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When I start Firefox it opens a hidden tab in addition to whatever home page I have set.

  • 9 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 33 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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When I start Firefox by clicking on the icon in my Quick Start tool bar on bottom of screen, it opens in whatever window I have set on the general tab of options menu. But, there is an icon at left upper corner of Firefox which if I click on it shows this cartoon "http://images.dailykos.com/images/163050/lightbox/9-6-strip-KOS.png?1441645357".

It is a cartoon that I looked at a few days ago. 

If I close the open tab by clicking on its x" the cartoon is displayed. I can't delete it, don't know where it is saved but it disappears when I close Firefox itself. This is all on a computer still running XP if that matters. I searched for a 'user.js' file on C: but not there.

Maybe unrelated but I can't delete unwanted Add-ins and extensions either.

When I start Firefox by clicking on the icon in my Quick Start tool bar on bottom of screen, it opens in whatever window I have set on the general tab of options menu. But, there is an icon at left upper corner of Firefox which if I click on it shows this cartoon "http://images.dailykos.com/images/163050/lightbox/9-6-strip-KOS.png?1441645357". It is a cartoon that I looked at a few days ago. If I close the open tab by clicking on its x" the cartoon is displayed. I can't delete it, don't know where it is saved but it disappears when I close Firefox itself. This is all on a computer still running XP if that matters. I searched for a 'user.js' file on C: but not there. Maybe unrelated but I can't delete unwanted Add-ins and extensions either.

Chosen solution

That is weird.

What do you see if you right-click that icon?

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All Replies (9)

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You can find the home page setting here:

  • Tools > Options > General > Startup: Home page

Firefox supports multiple home pages separated by '|' (pipe) symbols.


Can you attach a screenshot?

  • Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
  • Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
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Screen shot1 is what it looks like when I open FF. When I close that tab, I'm left with SS2. I did find and remove a 'user.js' file but that didn't fix it. I will try starting in 'safe mode' and see what happens. I think I tried that early on. I had a long list of add-ons, most of which are not active and I tried to delete but couldn't.

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That first tab is a pinned (App) tab.

You can check for problems with the sessionstore.js file in the Firefox profile folder that stores session data and delete the file with Firefox closed. Deleting sessionstore.js will cause App Tabs and Tab Groups and open and closed (undo) tabs to get lost and you will have to recreate them (make a note or bookmark them if possible).

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

The sessionstore.js file is created when you close Firefox, so you won't find it as long as Firefox is running.

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I closed FF, found and deleted sessionstore.js file and restarted FF. SS3 attached. That icon is still there

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What icon, and where?

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Chosen Solution

That is weird.

What do you see if you right-click that icon?

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Voila - right clicking brings up a menu: reload tab Unpin tab Move to new window Reload all tabs Close tab clicked on Unpin and it made it look like a normal tab. Clicked on its 'x' and it closed. Now to see if it's permanent.

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It's gone!!! You are a genius. Don't know how you can diagnose our problems at a distance like this but I'm sure glad you do. Thank you!!

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You're welcome.

It still sounds weird that deleting the sessionstore.js file didn't fix this issue. It could that security software is interfering if this tab returns.