Why does Firefox display http://cdn.loneforce.com/os/eh/sffb-sweeps/... instead of my home page.
Starting this afternoon I used a site that I should have been more careful of to download a document. I spent several hours deleating sites that I did not want and then I found that whenever I opened firefox I no longer saw my home page, but instead a strange site that started "http://cdn.loneforce.com/os/eh/sffb-sweeps/...". This site wanted to offer me prizes and things like that. At the time I was using an older version of firefox. I updated to the current version and nothing changed. How do I recover from my stupidity?
All Replies (2)
You may have ad / mal-ware. Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.
Run most or all of the listed malware scanners. Each works differently. If one program misses something, another may pick it up.
Bookmark and use this; Download the Mozilla Search Reset {web link} This add-on is very simple: on installation, it backs up and then resets your search preferences and home page to their default values, and then uninstalls itself. This affects the search bar, URL bar searches, and the home page.
After your malware cleanup...
In addition to Firefox's own home page setting, which you can check on the Options page (see: Configuration Options for Startup), your startup page could be dictated by an extension or a hacked desktop shortcut.
To review and disable/remove extensions, 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 cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. All extensions are optional, none come with Firefox, so don't be fooled by important-sounding extensions if you didn't choose them yourself.
To check your shortcut, right-click it and choose Properties. If the Shortcut tab is not displayed automatically, go ahead and click it. The "Target" should be no more and no less than the following on 64-bit Windows:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
If anything follows that, such as an unwanted URL, clear it out.