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How-To Fix MATE Changing Firefox Homepage

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Ubuntu MATE used to be bad at hijacking Firefox's homepage, but in Ubuntu MATE 18.04 LTS the problem seemed to have went away. However, it is not completely gone from every machine that has Ubuntu MATE 18.04 or 18.04.2 LTS. My parent's old HP desktop system recently upgraded from Ubuntu MATE 18.04.1 LTS to 18.04.2 LTS and after the upgrade that old problem returned. After a little research online, I was able to fix the problem. I decided to include the fix to my site in case someone has this problem. 

As you can see in the image below, my parent's desktop is a HP-P6110T with version 18.04.2 LTS 64-bit and MATE 1.20.1.
Picture
I clicked on the hamburger button (Open menu button) in the upper right corner of Firefox and clicked on Preferences. When the Preferences tab opened, I clicked on the Home icon in the upper left corner of Firefox. I noticed that the Homepage and new windows were set to open to https://start.ubuntu-mate.org/. I change the website and when I closed Firefox and restarted it, the homepage went back to https://start.ubuntu-mate.org/.
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After search for a while I notice on the Ubuntu MATE Community website that someone by the username of uzi9 said,  "This still applies to ubuntu mate 18.04. Thanks for the fix was driving my Father crazy." So I knew my parents weren't the only one using 18.04 that was having this problem. One of the Leader's of the Ubuntu MATE Community provided a fix for those that had the problem with Ubuntu MATE 17.10.

Firefox does not save my Home Page preference
https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/firefox-does-not-save-my-home-page-preference/14826

Steps to Prevent Firefox Homepage from Changing

  1. Open your file manager (Caja File Manager) and click on the pencil icon until your see an icon of a hard drive, home
      folder, and your computer user name.
Picture
  2. Click on the hard drive icon.
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  3. Double-click the usr folder to open it.
Picture
  4. Double-click the lib folder to open it.
Picture
 5. Right-click on the Firefox icon and select Open as Administrator. 
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  6. Enter you Administrator password and click the Authenticate button.
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  7a. Double-click the ubuntumate.cfg file to open the file in your text editor.
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 7b. If the file doesn't load in your text editor then right-click the ubuntumate.cfg file and click on the option Open with
      gedit Text Editor
(or whatever your default text editor).
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 8. When the ubuntumate.cfg file opens, locate https://start.ubuntu-mate.org.
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 9. Change https://start.ubuntu-mate.org to whatever you want your Firefox web browser to open up too. I changed my
     parent's to, https://google.com/. After you make the change, click the Save button. If you want to start with Firefox's
     default Homepage then delete the comma and the link after the comma so that it looks like
     defaultPref ("browser.startup.homepage);

Picture
10. Open Firefox and click on the hamburger button (Open menu button) in the upper right corner and click on
      Preferences. When the Preferences tab opens, click on the Home icon in the upper left corner. Make sure that the
      Homepage and new windows is set to Firefox Home (Default) and New tabs is set to Firefox Home (Default).
      Now close Firefox.
Picture
11. Now open Synaptic Package Manager. Click the System menu, highlight Administrator, and click on Synaptic
     Package Manager
. When the Authenticate dialog box appears, type in your password and click the Authenticate
    
button.
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12. When the Synaptic Package Manager opens, click the Search icon and type xul-ext-ubufox in the Find dialog box
      and then press the Search button.
Picture
13. Right-click the file and select Mark for Removal.
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14. Then click the Apply button.
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15. When the Summary dialog box appears, click the Apply button.
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16. Wait for it to remove the file.
Picture
17. When it finishes, you can close the Synaptic Package Manager and reboot or restart your computer.
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Click on your Firefox icon after your system loads from rebooting it.
Picture
Firefox should open up to the correct Homepage.
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These are the steps that fix my parent's Firefox browser. I will provide additional solutions below in case this didn't work for you.

If you still have this problem, then try these following methods:

  • Goto the location /usr/lib/firefox and delete the ubuntumate.cfg file. That's the file we edited in the above instructions.

  • Goto the location /usr/lib/firefox/defaults/pref and delete the all-ubuntumate.js file.  (Follow the instructions on step 5 above when you open the Firefox folder. You have to be an Administrator to delete the file.)
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  • Home
    • Screen Tearing on Intel Graphics
    • Screen Tearing on AMD Graphics
    • How to install Realtek WiFi Driver >
      • How to install Realtek WiFi Driver (Pt 2)
    • Authentication is Required to Mount
    • Traditional Menu
    • Software >
      • App Grid
      • AppCenter
      • GNOME Software
      • Modern Apps
    • Welcome & Software Boutique
    • Remove Welcome & Software Boutique
    • TeamViewer
    • Simple How to Tips >
      • Change Wallpaper
      • Pin a Program
      • Change Date & Time
      • Enable Screensavers >
        • Cosmos Screensaver
      • Decrese Icon Padding
      • Enable Magnification
      • Fading Windows
      • Replace Clock Indicator
      • Remove Media Players
      • Create a Submenu
      • Remove the Collection Menu
      • Preferred Applications
      • Upgrade LibreOffice
      • Install Fonts >
        • Install New Fonts
      • Play a DVD
      • Enable Livepatch
      • Update Software
      • Unresponsive Program
      • Install HWE >
        • Install HWE 20.04
      • Open HEIC Images
      • Open WebP Images
      • USB Flash Drive
      • No Audio
      • Screen Flickering
      • Screen Blanking
      • Draining Battery
      • Reduce Shutdown Time
      • Create a Mount Point
      • Thunderbird Emoticons
      • Sound Preview
      • Failed To Download >
        • Failed to Download (#2)
      • Enter Password to Unlock
      • Two Wifi Icons
      • System Program Problem
      • CD Burner Issue
      • Firefox Homepage Fix
      • VLC Closes Fix
      • Desktop Error
      • Trash Bin
      • MATE Weather Applet
      • OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe
      • PolicyKit vulnerability
    • Install Ubuntu MATE >
      • Burn an ISO to DVD
      • Create a Bootable USB
      • Upgrade Ubuntu MATE
  • Ubuntu MATE
    • How to Scan
    • How to Take a Screenshot
    • How to View a PDF File
    • Multiple Workspaces
    • Software Updater
    • Archive Manager
    • How to Burn CD/DVDs
    • Setup & Use Email >
      • Email Filter
    • Firefox Web Browser
    • Shotwell Photo Manager
    • Image Viewer
    • Caja File Manager
    • Trash
    • Play Videos
  • Additional Software
    • Antivirus >
      • BitDefender Antivirus
      • ClamTK Antivirus >
        • Clamscan Antivirus
        • ClamTK Caja Add-on
      • Comodo AntiVirus
    • Archive Managers >
      • Archive Manager
      • Ark
      • B1 Free Archiver
      • P7Zip-Desktop
      • PeaZip
      • Xarchiver
    • Browsers >
      • Brave
      • Chrome
      • Chromium
      • Falkon
      • Firefox
      • GNOME Web
      • Iridium Browser
      • LibreWolf
      • Microsoft Edge
      • Midori
      • Min Browser
      • NAVER Whale
      • Opera
      • Otter
      • Pale Moon
      • SeaMonkey
      • Sidekick
      • Slimjet Browser
      • SRWare Iron
      • Ungoogled Chromium
      • Vivaldi
      • Waterfox
      • Yandex Browser
    • Office Applications >
      • Couturier
      • PDF-Shuffler
      • PDF Studio Viewer
      • Xournal
      • Foxit Reader
      • Okular
      • gLabels >
        • Multiple Name Badges
        • CD & DVD Labels
        • Business Cards
        • Mailing Address Labels
        • Return Address Labels
      • Spice-Up
      • Stickynotes
    • Educational Programs >
      • Galculator
      • GeoGebra Classic
      • GNOME Calculator
      • KCalc
      • NumWorks
      • Pebbles
      • Qalculate!
      • QT-Calculator
      • How To Install R >
        • Install R Commander
        • Install RStudio
      • SpeedCrunch
      • TI-83 Plus
      • TI-84 Plus CE
      • KWordQuiz
      • Granule
    • Graphics >
      • 4K Slideshow Maker
      • Imagination
      • Gnome Screenshot
      • Ksnip
      • Shutter >
        • Shutter 0.94.3
      • PhotoFlare
      • Pinta >
        • Tool Palette >
          • Tool Palette (Cont)
        • File Menu >
          • Screenshot Tool
        • View Menu
        • Edit Menu >
          • Palette
        • Image Menu >
          • Image Size
        • Layers Menu
        • Adjustments Menu
        • Effects Menu >
          • Red Eye Removal
          • Pixelate
        • Add-ins Menu
        • Window Menu
        • Help Menu
        • Restore Layout
        • Pinta 1.7
        • Pinta 2.0.1
      • Bing Wallpapers
      • Variety Wallpaper
      • Converseen
      • Curtail
      • Imagine
      • ​Annotator
      • Aliza MS
      • Brightness Controller
      • Photoprint
      • Peek
    • Image Viewers >
      • Deepin Image Viewer
      • Eye of Gnome
      • Fotoxx
      • Geeqie
      • GPicView
      • gThumb
      • Gwenview
      • Mirage
      • nomacs
      • PhotoQt
      • Phototonic
      • Pix
      • Qimgv
      • qView
      • Ristretto
      • Viewnior 1.6 >
        • Viewnior 1.7
      • XnView MP
      • Xviewer
    • Music Players >
      • Amarok
      • Audacious
      • Clementine
      • DeaDBeeF
      • foobar2000
      • Guayadeque
      • Lollypop
      • Museeks
      • Noise Music Player
      • Pragha
      • Quod Libet
      • Rhythmbox
      • Sayonara
      • Strawberry
      • Violin
    • Networking >
      • Dukto
      • LAN-Share
      • Nitroshare
      • Warpinator
    • Utility Software >
      • BleachBit
      • Stacer
      • Ubuntu Cleaner
      • CPU-G
      • CPU-X
      • Hardinfo
      • I-Nex
      • Caffeine
      • Conky >
        • Widgets & Themes
        • Title Bars
      • deb-get
      • GNOME Split
      • GParted
      • GtkOrphan
      • Ice SSB >
        • MS Office Online
        • Pixlr Editor
        • Photopea
      • KRename
      • KShutdown
      • Magnus
      • Radeon Profile
      • Ubuntu Mainline Kernel Installer
      • Y PPA Manager
    • Sound & Video >
      • Avidemux >
        • Merge Videos
        • Cut Videos
        • Crop Videos
      • Selene
      • Radio Tray >
        • Radio Tray Lite
      • Pithos
      • Spotify
      • Asunder
      • EasyTag
      • SimpleScreenRecorder
      • OBS Studio
      • FF Multi Converter
      • FFmpeg
      • SoundConverter
      • MediaInfo
      • Bomi
      • Gnome MPV
      • MPlayer
      • SMPlayer
      • VLC Media Player
      • HandBrake >
        • Convert A Video
    • Entertainment >
      • Hypnotix
      • IPTVnator
      • Airy TV
      • Crackle
      • Plex Live TV
      • Pluto TV
      • Popcornflix
      • Stirr TV
      • Tubi TV
      • Xumo TV
      • YouTube Movies
      • Plex Media Server
      • Emby Media Server
    • Themes & Colors >
      • Themes
      • Installing Themes
      • Customize Themes #1
      • Customize Themes #2
      • Change App Icons
    • USB Image Writer Tools >
      • GNOME MultiWriter
      • Popsicle
  • Reviews
    • YouTube Reviews >
      • Ubuntu MATE 16.10
      • Ubuntu Mate 17.04
      • Ubuntu MATE 17.10
      • Ubuntu MATE 18.04
      • Ubuntu MATE 20.04
      • Ubuntu MATE 22.04
  • Info
    • How Safe are Your Paasswords >
      • Cyber Security Leaks
      • Hotmail Leak
      • YaHoo Leak
      • Windstream Hacked
    • Windows 7
    • Wireless USB Adapters
  • About
    • In Memory of ...