Firefox by Mozilla Foundation is one of the most used and trusted web browsers available across operating systems.
With default installation settings, the Firefox browser shows your most frequently visited websites as shortcuts (tiles) on the new tab page so that you can visit them quickly and easily. For instance, if you visit YouTube often, the new tab page shows YouTube shortcut. You can configure the Firefox browser to show either 1,2,3 or 4 rows of website shortcuts.
Like many other users, I have been using the shortcuts on the Firefox new tab page to access my favorite websites. However, I recently noticed that the Firefox new tab page shows website shortcuts that I have never visited or added. Upon inspecting closely, I found out that all these shortcuts were sponsored shortcuts, which Firefox mentioned in light-colored text.
Although I am not against sponsored shortcuts, I am sure that there are many users who do not like to see sponsored website shortcuts on the new tab page.
Luckily, Firefox offers to remove these sponsored shortcuts. In fact, there is an option to completely stop showing sponsored shortcuts.
NOTE: These directions apply to the latest version of Firefox on both Windows and Mac.
Remove sponsored shortcuts from Mozilla Firefox’s new tab page
Step 1: Open the Firefox new tab page.
Step 2: Hover the mouse cursor over the sponsored shortcut that you want to remove to reveal the hidden three dots.
Step 3: Click the three dots and then click the Dismiss option to immediately remove the selected sponsored website shortcut from the Firefox new tab page.
To remove all sponsored website shortcuts from the new tab page, you need to repeat these steps.
Disable sponsored shortcuts from Firefox’s new tab page on Windows and Mac
Method 1 of 2
Step 1: Run the Firefox browser and open a new tab.
Step 2: Click the gear/settings icon located at the top-right of the new tab page (refer to the picture below).
Step 3: Finally, deselect the Sponsored shortcuts option to disable sponsored shortcuts in the Firefox browser. That’s it!
NOTE: If the Sponsored shortcuts option is missing, please update Firefox to the latest version and then check again.
Method 2 of 2
Step 1: Click the menu icon (refer to the picture below) in the Firefox toolbar and then click Settings to open the Firefox Settings page.
Step 2: Here, on the left side, click the Home tab.
Step 3: Finally, under the Shortcuts section, deselect the Sponsored shortcuts option to stop Firefox from showing sponsored shortcuts on the new tab page.
Our how to reinstall Firefox without losing data guide might also interest you.
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