Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

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strypey

Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

Post by strypey »

Hi there. I've been running LMDE 2.0 (EDIT: 64-bit with Cinammon) for a couple of months now, and I love it. However, there is one minor bug that is quite annoying. Every now and then, for no obvious reason, a new Firefox window will open, and at the same time, a new Thunderbird window. It always seems to happen when I'm typing. I can leave the laptop playing music for hours without it happening. Any idea what's causing this and how to fix it?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Flemur
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Re: Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

Post by Flemur »

Could you pressing "Ctrl+something", e.g. Ctrl+T = new tab, and "something" = the value is for a new window?

And/or, try running/restarting without add-ons: Menu->Help->"Restart with addons disabled."
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
strypey

Re: Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

Post by strypey »

>> Could you pressing "Ctrl+something", e.g. Ctrl+T = new tab, and "something" = the value is for a new window? <<

I don't think so. The Ctrl buttons on this keyboard are in places that are unlikely to be struck by accident, especially in combination with another key (FYI Ctrl+N = new window). It's something that could maybe happen once or twice, as a freak occurrence, but not regularly for months.

>> And/or, try running/restarting without add-ons: Menu->Help->"Restart with addons disabled." <<

The only add-ons I have are uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, and Privacy Badger. I doubt this is the cause either. I will try it, but even if the bug doesn't recur during that testing time, how will I know whether that's because add-ons are the cause of the bug, or because whatever triggers the bug just wasn't triggered during that test?
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Moem
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Re: Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

Post by Moem »

If you are using a separate keyboard: can you swap it out?
If not: can you clean it (I recommend compressed air)?
Image

If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
strypey

Re: Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

Post by strypey »

FYI it just happened again. The only thing I had my fingers on were the touchpad (I was hovering a finger over the left-click button but definitely didn't depress it). I'm using the built-in keyboard on a 64-bit Fujitsu Lifebook laptop, this link has the full specs (scroll down past the first set of info about the Aspire One)
https://trisquel.info/en/users/strypey

BTW I am not operating in safe mode in this session, so add-ons are still a possible culprit.
strypey

Re: Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

Post by strypey »

I removed Thunderbird, which stops it from randomly opening pretty effectively ;) See my other topic about the mint metapackage. I recently upgraded to Firefox Quantam (57.0), which was jarring to say the least! The problem hasn't stopped. New Firefox windows still pop up randomly, almost always when I'm reading something in an existing Firefox window, and my fingers are only hovering on the touchpad and its buttons. It never happens when Firefox isn't already open.
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Re: Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

Post by all41 »

try this.
in FF url window type 'about:config' (without quotes). Enter. Then agree to be careful.
In the search box type 'middle' (no quotes)
Highlight and click to toggle the entry middlemouse.openNewWindow to false
Everything in life was difficult before it became easy.
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Flemur
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Re: Why do Firefox and Thunderbird keep randomly opening new windows?

Post by Flemur »

strypey wrote:The problem hasn't stopped.
I had some strange FF behavior (but not about opening windows) which was cured by

Code: Select all

rm -r ~/.cache/mozilla
As far as I know, removing that directory is completely harmless.
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
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