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

Homepage Change Problem

I changed my HOMEPAGE to YAHOO but everytime I turn on my computer (and other times) - A box pops up saying "Firefox Homepage Change Notification" WHY when I UNselected the box under OPTIONS / START UP that says "Always check if Firefox is your default browser" but I still have to continually Check Off "Continue with the new Homepage" which is YAHOO This is very annoying !! What can be done ? Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

I changed my HOMEPAGE to YAHOO but everytime I turn on my computer (and other times) - A box pops up saying "Firefox Homepage Change Notification" WHY when I UNselected the box under OPTIONS / START UP that says "Always check if Firefox is your default browser" but I still have to continually Check Off "Continue with the new Homepage" which is YAHOO This is very annoying !! What can be done ? Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

All Replies (1)

That is not a normal Firefox prompt, it is generated by a bad add-on or other malware.

Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons, hijackers, and ad injectors. I know it seems long, but it's not that bad.

(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program (on XP: Add/Remove Programs). After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date (XP doesn't have this, but you can try sorting by "Last used"). This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Take out as much trash as possible here.

(2) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
  • in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
    firefox.exe "about:addons"

In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that none of these came with Firefox, they are all optional.

Often 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.

Any improvement?

(3) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.

Can you get rid of it?