When you click a link in Google search results, it redirects you through an exit page (I think this is how Google stores your surfing history). If you check the address bar for the blank page, does it show an address on Google with a bunch of parameters, or does it show the actual destination address?

Here’s a screenshot.

Hmm, normally that address would redirect to the Google accounts login page or, if you are already logged in, to a secure (HTTPS) mail page.

Could you check on whether you've blocked pages from reloading/redirecting? Firefox is supposed to give you a bar to approve it, but maybe that part of the feature isn't working.

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced

On the "General" mini-tab, if it is checked, uncheck the box for "Warn me when websites try to redirect or reload the page"

But it’s already unchecked.

Hmm, that was the only reason I could think of that http://mail.google.com/ wasn't redirecting to the secure address. Can you test in other browsers to see whether they share this problem? If so, perhaps your security software is blocking the redirection.

By the way, is it just Gmail or do other pages you access through search results have the same problem?

Google Chrome works just fine. Not just Gmail, it happens at other results, too. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It also happens sometimes when I’m redirecting from Facebook.

Can you try to test the ping response in CMD?

• Click Start > Run
• type cmd
• type in the command prompt ping www.mail.google.com and copy/paste output here.

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.

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

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Error_loading_websites

Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.
All these programs have free versions.

Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
  http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
• AdwCleaner:
  http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
  http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml
• SuperAntispyware:
  http://www.superantispyware.com/
• Microsoft Safety Scanner:
  http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx
• Windows Defender:
  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender
• Spybot Search & Destroy:
  http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
• Kasperky Free Security Scan:
  http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

• Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
  http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446

See also:

• "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked

@Moses I attached a printscreen below. Did I type it correctly?

@cor-el I’m using the latest version of Avast right now. Should I disable it before I install any other malware scanning program? By the way, as I said in the first post - it happens even in the safe mode.

Thank you so much for trying to help me!

Does it work with mail.google.com ?

You can remove all data stored in Firefox from a specific domain via "Forget About This Site" in the right-click context menu of an history entry ("History > Show All History" or "View > Sidebar > History") or via the about:permissions page.

Using "Forget About This Site" will remove all data stored in Firefox from that domain like bookmarks, cookies, passwords, cache, history, and exceptions, so be cautious and if you have a password or other data from that domain that you do not want to lose then make sure to backup this data or make a note.

You can't recover from this 'forget' unless you have a backup of the involved files.

It doesn't have any lasting effect, so if you revisit such a 'forgotten' website then data from that website will be saved once again.

My browser is set so it doesn’t remember browsing and download history, only search and form history. I tried "Clear all history" [including cookies and cache], but it doesn’t help.

I can access to Gmail by using my bookmark https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox, but not by redirecting from Google search or somewhere else or even when I write directly into the address bar "http://mail.google.com/".

Please consider the fact that I don’t have the problem with Gmail only, but the other sites also.

I tried the link given above and got this;

Server not found

Firefox can't find the server at www.mail.google.com.

• https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox - It leads me to my Gmail inbox [same tab]
• http://mail.google.com/ - It leads me to a blank page [opens a new tab]

Hi FredMcD, I think that is correct. Google does not use www. before mail.google.com. But which link caused the problem?

Hi sotepenre, when you get the blank tab, if you add the missing "s" and press Enter to load the secure page, does that work? Or this link:

https://mail.google.com/

Never mind, I see this doesn't address the search results issue.

When I copy "mail.google.com" from the address bar, Firefox copies it this way "http://mail.google.com/", so I’m not quite sure that it’s the cause of the problem [the missing ‘s’].

Maybe it has to do something with opening a new tab? I have no idea anymore. I cannot even open my blog on Blogger. It’s annoying.

As an experiment, could you:

Create a new Firefox profile

A new profile will have your system-installed plugins (e.g., Flash) and extensions (e.g., security suite toolbars), but no themes, other extensions, or other customizations. It also should have completely fresh settings databases and a fresh cache folder.

Exit Firefox and start up in the Profile Manager using Start > search box (or Run):

firefox.exe -P

Any time you want to switch profiles, exit Firefox and return to this dialog.

Click the Create Profile button. I recommend using the default location suggested (i.e., bypass the option to choose a different folder). Then start Firefox in the new profile you created.

Do search results or other sites work any better in the new profile?

When returning to the Profile Manager, you might be tempted to use the Delete Profile button. But... it's a bit too easy to accidentally delete your "real" profile, so I recommend resisting the temptation. If you do want to clean up later, I suggest making a backup of all your profiles first in case something were to go wrong.

@jscher2000: No luck again with creating a new Firefox profile.

I tried something now. When I put in the address bar "http://mail.google.com/" it takes me to a blank page, but when I type in "https://mail.google.com/" it takes me to my inbox.

Perhaps the missing ‘s’ causes the problems, as @jscher2000 said. It also worked out with "https://www.blogger.com/home", but it didn’t work out with direct blog link "http://sotepenre.blogspot.com/" - if I add "S" manually, Firefox changes it to "http://" and takes me to a blank page.

That was clicking through from search results?

Could you check something. In that tab, go back to the previous page, then open Firefox's Web Console (Ctrl+Shift+k). See first screen shot.

Then click the link again. One or more URLs should appear in the web console. Normally the response code on the right side will be a redirect (301 or 302). See second screen shot.

Are you getting a response code?