Esta resposta do suporte da Mozilla parece ser útil. Citando a partir daí. Você precisa definir os valores marcados com italic . Apenas verifiquei com o FF v.23.0.1 / Windows.
In a new tab, type or paste
about:config
and press Enter.
Click the button promising to be careful.
In the filter box, type or pastelink.o
and pause while the list is filtered.
Double click these and set the value as desired:(A) browser.link.open_newwindow
3 = divert new window to a new tab (default) (checked*)
2 = allow link to open a new window (unchecked*)
1 = force new window into same tab* First checkbox in Options > Tabs
(B) browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction - for links in Firefox tabs
0 = apply the setting under (A) to ALL new windows (even script windows)
2 = apply the setting under (A) to normal windows, but NOT to script windows with features (default)
1 = override the setting under (A) and always use new windows(C) browser.link.open_newwindow.override.external - for links in other programs
-1 = apply the setting under (A) to external links (default)
3 = open external links in a new tab in the last active window
2 = open external links in a new window
1 = open external links in the last active tab replacing the current page