You can set this via the Google settings page (Where results open).

• https://www.google.com/preferences

Alternatively you can:

• middle-click the link (e.g., mouse scroll wheel)
• Ctrl+click the link (Mac: Command+Click)
• Use the Open Link in New Tab add-on

Middle click works the way the older version was acting.. Wondering why the earlier version worked with left click. Settings?

I'm not aware of any changes to the settings. Some people have reported these kinds of changes being made by the ASK/foxit toolbar or by Tab Mix Plus add-on.

Do you have either of those installed?

No neither of those.

My Firefox's default behaviour has always been to open links in the same window/tab unless the html link specifies a new window/tab using the target="_blank" attribute.

If I want a new tab instead then I use middle click or right click > open new tab.

Is this different from your Firefox's previous default behaviour?

Might it be that you used to have something installed that was changing the behaviour, you then uninstalled it and Firefox has now returned to its defaults?

Sorry I can't be more helpful ... it sounds to me like your copy of Firefox is now acting like mine always has so I don't think there is a 'problem' as such. If you want to change that behaviour you can always use an add-on.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for the help Can;t remember what I did to the 3.5 version. The middle click will suffice. The open in new tab add-on set at level 2 didn't help

Did you check the settings in Google?

checked my google settings. google/account/dashboard/settings/general. checked box :Open links in a new tab or browser window

Working as I want now. Left click new tab. Not sure if it was the add-on or the google setting, because it did not take effect until I rebooted.

Thanks all for the help.

Here's my solution to the problem of making links always open in a new tab. This only applies to Mac OSX tho.

Get Better Touch Tool. (This program creates keyboard and mouse/trackpad gesture shortcuts and it's free/donation BTW)

I set up several shortcuts in Better Touch Tool, but the relevant one here would be "Middleclick" which by default opens a link into a new tab. The gesture I set to do this happens to be three finger tap.

These are my configured gestures/shortcuts: four finger swipe down -> sleep display three finger tap -> middleclick three finger double tap -> command-h (minimizes all open windows in the current program) four finger double tap -> Application Switcher

I also enabled Windows Snapping (which mimics Windows windows snapping) and Windows Moving/Resizing (which the way I have configured it means, if I mouse over a window, then hold the Shift and fn buttons, the window will move around without having to hold the mouse/trackpad button, and if I hold just the fn key, the window will resize).