Firefox will detect add-ons listed in the Windows registry or dropped into its program folder by other software, so I would suggest starting with a review of those. In particular:

Disable ALL nonessential or unrecognized extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable.

Usually 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.

Does that reduce or eliminate the diversions?

You also can provide more information about your Firefox configuration if you visit the Troubleshooting Information page on your Windows 8 system. Either:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the upper left corner, find the "Copy text to clipboard" button and you can paste that into a reply. The lines relating to printers aren't needed, so you can trim those out.

Also, could you check your download history to see where you got your Firefox installer? A safe source for future reference is this page:

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/

(Scroll down to your preferred language)

Yes thanks that solved the problem. I am not a computer tech but found a couple of programs that were added to my computer today that i did not load.

Regards ht