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I want to set a default "home page" for new tabs

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It *used to be* that when I opened a new tab, the "default home page" (the page that displays when I first launch Firefox) would be displayed in the new tab. Not any more. Looks like you guys changed that. I tried to get that back by "renewing" Firefox, and that didn't solve the problem. At first, new tabs came up completely blank. Now, they come up with a tile of several options, apparently reflecting my recent history. The site I want is near the top of this page, but that isn't quite what I want.

Not only this didn't solve the problem, it also seems to have taken away my pop-up protection! Web sites that didn't used to show pop-ups are showing them now! Yes, "block pop-ups" is checked in the settings. I think I may have lost a pop-up protection add-on.

It *used to be* that when I opened a new tab, the "default home page" (the page that displays when I first launch Firefox) would be displayed in the new tab. Not any more. Looks like you guys changed that. I tried to get that back by "renewing" Firefox, and that didn't solve the problem. At first, new tabs came up completely blank. Now, they come up with a tile of several options, apparently reflecting my recent history. The site I want is near the top of this page, but that isn't quite what I want. Not only this didn't solve the problem, it also seems to have taken away my pop-up protection! Web sites that didn't used to show pop-ups are showing them now! Yes, "block pop-ups" is checked in the settings. I think I may have lost a pop-up protection add-on.

Chosen solution

In Firefox 41 the browser.newtab.url pref is gone. That pref was being abused by malware so frequently that Mozilla decided to remove that pref to eliminate that type of hijack. You will need an extension such as this to restore it. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/new-tab-override/

Or for having your homepage as the new tab page, try this extension. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/new-tab-homepage/

If you are using Classic Theme Restorer, go into CTR options > Tabs (1) section and set your preference for the new tab URL there.

For Super Start you can use the about:superstart page.


Refreshing Firefox removed all your extensions, so you'll need to re-install the popup blocker you had.

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Chosen Solution

In Firefox 41 the browser.newtab.url pref is gone. That pref was being abused by malware so frequently that Mozilla decided to remove that pref to eliminate that type of hijack. You will need an extension such as this to restore it. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/new-tab-override/

Or for having your homepage as the new tab page, try this extension. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/new-tab-homepage/

If you are using Classic Theme Restorer, go into CTR options > Tabs (1) section and set your preference for the new tab URL there.

For Super Start you can use the about:superstart page.


Refreshing Firefox removed all your extensions, so you'll need to re-install the popup blocker you had.

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Thank'ee Kindly! I'll explore those add-ons!

I'm glad to know there was a good reason for the change -- fighting malware!