What is normal is for North American versions of Firefox to "ship" with Yahoo as the default search engine, and the built-in "about:home" page as the home page, and if you change either of those to a different one on the Options page, for that change to stick from then on, permanently, with no need to revisit the issue. (Unless you use the Refresh feature.)

If your home page is not being changed to the built-in page but instead to a page on the web, what is the full URL of the unwanted home page?

When exactly are the settings changing? This can help point toward the culprit:

(1) Only at Windows startup. (2) Any time you close Firefox and start it up again. (3) During your session, either after a certain amount of time, or at a certain time of date, or randomly.

For #1, consider utility software that "cleans" your browser settings. Disable any such software to see whether that helps. You might also check whether Windows has any "scheduled tasks" set to run at startup. Microsoft's Autoruns program is useful for investigating things that run at startup: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

For #2, please investigate whether you have an optional settings file named user.js file in your profile folder (personal settings folder). Firefox uses the settings in that file at startup to override your saved preferences from the previous session. Unless you created that file yourself, it may contains settings from an add-on or external software. You can check and remove the file using the steps in this article: How to fix preferences that won't save.

Note: in order to see .js file extensions, you may need to change a Windows setting to show ALL file extensions: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hide-file-name-extensions.

Some software like Advanced SystemCare have features to roll back browser settings changed to a stored baseline, to protect you from unwanted changes. If you have utility/security/privacy software with such a feature, whether named home page protection, browsing protection, surfing protection, etc., disable it until after Firefox is set up correctly so it can capture a new baseline. (Or just disable it...)

For #3, live malware would be the most likely suspect.

By the way, what extensions do you have installed, whether you consider them mischievous or not? You can copy/paste a list from the following page, either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

Scroll down to the Extensions heading, and you can select the entire table that follows and Ctrl+c (or right-click>Copy) and paste into a reply. It may look a little messy, but we're used to it.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-fix-preferences-wont-save

Note: Some software, like Advanced SystemCare with Surfing Protection, can protect files in the Firefox profile folder against changes. If you have such software then check the settings or uninstall this software.

jscher2000 said

What is normal is for North American versions of Firefox to "ship" with Yahoo as the default search engine, and the built-in "about:home" page as the home page, and if you change either of those to a different one on the Options page, for that change to stick from then on, permanently, with no need to revisit the issue. (Unless you use the Refresh feature.) If your home page is not being changed to the built-in page but instead to a page on the web, what is the full URL of the unwanted home page? When exactly are the settings changing? This can help point toward the culprit: (1) Only at Windows startup. (2) Any time you close Firefox and start it up again. (3) During your session, either after a certain amount of time, or at a certain time of date, or randomly. For #1, consider utility software that "cleans" your browser settings. Disable any such software to see whether that helps. You might also check whether Windows has any "scheduled tasks" set to run at startup. Microsoft's Autoruns program is useful for investigating things that run at startup: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx For #2, please investigate whether you have an optional settings file named user.js file in your profile folder (personal settings folder). Firefox uses the settings in that file at startup to override your saved preferences from the previous session. Unless you created that file yourself, it may contains settings from an add-on or external software. You can check and remove the file using the steps in this article: How to fix preferences that won't save. Note: in order to see .js file extensions, you may need to change a Windows setting to show ALL file extensions: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hide-file-name-extensions. Some software like Advanced SystemCare have features to roll back browser settings changed to a stored baseline, to protect you from unwanted changes. If you have utility/security/privacy software with such a feature, whether named home page protection, browsing protection, surfing protection, etc., disable it until after Firefox is set up correctly so it can capture a new baseline. (Or just disable it...) For #3, live malware would be the most likely suspect.

I checked the link, it went something like searchinterneat-a.akamaihd/Yahoo.net, redirecting it yahoo. It is a browser hijacker, which I fixed through the refresh option of Mozilla and eliminating suspicious files.

Im happy that Mozilla actually had no role to play in the whole thing.

A big thanks from me.