Blank tabs keep opening by themselves in Safari

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1. Empty Caches

Safari > Preference > Advanced

Checkmark the box for "Show Develop menu in menu bar".

Develop menu will appear in the Safari menu bar.

Click Develop and select "Empty Caches" from the dropdown.

2. Delete Cookies

Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Cookies and other website data:

Click the “Details” button.

Remove all cookies except from Apple, your internet service provider and banks.

3. Safari > Preferences > Extensions

Turn off Extensions if any and launch Safari again to test.

Turn on those one by one and test.

If this doesn't help:

4. Do an EtreCheck and post the report here please.

EtreCheck: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6173

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Step 1

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.

Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”

While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.

Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?

After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.

*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

Step 2

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

Try uninstalling AVG using the developer's uninstall instructions.

Remove AVG anti-virus.

http://www.avg.com/us-en/faq.num-5518

You were advised to disable Safari extensions. Did you do that, and if so, did it help?

heysupalex wrote:

Any ideas on how to fix this?

There's nothing showing in your EtreCheck report that I would consider to be possible adware. (I do agree that you should remove AVG, but that's a separate issue.)

My suspicion is that this is a network issue. See:

http://www.adwaremedic.com/kb/hackedrouter.php

(Fair disclosure: I may receive compensation from links to my sites, TheSafeMac.com and AdwareMedic.com.)

I've been having the same problem and for months I couldn't figure it out. Whenever I was connected to the internet, Safari.app would open a blank tab every 15 minutes or so, even if Safari wasn't running.

The URL was trc.taboola.com.

It drove me f**king crazy.

But now I figured it out!

Check your dashboard. Long ago I had created two dashboard widgets (from various websites) and then forgotten all about them. Because who uses the dashboard?

It turns out that one of them (Bloomberg) uses taboola for web marketing, blah, blah, blah, and because the widget was just a window'd Safari thing, it kept trying to reach back to taboola to record my web traffic. But, because I didn't have the actual Safari.app running, instead of launching in the background it was causing Safari.app to open into a blank tab.

I deleted the Dashboard widgets and BOOM, problem solved.

-Brad

Thanks Brad. Your advice solve my problem.

I had the same problem, and disabling AdBlockPlus (the only extension I was using) fixed it.

THANK U BRAD!! Wow no one could figure this out! As I was deleting the dashboard apps taboola was popping up like crazy. I had to go in 4-5 times to get it all out.