After serveral failed google search attempts, the mozilla support forums had the answer. The told me i had to go to the about:config and search for browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction and change the value to 2 cos for some reason it was set at 0. “The value of 2 for the pref this value to only redirect windows to a new tab that do not specify the dimensions. Windows that do specify dimensions (e.g. width and height) will be open in a pop-up window.” Just in case anyone else has this problem, it’s not so obvious. Phew Everything is back to normal.