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

Can I completely disable the "top sites" suggested in new tab?

  • 3 replies
  • 10 have this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by alaska2014

more options

Toggling the "top sites" option on and off (via the cog button on the right of a new tab) will not empty the "suggested site" slot, meaning that Firefox keeps of a list of "top sites" stored somewhere. May I know how to have this list removed and stop the browser from creating another list from now on.

Toggling the "top sites" option on and off (via the cog button on the right of a new tab) will not empty the "suggested site" slot, meaning that Firefox keeps of a list of "top sites" stored somewhere. May I know how to have this list removed and stop the browser from creating another list from now on.

Chosen solution

"Top Sites" are determined by running a computation across all your currently stored history, combining the number of visits (frequency) and time (recency), to generate a score Firefox calls "frecency." Since this is constantly being recalculated, there's not really any place to clear the list, other than by more aggressively clearing your history.

But there are ways to hide this information. For example, you can pin bookmarked sites onto the page so that history-based sites do not appear. This article describes how you could do that: Customize your Firefox New Tab page.

Or you could display a completely different page on a new tab, using an add-on. For example:

  • If you already use Classic Theme Restorer: There is an option somewhere (!) in its extensive settings dialogs to select a different new tab page.

Is this at all helpful?

Read this answer in context 👍 4

All Replies (3)

more options

Chosen Solution

"Top Sites" are determined by running a computation across all your currently stored history, combining the number of visits (frequency) and time (recency), to generate a score Firefox calls "frecency." Since this is constantly being recalculated, there's not really any place to clear the list, other than by more aggressively clearing your history.

But there are ways to hide this information. For example, you can pin bookmarked sites onto the page so that history-based sites do not appear. This article describes how you could do that: Customize your Firefox New Tab page.

Or you could display a completely different page on a new tab, using an add-on. For example:

  • If you already use Classic Theme Restorer: There is an option somewhere (!) in its extensive settings dialogs to select a different new tab page.

Is this at all helpful?

more options
more options

Thank you very much jscher2000 and philipp.

philipp, I believe modifying the "about:config" no longer mask the new tab page after the recent update.

Modified by alaska2014