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firefox starts in a new tab rather than the home page tab. The home page is selected in the options.

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  • Last reply by Jerry

Jerry
Jerry
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When I star Firefox, it opens tha home page and a new tab, but it goes to the new tab rather than the home page selected in the options.

When I star Firefox, it opens tha home page and a new tab, but it goes to the new tab rather than the home page selected in the options.

Chosen solution

Thanks guys. That's exactly what it was: an unwanted extension that somehow got surreptitiously installed. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

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cor-el
cor-el
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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You can check the home page setting:

  • Tools > Options > General > Startup: Home page

Firefox supports multiple home pages separated by '|' (pipe) symbols.

You can check the target line in the Firefox desktop shortcut (right-click: Properties) to make sure that nothing is appended after the path to the Firefox program.

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

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Does the mystery tab link to popular sites? It could be the Astromenda add-on that is infecting a lot of computers recently.

If the Safe Mode test helps, then I suggest the following process for cleaning up unwanted software:

Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. Click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Take out as much trash as possible here.

Then, in Firefox, open the Add-ons page using either:

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

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions.

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.

Finally, you can "mop up" remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware.

Are you able to get rid of the extra tab?

Jerry
Jerry Question owner
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Chosen Solution

Thanks guys. That's exactly what it was: an unwanted extension that somehow got surreptitiously installed. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.