Why does clicking on links in external apps open new windows in Firefox?

Question

Suddenly, clicking on a link from pidgin or google talk opens a new Firefox window. I'd like it to keep on opening external links in new tabs, as it used to. I'm using Firefox 3.6.13 on Windows 7, I checked this question, and the settings are the defaults: browser.link.open_newwindow = 3, browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction = 2. What should I do?

EDIT I also had checked (seemed too obvious to mention) that Tools - Options - Tabs - Open new windows as tabs" was checked.

Answer 1

Ok, I solved this. I had two Firefox profiles, created to check Firefox beta 4 while still using Firefox 3.6 and not getting profile / addons / plugins problems. Evidently I got something wrong with the profiles. After deleting the ff4beta profile and its files, the default profile now works correctly.

Answer 2

First, open Internet Explorer and click on Tools and then Internet Options. Press the ALT key if you don’t see any of the menu items.

Now click on the Settings button under the Tabs section on the General tab.

Finally, under the heading “When a pop-up is encountered”, choose Always open pop-ups in a new tab.

That’s it! Now when you click on a link in Internet Explorer that is set to open in a new window, it will instead open in a new tab! You can also change the setting below it, Open links from other programs in, to open in a new tab. That way if you click on an Internet link from an email, etc, it will open in the current IE window as a new tab. Enjoy!