Firefox on Mint 17

[#1]

Can anybody tell me why Firefox connects to google on port 80 and 443 as soon as I open the browser, bearing in mind I have a blank page selected ?

[#2]

Probably the search panel.

[#3]

I've stripped it all out, not running in the bar anyway hmmm,

[#4]

Updating or checking for updates to firefox's lists of malware and phishing websites - google safebrowsing.

[#5]

lol... I go to great length to get rid of rubbish, that includes Google!.
how do I turn it off ?

[#6]

Add them to a host file with 127.0.0.1 as the address

[#7]

It's in the preferences dialog, under the security icon, checkboxes for "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries".

[#8]

Oh lol i was looking in here
Thanks.

Edit: added another pic just for the reference to show what unticking those boxs did.