Pressing ESC probably also selects the full URL in the location bar.

You can set the browser.newtab.url pref that defines the page that opens in a new tab to about:blank to have a blank page opening in a new tab.
You can inspect and modify prefs on the about:config page.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

• Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

Thanks Cor-el,

The esc key works but It doesn't really solve the problem, it's an extra step that I now have to include. I'm so used to getting a new tab and typing the first letter of regular sites that it's hard to change. Now that first letter just appears at the end of this rather ugly looking string.

Just lie it back the way it was, with the url automatically selected on the new tab and the ability to overwrite it with a key selection.

But thanks for taking the time to reply

Cheers,

Do you remember what the old page was? You can change it back using Cor-el's instructions.

Yes, it's just the firefox / google home page. i.e. www.google.com/firefox which now shows as: http://www.google.com.au/firefox?gfe_rd=cr&ei=wQ6dUq2BJaWN8QfsxYHIDQ&gws_rd=cr

I guess the token code is not the main issue though, it's the fact that it is not automatically selected. However I have noticed that when I click new tab the the "www.google.com/firefox" appears for a half a sec, selected, but then the string is added. So I guess whatever is placing that string at the end of the "www.google.com/fiirefox" is the problem.

As I said earlier I have opened in safe mode without any addons and it is still doing it. If anyone knows what that string is that might be a clue.

Cheers

Choose the final URL you want and paste that in as your newtab URL. If the site redirects your newtab URL in any way (whether to a secure connection, for example, or otherwise), then Firefox's selection code will be defeated and the cursor will appear at the end of the URL.

Yep jscher,

that's what is happening, it must be some addon or extension that safe mode did not stop. I'll sort through them one at a time to see if I can pin point the culprit.

Cheers

Hi zaggle, have you tried http://www.google.com/firefox directly in the address bar? If you are in Australia, I would fully expect Google to redirect you to a "localized" instance. I think if you prefer a Google page in the new tab, you are stuck with what Google wants to serve you and ultimately there's no getting around that.

Strangely enough jscher200, that works well, because if I set the new tab url to google.com or google.com.au there is no problem. It's only if I use www.google.com/firefox that there is a problem. However that is what I wan to use because I am in the habit of using the links across the top of the firefox google page for gmail, news etc.

Note that www.google.com/firefox is the home page used in older Firefox 3 versions and is no longer supported by Google as you can see by the hard coded message that you use an outdated browser.

Not sure... Help about says it's 25.0.1

Did you try to clear the Google cookies?

Hi zaggle, I realize it's a major adjustment not having the "black bar." I don't see any extensions that restore the bar, but I found two userscripts you could investigate. They are under frequent revision because it can be difficult to keep up with Google's changes across its many services, but as long as that doesn't bother you, here they are:

(1) You will need an extension to install and run the userscript. Either:

(A) Greasemonkey: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/

(B) Scriptish (I haven't used): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/scriptish/

(2) Both of these seem worth a look (but only enable one of them at the same time to avoid possible chaos):

(A) Googlifx: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/152777 - this addresses many aspects of the Google UI and is updated every few weeks

(B) Google Black Bar Returns: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/179402 - this focuses on the black bar and seems to be updated almost daily

Advisory: Please be cautious in installing scripts from userscripts.org because this year there has been a rash of cloned scripts aimed at manipulating your Facebook account. If there seems to be little information on the script, fake-looking reviews, and any reference to Facebook in the install dialog (or the global desigation * covering all sites), I would back away quickly.

Yep. cleared cookies and all other history, no change. I think I'll give up on this for a bit and examine the scripts that jscher2000 provided.

Thanks you so much everyone who provided input, I really appreciate you all taking the time.

What a great forum :-)

Cheers

As an addendum...

jscher2000 the grease monkey with the google fix script is great, works perfectly well, but it still brought up a new tab with the string.

However I found another fix which was a spur of the moment thought I had. I remembered that I could use www.google.com/ncr to force the page to display from a particular location. Being in Australia I often want to see search results from the US and the /ncr does that, but you all probably know that anyway.

So I went to www.google.com.au/ncr and set it as my home page. Seems to do the trick for new tabs, opening as www.google.com/firefox without the string and url pre selected. yea!

Thanks again for all your input guys...

Cheers