double-click on it and simply delete the value. Now all of your New Tabs will open to a blank page. Or, if you want a different page, type in the address (e.g. google.com, bing,com, etc.).

Problem solved.

I don't have a question, just a suggestion for others with a similar issue. I recently upgraded to FF 17.0. I also tried a couple of new extensions because my old ones were incompatible. It seems that one of the new extensions installed Ask.com on any New Tabs that I opened. I searched for a fix and could only come up with https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/837470 I started FF in Safe Mode with everything disabled and it still happened. I removed all the new extensions and it still happened. Finally, I figured something out that DID work. If you are having a similar problem, try this: Type "about:config" into the address bar. Type "ask" into the Search bar. Find the following entry: browser.newtab.url Double-click on it and simply delete the value. Now all of your New Tabs will open to a blank page. Or, if you want a different page, type in the address (e.g. google.com, bing,com, etc.). Problem solved.

Modified by jsnrch003

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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There are some other values you can use on the new tab. Here's how to get back there after you delete ask:

(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 filter box, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered

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

(i) Page thumbnails (default) 

about:newtab

(ii) Blank tab 

about:blank

(iii) Built-in Firefox home page 

about:home

(iv) Any other page 

full URL to the page

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer