What start page are you talking about? And screenshot of the issue.

hi its a pop up to use startpage as my browser

Hi Martin, where do you see the message? For example:

• a new tab opens promoting Startpage
• your home page changed to Startpage
• a desktop notification opens outside of Firefox at startup, or after your home page loads, or at some other time
• a notification drops from the toolbar about installing something from Startpage
• some other location

Extension Check

After a Refresh, normally all your add-ons are removed. But then, after signing in to your Mozilla account, Sync could bring them back, so it's worth a quick check whether you might have one related to that site. You can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

• click the Extensions button (puzzle piece) on the toolbar > Manage Extensions
• Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
• type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions. On the right side, find the "Manage Your Extensions" heading.

If there is at least one extension before the next heading -- "Recommended Extensions" -- please continue:

Then cast a critical eye over the list below that heading. Any extensions Firefox installs for built-in features are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Do you see any extensions related to searching or privacy? Anything suspicious or that you just do not remember installing or why? If in doubt, disable (or remove). For your privacy and security, don't let mystery programs linger here.

Any improvement?

Note: Sometimes extensions can frustrate access to this page. In that case, first restart Firefox in its Troubleshot Mode and then try again. See: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode -- Open, not Refresh.

thanks for the reply it only happens wwhen i restart the pc an d open firefox then i get a pop up on the lower right hand side of the screen asking me to use startpage .

\i unclick to refuse and say done , it wont appear again until i reboot

so i have tried a reset and refresh with no sucess maybe i should try a uninstall ??

i have run malwarebytes but no infections

when i reboot pc the pop up returns i havnt tried ant thing else as per your sugesstion tey

then i get a pop up on the lower right hand side of the screen asking me to use startpage . \i unclick to refuse and say done , it wont appear again until i reboot

Hmm I wonder if these are web push notifications from a site you have allowed to send you notifications?. If so then you can revoke those sites from sending you notifications.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/push-notifications-firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/push-notifications-firefox#w_how-do-i-revoke-web-push-permissions-for-a-specific-site

https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/images/2025-02-22-04-00-40-

it only happens wwhen i restart the pc an d open firefox then i get a pop up on the lower right hand side of the screen asking me to use startpage . \i unclick to refuse and say done , it wont appear again until i reboot

Does it appear on your home page, or on one of the pages that was restored from a previous session, or on its own page? Does it shrink/expand in response to page zoom (hold down Ctrl and tap - a few times or + a few times)?

It's interesting that the last part says "when Chrome starts." Hmm...

If you click that little gear button at the upper right of the green bar, what kind of options or information do you find there, if any?

Microsoft has a tool to look at everything running at startup. I don't know whether you can spot anything unusual: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

hi

Itdoes not appear to happen with chrome, this pop up states use start page as your search engne and appears on my desktop, i then untick and refuse say done and it clears it does not shrink or expand

i used autorun and deleted some non verified files and then ran a sfc scan and re booted and it appeared again

what if i uninstall firefox ??

You can reinstall Firefox without first doing an uninstall, although you can uninstall if you like. Before going down that road, could you check your shortcut:

• right-click the desktop shortcut you use to start Firefox -- if it's pinned to the Taskbar, after the first right-click, right-click on Firefox on the lower part of the popup
• when the shortcut context menu eventually opens, click Properties
• if Windows doesn't automatically show the Shortcut tab, switch to the Shortcut tab
• check the Target line to make sure it only starts the program and doesn't have any URLs attached:
  "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

Here are the steps for the clean reinstall without uninstalling first:

(1) Download a fresh installer from

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/desktop-release/

(2) Close Firefox and open Windows File Explorer and find this folder:

C:\Program Files\

(3) Right-click Mozilla Firefox and rename to OldFirefox

(4) Run the installer. It should detect and use your existing profile folder.

Hi

Thanks for your response. The shortcut tab seems ok and the target is "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

i have done a fresh install and started to rename the folder to old , but i was unsure how to run the installer is this an exe in the folder ?

thanks

Martin

Hi Martin, after you download the fresh installer EXE you can double-click it to run it. (The one in the OldFirefox folder is not the installer.)

hi

sorry, I am confused

I used the link to and ran the fresh install

after i opened the file Mozilla Firefox, (file explorer) i am not sure if this is the o;d or new ??

so ido i rename the old firefox to old and then run a fresh install and will this install automatically or do i need to find the exe to install it ??

sorry again i am not the pc competent

Oh, sorry, I didn't read your previous reply carefully enough. You did step 4 before step 3? You'll need to repeat step 4 using the same installer you recently downloaded.

Hi

DID all and pop up still exists

I searched the various phrases in the dialog on Google, and the various posts seemed to converge on adware that gets installed when you download certain free software. In particular, the culprit might be something called Web Companion by Adaware. If you go to the "Add or remove programs" control panel and sort by date installed, can you find one or more unexpected entries there?

Some users mention that removing the single program isn't enough, it comes back. You might need to use a malware scrubber. The support article here lists tools other Firefox users have found helpful that do not require payment (either completely free or have a free trial): Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware.

Hi I ran malware bytes and nothig found

i ran the microsoft and it founs a lot but i think false errors and it was mainly my games

however i remove adware and the pop seems eradicted , i used adware for you tube

so thanks for all your help greatly appreciated