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I have tried to change my new tabs so they open blank but there seems to be a problem.

MyLadyAlexis@aol.com
MyLadyAlexis@aol.com
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I had some issues with my firefox, it kept giving me "Firefox not responding" all day today. I had to find a way to get to firefox refresh page which wasn't easy and once again lost my aol toolbar and everything stored on it. The trouble after I refreshed firefox all my new tabs now have a bunch of stupid websites I don't want. I tried the usual way to change my new tabs to open blank but now the "browser.newtab.url" is blank and there is now browser.newtab.url, the whole page is blank therefore leaving me no way to open my new tabs to blank. I have tried over and over again. all I get now is something about new tabs enhanced or some stupid thing, so I tried to change that to "about:blank" and that didn't work eiither. So now i am stuck with all firefoxes stupid websites to be pinned, I don't need PINS I already have "Pinterest". Firefox, this new feature stinks, I want the ability to change my newtabs to blank BACK!!!! I really hate this. Fix this or I will go out of my way to find another browser that will serve MY puposes!!!

I had some issues with my firefox, it kept giving me "Firefox not responding" all day today. I had to find a way to get to firefox refresh page which wasn't easy and once again lost my aol toolbar and everything stored on it. The trouble after I refreshed firefox all my new tabs now have a bunch of stupid websites I don't want. I tried the usual way to change my new tabs to open blank but now the "browser.newtab.url" is blank and there is now browser.newtab.url, the whole page is blank therefore leaving me no way to open my new tabs to blank. I have tried over and over again. all I get now is something about new tabs enhanced or some stupid thing, so I tried to change that to "about:blank" and that didn't work eiither. So now i am stuck with all firefoxes stupid websites to be pinned, I don't need PINS I already have "Pinterest". Firefox, this new feature stinks, I want the ability to change my newtabs to blank BACK!!!! I really hate this. Fix this or I will go out of my way to find another browser that will serve MY puposes!!!

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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These steps from Firefox 39 are the same in Firefox 40. Could you retrace your steps and let me know where the process is breaking down:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

If the address bar is missing, could you check that Firefox is not in full screen view? The F11 key switches between normal and full screen views.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtab.url preference and enter your preferred page:

  • Page thumbnails (default) => about:newtab
  • Blank tab => about:blank
  • Built-in Firefox home page => about:home
  • Any other page => full URL to the page

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

If problems persist, some potential diagnoses and remedies:

If Firefox won't let you edit this setting: you may have something called SearchProtect on your system. This needs to be removed from the Windows Control Panel. If the status says "locked" we will need to help you investigate an "autoconfig" file.

If Firefox lets you save your change but ignores it: one of your extensions may be overriding it. You can review, disable, and/or remove extensions on the add-ons page. Either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions. Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right and disable (or remove) anything unknown.

If the change works during your session, but at the next startup is back to the unwanted page: you might have a user.js file in your personal Firefox settings folder (your Firefox profile folder). This article describes how to track down and remove the file: How to fix preferences that won't save.

Any luck?