Firefox keeps opening tabs on it's own whether I am on-line or not. I have reset several times and there are no pipe characters in the home page address.

Question

Firefox keeps opening tabs whether I am on-line or not. These are often games pages, but not always. I have reset several times and there are no pipe characters in the home page address. This is not the first time this has happened. The first time was a couple of months ago and a reset cured the problem, but this time it does not. How can I stop this occurring?

Answer 1

'''''If this can happen with Firefox completely closed:'''''
Some malware simply launches pages in your default browser from outside Firefox. Definitely scan for malware using some of the tools listed in our support article: [[Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware]].
There might be an additional step:
Last year, many users reported advertising tabs opening randomly, sometimes even when Firefox was closed. It turned out that a program had created scheduled tasks to open those pages at certain times of day.
You can check the Windows Task Scheduler:
* Windows XP: Start button > [All] Programs > Accessories> System Tools > Scheduled Tasks
* Windows Vista/7: Start button > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler
* Windows 8: ?? You might try the charms bar search box if you don't find it in the control panel.
* Past threads on the "dsite" problem:
** [https://support.mozilla.org/questions/967667 How can I keep Firefox from opening a window to website tofushopnews.com]
** [https://support.mozilla.org/questions/965048?page=2#answer-461509 How do I get rid of sponsorship tabs that open automatically?]