Sometimes a problem with Firefox may be a result of malware installed on your computer, that you may not be aware of.

You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

• Microsoft Safety Scanner
• MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware
• Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller
• AdwCleaner (for more info, see this alternate AdwCleaner download page)
• Hitman Pro
• ESET Online Scanner

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one.

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

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Adblock Plus {web link} Blocks annoying video ads on YouTube, Facebook ads, banners and much more. Adblock Plus blocks all annoying ads, and supports websites by not blocking unobtrusive ads by default (configurable).

Bookmark and use this; Download the Mozilla Search Reset {web link} This add-on is very simple: on installation, it backs up and then resets your search preferences and home page to their default values, and then uninstalls itself. This affects the search bar, URL bar searches, and the home page.

The easiest way to get around that is to just set your own homepage and not use the "default" about:home page. See - How to set the home page

Many of us have disabled the changes to the top part [brandLogo portion] of the Firefox Start Page and turned off the advertising "snippets" [below the Search container] that Mozilla is using all the time now, so that we don't see that "stuff".

If you feel venturesome, here's how to "fix it". Type about:config in the Location Bar and hit Enter. Accept the "dragons" message to see the advanced prefs screen. Use the Search field at the top to enter the pref mentioned below.

You can set the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref to an empty string to stop your Firefox from retrieving "snippets" and brandLogo changes. Right-click that pref and select Modify then clear the Value for that pref in the box that appears, then click OK. That will also disable the "snippets" that appear below the Search container on the default homepage.

Then you need to open your Profile folder, via Help > Troubeshooting Information > Profile folder >> Show Folder button. Then close Firefox. With your Profile folder open and Firefox closed ("3-bar" Firefox menu button > Exit/Quit), wait minute or so, then delete the storage\moz-safe-about+home folder in the Firefox profile folder to remove the brandLogo and snippets stored in IndexedDB to make Firefox use the default brandLogo and a default snippet set.

Then restart Firefox for those changes to take effect.

If you should later change your mind about those modifications, you can reset the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref via the right-click context menu and use Reset to get the default value back to start using the storage\moz-safe-about+home folder again.