Hi Jonas Grumby,

Thank you for your question. I am sorry to hear that there was difficulty changing that feature in the about:config page. Please see How to fix preferences that won't save for more troubleshooting steps. It is possible to reset Firefox to default as well.

The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information.
Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions and some Preferences.

• Open websites will not be saved in Firefox versions lower than 25.

To Reset Firefox do the following:

1. Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
2. Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
3. Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
4. Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.

Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

As a footnote, you may want to check for a program named Search Protect in your Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. I suggest clicking the "Installed on" column heading to sort by date (most recent first, usually) in case some badware snuck in with a recent free install.

@jscher2000 Thanks. That is exactly what happened. I got a program called "Search Protect" when I installed a free download. It's fixed.

@guigs2 Thanks for the info about how to reset Firefox.

p.s. Spybot identifies Search Protect as some kind of badness. I removed it in Control Panel and will try to quarantine it with Spybot.