Your new tab can be changed to a different page. First, I suggest copying the URL of the page you want from the address bar, then:

(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 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 (paste what you copied)

Press Ctrl+t to open a new tab and verify that it worked. Fixed?

It worked! Thanks so much! :D

None of the available settings for about: make any difference. I still get Zonealarm Search as the new tab home page irrespective of the setting I have entered in browser.newtab.url

Hi eric-in-spain, I can think of two possible scenarios:

(1) newtab.url value is completely ignored at all times regardless of value

Check for an extension from or related to ZoneAlarm. If it isn't clear, disable ALL nonessential extensions, and then restart Firefox and test again. Note: by nonessential, I mean you could live without it for 24 hours, or you don't recognize it.

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Extensions category

After restarting Firefox, does newtab.url work?

(2) changing newtab.url works for the rest of the session, but reverts to a different URL on restart

Check for a file named user.js in your currently active personal Firefox settings folder. (Also known as your profile folder.) Here's how:

(WIN) Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show Folder" button
(MAC) Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show in Finder" button

If you see a file named user.js, then:

Switch back to Firefox and Exit / Quit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename user.js to something like userjs.old.

Restart Firefox. Hopefully now your preferred newtab.URL will be retained.

Thanks, jscher2000. That certainly did the trick. Just to play safe I have removed the ZoneAlarm toolbar.