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Why the flat firefox image on the start page with WASD when clicked?

  • 7 replies
  • 9 have this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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When you select home, the normal firefox icon flashes on and is replaced with a slightly tilted image with another small character to the left of the foxes head and the words Click Me! If clicked, the same image now has the letters WASD and a key appears in the center of the world where the fox is wrapped around. I have not seen this until updating to the latest verson 33.

When you select home, the normal firefox icon flashes on and is replaced with a slightly tilted image with another small character to the left of the foxes head and the words Click Me! If clicked, the same image now has the letters WASD and a key appears in the center of the world where the fox is wrapped around. I have not seen this until updating to the latest verson 33.

Chosen solution

If you prefer not to see the snippets on the about:home page or otherwise experience problems with a snippet then you can set the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref to an empty string on the about:config page. Delete the storage\persistent\moz-safe-about+home folder in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed ("3-bar" Firefox menu button > Exit/Quit) to remove snippets stored in IndexedDB and make Firefox use a default snippet set. You can reset the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref via the right-click context menu to the default value to re-enable the snippets and make Firefox recreate the moz-safe-about+home folder. You need to close and restart Firefox after changing the value of the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref.

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

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All Replies (7)

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Apparently it is a game designed to show off a new capability of Firefox 33. I haven't gotten around to exploring it yet.

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That Click Me game is part of the Humble Mozilla Bundle promotion on the default Home Page [about:home], that loads from the Mozilla servers in the "Brand Logo" (DIV) section of about:home. A feature that was first used in Firefox 29 [IIRC] just prior to the start of the Olympic Games.

Also, part of that promotion is addressed in the "Snippet" below the Search Container on the about:home page.


If you want to block the "Brand Logo" section (and the "snippet" below the Search container) from ever being seen again, you can install Stylish and this UserStyle. https://userstyles.org/styles/104673/about-home-hide-snippets-and-hide-brand-logo

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When I read on the page info, I found that the logo "redirect" and follows your internet activity. I think that Mozilla ought to be a bit more forthcoming here. I want to disable that 'promo' or spyware, whatever it is.

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This is in the web console: "click [on clickme] to start performance analysis. Perform a request or reload the page to see activated information about network activity."

Again, Mozilla ought to explain why we need this and what its true purpose is. And there ought to be a way to disable this without having to resort to some shaddy tool outside Mozilla.

I'm pretty disappointed at Mozilla for this. I hope this is not the beginning of the end and for Mozilla to become 'mean'.

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I don't know what you think you read in Page Info, there's no logo "redirect" involved. IMO, View Page Source is a "better read", along with certain prefs in about:config to "see what's really going on".

When Firefox is launched and the about:home page is being loaded, Firefox looks to a HTTPS URL, on a secure Firefox server, for information that is intended to show one of the rotating Snippets in the snippetsContainer DIV below the Search Container and replace the brandLogo DIV on the default HomePage when a promo or campaign is active. Firefox will show that information instead of the Firefox brand logo. The Snippets feature has been in Firefox for quite awhile now and the substitution the Brand Logo goes back at least to Firefox 28 or a few versions prior to that. Firefox isn't "sending" information, it is receiving it via a HTTPS connection.


"And there ought to be a way to disable this without having to resort to some shaddy tool outside Mozilla. " You don't need to use the Stylish extension in Firefox to use the code that is in that UserStyle. Just Copy and Paste this code into a userContent.css file that you create to hide the 2 DIVs.

@-moz-document url(about:home) {
#snippetContainer { display:none !important; }
#brandLogo { display:none !important; } }
 
http://kb.mozillazine.org/UserContent.css

Or, just set your own choice for your HomePage. See - How to set the home page

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Hi rob44, the text and buttons you saw on the Network section of the Web Console are there for your (optional) use in diagnosing problems with slow or incomplete page loads. They don't do anything until you activate that tab and reload the page or click a button there.

Why not go to a page that doesn't involve any sensitive information and give the Network tab a try for yourself? You may be surprised how many different servers and third party services a popular site will connect with when displaying a page.

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Chosen Solution

If you prefer not to see the snippets on the about:home page or otherwise experience problems with a snippet then you can set the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref to an empty string on the about:config page. Delete the storage\persistent\moz-safe-about+home folder in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed ("3-bar" Firefox menu button > Exit/Quit) to remove snippets stored in IndexedDB and make Firefox use a default snippet set. You can reset the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref via the right-click context menu to the default value to re-enable the snippets and make Firefox recreate the moz-safe-about+home folder. You need to close and restart Firefox after changing the value of the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref.

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.