Since the Firefox update which brings it to version 3.0.11 many users have found that the new tab command does not work. Whether you select New Tab from the File menu, right click next to a tab and select New Tab or use the New Tab button on the toolbar, nothing happens.
This is a serious nuisance as the only way to get a new tab is to middle click on a link. Unfortunately this is no good if you want to open a new tab to type in a new URL without losing the content of the previous tabs.
Fortunately, you have a choice of two simple cures.
It looks as if the cause of the problem may be the AVG Security Toolbar. So, if you open the Add-ons window (Tools>Add-ons), scroll to AVG Security Toolbar and select disable you should find that New Tab is working again when you restart Firefox.
The problem here is that you lose the toolbar and some of its security protection. However there is an alternative solution offered by the Google Toolbar. If you do not already have the Google Toolbar you can download it from the link.
Once it is installed or if it already installed open the Add-ons window and scroll down to Google Toolbar for Firefox and click on options.
On the search tab of the Google Toolbar Options window, in the Web browsing tools section, select “Enable the Google new tab page.” Then click Save.
This will give you back New Tab and all normal methods of selecting a new tab will work. The new tabs will have extra features and the page will look more like the new tab pages in Opera and Safari.
Every time you open a new tab in your browser, you will be able to access your most visited sites, the last few tabs you closed and your most recently added bookmarks. There should also be small screenshots of your most visited sites.
This second cure has the advantage of retaining the AVG security features and adding more functionality to your new tab.
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It seems like the problem occurs when disabling "Show Yahoo searchbox in new tabs" in the AVG-toolbar advanced options. Annoying...