Windows 10 reached EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. For more information, see this article.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Since upgrading to Windows 10, Firefox is creating dozens of new tabs every time I download anything - how do I fix this?

  • 3 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by oldmaven

DiggerJules
DiggerJules

I upgraded last weekend......and everything seemed at least ok. Today I've tried to download 2 separate douments, and instead of creating one new tab, Firefox has gone into overdrive and auto-created literally dozens of new tabs! Pressing escape seems to stop it eventually. How do I reset Firefox (or Windows, which I where I suspect the problem is!!). Thanks

I upgraded last weekend......and everything seemed at least ok. Today I've tried to download 2 separate douments, and instead of creating one new tab, Firefox has gone into overdrive and auto-created literally dozens of new tabs! Pressing escape seems to stop it eventually. How do I reset Firefox (or Windows, which I where I suspect the problem is!!). Thanks

All Replies (3)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister

Please see this support article: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-repeatedly-opens-empty-tabs-or-windows#w_change-the-action-for-a-content-type

John99
John99

Hi DiggerJules, It is probably best to continue this as part of the original question. I will close the second thread /questions/1132141 and add the information to the original thread /questions/1132062.

Please also let us have a screenshot or more information. Possibly you have malware or adware.

It should be ok to let Firefox be your default browser.

What are these tabs, are they something you are trying to open or download ? Have you set Firefox to open tabs from last time, if so and you had dozens of tabs open you will again open dozens of tabs until you close them. (Holding the mouse cursor over one tab on the left and repeatedly clicking should quickly remove them all one after another)

DiggerJules said

After asking about this yesterday (and thank you for responding to my query), I have followed your suggestion to Change the action for a content type, I have Reset actions for all content types, and deleted mimeTypes.rdf. Now Firefox doesn't automatically create dozens of tabs - the only difference is it asks me every time because Firefox is no longer my default browser. It would still open dozens of tabs if I typed yes. It's not actually downloading anything, or if it is I don't know where it's putting it. I don't understand why this is still happening - but has only happened since upgrading to Windows 10 last weekend. Thank you.
oldmaven
oldmaven

I had the same problem today, and could not shut the program off without going to Task Manager. There, I noted "firefox helper" running in the Apps list. When I killed that, Firefox seemed to work ok on restarting. I have no idea what that is, or how to delete it. I don't see it under Manage Add-Ons.

I'm running Win 10 Pro x64 Anniversary and FF x64 48.0.2