Type about:preferences#general<enter> in the address bar. Under Tabs, turn on When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately

Note that you can additionally hold down the Shift key to toggle loading a link in the background if you left-click pr middle-click a link.

when I open a new tab - it automatically loads my homepage, cannot figure out how to just have the blank tab. Thanks

Hi ginnpr

The current Firefox release would by default open the about:newtab page if you open a new tab.

The browser.newtab.url pref is no longer supported in Firefox (41+), so it is no longer possible to set the new tab page via this pref.

You can look at this extension to set the new tab page:

• New Tab Override: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/new-tab-override/

You can set the new tab URL via the Options/Preferences of the extension on the about:addons page.

You can look at this extension if you use the home page as the new tab page.

• New Tab Homepage: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/new-tab-homepage/

Classic Theme Restorer includes this feature as well. You find "New tab page url" in the Tabs (2) section.

You can use pages like these:

• the default new tab page with the tiles is about:newtab
• the default home page is about:home
• for a blank page use about:blank
• for Super Start use about:superstart
• use the URL of a web page

See the about:about page for available about pages.

Thanks so much - did the 1st suggestion - tab override - it is strange this problem just started yesterday. Thanks again.