Firefox always opens to the pages I was on in the previous session, even though Google is my homepage and it is set to load to my homepage upon opening.
Every time I open a new session of Firefox, instead of it going to the homepage that I have selected, it simply loads all tabs from the previous session I closed. This even happens after I've turned off and back on my computer. I have the settings so that my homepage is Google, and it is set to always go to my homepage upon startup. Addons is not the problem, I have not installed any new addons, and this is only a recent problem. I think it is a problem with Firefox itself, but of course there is no Mozilla customer service to speak to. I can see on the forums that many people are having this same problem right now. Please Mozilla, if you actually look at the forums, FIX THIS!!! Any anyone providing replies, please do not tell me to check my settings, because they are all correct, and the problem is NOT third party software. There is also NO file in my profile folder called user.js, so that is not the problem, either!
Modified by Jennifer
Chosen solution
hello Jennifer, this might happen when firefox is not able to properly save preferences in its profile folder. please try this: Click the menu button ≡ and then click help ? > troubleshooting information > profile folder - "show folder". then a new window will open up. in this window look out for a file named user.js (it might be used to overwrite your custom settings). in case it is present , delete or rename this file and restart firefox afterwards.
for more information and other steps please also see: How to fix preferences that won't save
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Chosen Solution
hello Jennifer, this might happen when firefox is not able to properly save preferences in its profile folder. please try this: Click the menu button ≡ and then click help ? > troubleshooting information > profile folder - "show folder". then a new window will open up. in this window look out for a file named user.js (it might be used to overwrite your custom settings). in case it is present , delete or rename this file and restart firefox afterwards.
for more information and other steps please also see: How to fix preferences that won't save
I had said I don't see a file named "user.js" in my profile folder, there is one called "user" but no ".js" after it. I have deleted that and it seems to be working.
Is this a virus or malware file I need to worry about? I did a virus scan when this started happening and it found nothing!
jennifer, if you just see a file titled "user", this is because your windows operating system is set to hide some file extensions: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions#show-hide-file-name-extensions=windows-7 most probably this is exactly the user.js file to delete in order to address your problem...
though i can't say why it appeared in your case, you're right that many times this file is created by malicious software. therefore i'd recommend to run a scan with two security tools specialised on adware and browser hijackers: the free version of malwarebytes and adwcleaner.