How can i TOTALLY DISABLE automatic search from URL bar?
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Paul Kosinski
May 10, 2021, 2:47:33 PM5/10/21
to Mozilla.org
I am getting so tired of having mis-typed and mis-copied URLs being fed to the default search engine in "modern" versions of Firefox. How can I turn it off?
Having a separate search field (via Preferences) doesn't help: a bad URL *still* causes a search.
I, and countless others, were able to cope in the past with a separate search Bookmark (or button). I know when I want to do a search -- even better than Firefox does.
There is also a *major* privacy violation in the current behavior. Feeding bad URLs to a search engine may expose information the user doesn't want revealed. This is especially true for search engines such as Google, which, if you're logged in, may record it for future advertising (or worse).
P.S. I once tried to remove all the built-in search engine alternatives and replace them with my own URL (by editing something in omni.ja[r] or some such), but it wasn't really successful.
Having a separate search field (via Preferences) doesn't help: a bad URL *still* causes a search.
I, and countless others, were able to cope in the past with a separate search Bookmark (or button). I know when I want to do a search -- even better than Firefox does.
There is also a *major* privacy violation in the current behavior. Feeding bad URLs to a search engine may expose information the user doesn't want revealed. This is especially true for search engines such as Google, which, if you're logged in, may record it for future advertising (or worse).
P.S. I once tried to remove all the built-in search engine alternatives and replace them with my own URL (by editing something in omni.ja[r] or some such), but it wasn't really successful.
Mike Kaply
May 10, 2021, 3:04:56 PM5/10/21
to Paul Kosinski, Mozilla.org
Go to about:config and change keyword.enabled to false.
Once you've done that, you can still search by putting a ? in front or using Ctrl+K instead of Ctrl+L to get to the URL bar.
Mike
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Paul Kosinski
May 11, 2021, 1:45:55 AM5/11/21
to Mike Kaply, enter...@mozilla.org
Thanks! I never would have guessed the name ('keyword' indeed), although I then saw that I already (some time ago) had changed "keyword.URL" to "http://localhost:1" while unsuccessfully trying to accomplish the almost the same thing (i.e., blocking automatic searches).
So, where can one find a reasonably complete list of about:config items with explanations? When I tried via Firefox Help, I found a similar question that suggested Mozillazine had something. But mozillazine.org (140.211.166.9) seems totally dead.
In any case, I would like a list that is indexed by functionality, rather than the obvious list that, given a preference name, explains it in detail (e.g., 'keyword' is not the same as 'search' in my vocabulary). Of course, the obvious list might be adequate if fed to (e.g.) Google, or even used with a simple text search such as Firefox's Ctrl-F or grep.
Thanks again!
So, where can one find a reasonably complete list of about:config items with explanations? When I tried via Firefox Help, I found a similar question that suggested Mozillazine had something. But mozillazine.org (140.211.166.9) seems totally dead.
In any case, I would like a list that is indexed by functionality, rather than the obvious list that, given a preference name, explains it in detail (e.g., 'keyword' is not the same as 'search' in my vocabulary). Of course, the obvious list might be adequate if fed to (e.g.) Google, or even used with a simple text search such as Firefox's Ctrl-F or grep.
Thanks again!
Emilio Cobos Álvarez
May 11, 2021, 6:09:56 AM5/11/21
to enter...@mozilla.org
On 5/11/21 07:45, 'Paul Kosinski' via enter...@mozilla.org wrote:
>
> Thanks! I never would have guessed the name ('keyword' indeed), although I then saw that I already (some time ago) had changed "keyword.URL" to "http://localhost:1" while unsuccessfully trying to accomplish the almost the same thing (i.e., blocking automatic searches).
>
> So, where can one find a reasonably complete list of about:config items with explanations? When I tried via Firefox Help, I found a similar question that suggested Mozillazine had something. But mozillazine.org (140.211.166.9) seems totally dead.
>
> In any case, I would like a list that is indexed by functionality, rather than the obvious list that, given a preference name, explains it in detail (e.g., 'keyword' is not the same as 'search' in my vocabulary). Of course, the obvious list might be adequate if fed to (e.g.) Google, or even used with a simple text search such as Firefox's Ctrl-F or grep.
about:config flags are generally not documented and subject to change,
>
> Thanks! I never would have guessed the name ('keyword' indeed), although I then saw that I already (some time ago) had changed "keyword.URL" to "http://localhost:1" while unsuccessfully trying to accomplish the almost the same thing (i.e., blocking automatic searches).
>
> So, where can one find a reasonably complete list of about:config items with explanations? When I tried via Firefox Help, I found a similar question that suggested Mozillazine had something. But mozillazine.org (140.211.166.9) seems totally dead.
>
> In any case, I would like a list that is indexed by functionality, rather than the obvious list that, given a preference name, explains it in detail (e.g., 'keyword' is not the same as 'search' in my vocabulary). Of course, the obvious list might be adequate if fed to (e.g.) Google, or even used with a simple text search such as Firefox's Ctrl-F or grep.
though you might find some documentation in the code, e.g. this:
https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/cca1566127a2fcc013e9c09f9d90ed70df2250a4/docshell/base/nsDocShell.cpp#6184-6198
If an about:config flag is useful, the right way to expose it is
probably via the preferences page, or alternatively enterprise policies
I guess? (Mike would know)
Perhaps file a bug requesting either of them for keyword.enabled?
-- Emilio
> On Mon, 10 May 2021 14:04:44 -0500
> Mike Kaply <mka...@mozilla.com> wrote:
>
>> Go to about:config and change keyword.enabled to false.
>>
>> Once you've done that, you can still search by putting a ? in front or
>> using Ctrl+K instead of Ctrl+L to get to the URL bar.
>>
>> Mike
>
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> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "enter...@mozilla.org" group.
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> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/mozilla.org/d/msgid/enterprise/20210511014549.2178b234%40ime1.iment.local.
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "enter...@mozilla.org" group.
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>
Paul Kosinski
May 11, 2021, 1:37:44 PM5/11/21
to enter...@mozilla.org, Emilio Cobos Álvarez
According to my recent observations, the Firefox developers have been busy *removing* Preferences, sometimes quite detrimentally. For example, what happened to the ability to clear selected cookies from a domain, rather than just *all* cookies from that domain? This was sometimes useful when a Web site got wedged in a bad state but clearing all cookies mean you had to start all over setting preferences at the site. (I remember seeing recommendations to do this.)
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