Hello, I think it can not be restored anymore ;-(

The "+" button to open a new tab normally display the built-in New Tab Page. On the right side of the page there is an icon similar to a gear or wheel. Can you see that icon? It lets you switch between the tiles view and a blank page.

If you don't have that icon, could you look up the address of the page you see? It might be in the address bar, or you might need to use the Page Info dialog. Either:

• right-click a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info
• (menu bar) Tools menu > Page Info

On the General panel, you can triple-click the URL to the right of Address to select it, then either Ctrl+c to copy it, or right-click>Copy, and you can paste it into a reply.

This hopefully will help us understand what happened and how to fix it.

Thanks for the reply, but there is not a gear icon that I can see. I have searched every menu and submenu, and no luck finding it. I don't understand you asking for the URL of a page that I see. I can navigate to any URL you want. Is there a special URL you would like to see? Here is the URL for this page, if that helps. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1165210?utm_campaign=questions-reply&utm_medium=email&utm_source=notification Is there something in the options menu to bring this back?

Sorry, I'm looking for the URL of whatever has taken over your new tab. There's no setting for that -- usually it is changed by an extension.

For example, if the address contains "moz-extension" then definitely one of your newer extensions is causing the problem.

To jump ahead, you can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown 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 side. All Mozilla-installed extensions are hidden from this page, so what you see here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. If in doubt, disable.

Recently a new tab page problem was caused by an extension called "WeatherTab Addon" but there are many that want to give you their own experience, so don't assume the name will give it away.

Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.

Can you track down and neutralize the culprit there?

Metron said

Thanks for the reply, but there is not a gear icon that I can see.

Type in the address bar :   about:newtab   and press Enter. That's the   'New Tab Page'   where your pinned tiles are. In the upper right corner,   under the three horizontal lines   (Firefox's 3-bar menu)   you'll see that cog wheel   (or gear)

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

• switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Appearance
• do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems

You can get the current new tab page if you paste this code in the command line in the Browser Console.

Cu.import("resource:///modules/NewTabURL.jsm");
NewTabURL.get();

• set devtools.chrome.enabled to true on the about:config page to enable the command line
• https://developer.mozilla.org/Tools/Browser_Console#Browser_Console_command_line

I am still working on it. If I type "about:newtab" into the address bar, the old tile page with gear icon return. But if I press (+), I get a screen with a blank search field for Google. Safe Mode does not correct it. I believe it is a Windows setting, but I don't know where. Where is the setting for what happens when the (+) is pressed?

Found it! Problem was caused by malware from ADAWARE. Deleted and now I do not get the substitute page when I press(+), but I get Page Not Found. Where do I tell Firefox to go to about:new tab?

Also, in File Not Found, the file it can't find is chrome://webcompanion/content/new-tab.html. I don't use Chrome. Where did this come from?

Metron said

I am still working on it. If I type "about:newtab" into the address bar, the old tile page with gear icon return.

Now that you know how to find that gear   (cog wheel) :

Would you click on it and see if   'Show your top sites'   is checked   ?

Might not be a bad idea to scan for malware :

Information can be found in this article :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware?cache=no
Runmost or all of the listed malware scanners.
They all work differently   -   what one program doesn't pick up, the others might.

A chrome:// address refers to part of Firefox or an add-on. It's an old reference for the Firefox user interface that another company liked so much they named a bunch of stuff after it. But I digress.

I think WebCompanion is the Lavasoft / Ad-Aware add-on, so somehow it has left its hooks in there. Can you find a second extension which might be to blame? If not, we can check for an Autoconfig file in the Firefox program folder, the use of which is a bit of a dirty trick...

Problem Solved. I was full of malware-Adware, Conduit and Azore. Surprised I didn't have Covfefe, too. Deleted them all and now Firefox functions again. I don't know where I picked this up. The only thing I downloaded was the MS Windows Update.