In case you didn't find it in your research, there's a separate, hidden setting for new tabs: they don't automatically follow your home page setting.

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtab.url preference and enter your preferred page:

• Page thumbnails (default) => about:newtab
• Blank tab => about:blank
• Built-in Firefox home page => about:home
• Any other page => full URL to the page

Press Ctrl+t to open a new tab and verify that it worked.

Success?

If not success:

• If Firefox refused to save your change, check the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program, for "Search Protect" and remove it.

• If Firefox ignores the setting, one of your extensions may be overriding it.

1. Go to about:config page.
2. Search for browser.newtab.url change its value to:
   • about:newtab – default.
   • about:blank – blank page.
   • URL – an url of one page that you want.
3. Try also search for all keys related to search engine and reset to default.

• about:config

See also:

• http://malwaretips.com/blogs/sweet-page-virus/

Thanks guys! I had no idea how to do those hidden config menus. It worked and the stupid thing is gone. Thanks again.