Firefox default search engine keeps switching to Yahoo

[lifea...@gmail.com]

I am not sure what is going on, but I suspect it is a freeware program
that I recently installed, that put some bot on my system. My default
Firefox browser keeps switching to Yahoo, from Google. I prefer Google
(not interested in a debate...). every time I go into about:config and
change all the Yahoo settings to Google, it lasts a little bit and
then eventually I get some message telling me that my browser settings
have been changed back to their default (Yahoo), which indicates that
some ^%#$% program is reseting my default to Yahoo. Indeed when I go
back into about:config, it is back to Yahoo. Anyone have nay idea what
program is doing this? I just ran spybot, and removed a few tracking
programs, but it was nothing obvious, and it didn't fix the problem.
Thanks

[David McRitchie]

<lifeattempt wrote...

If you have a user.js look in there as it will override
about:config and prefs.js each time Firefox is restarted.

What are you resetting and what do you have in about:config for:
browser.search.defaultenginename default string Google
browser.search.defaulturl user set string

Had you installed and extension to like "Google toolbar", "Yahoo toolbar"
which could create conflicts with your builtin search bar.

--
HTH,
David McRitchie,
Firefox Custom: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/firefox/firefox.htm

[David McRitchie]

I see you found your problem's solution and it wasn't user.js

[Splibbilla]

06 Dec 2007,lifea...@gmail.com in
news:3efc670f-536c-453a...@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.co
m:

> I think I found it: "Vendio Services Inc." has a folder that was
> just recently installed on my computer called "Search Settings".
> and an .exe in it called SearchSettings.exe. I uninstalled some
> freeware shortly after trying it out to converts an FLV file to
> AVI, and this Vedio was installed with it. I uninstalled this
> program as well, but I guess it neglected to remove this folder.
> There is a "res" folder in the main folder that indicates to me it
> is affiliated, or affiliates itself with Yahoo. After reading that
> yahoo is force switching people's browser search settings to use
> their own (http://
> www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/01/yahoo-switching-ie7-settings-witho
> ut-permission.html), I will certainly avoid using Yahoo, ever.

although that article is about yahoo toolbar and ie7, when updating Yahoo!
Messenger ( yahoo's chat thing, IIRC)

i'm curious about the freeware you installed? did you find that "affiliate" info by
searches (google searches of course :-) ) that included the freeware's name or
freeware company's name?

i see only *your* message here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=SearchSettings.exe+vendio+freeware+%
7C+adware+%7C+hijack

--
http://www.googlewhack.com/nack.htm
http://fileforum.betanews.com/review/971723146/1/view "... curiosity sure killed the
cat"
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/E-Book/The-Fascist-Bible.shtml
http://www.jujusoft.com/software/tool/index.html
http://www.texteditors.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?TextEditorFamilies

[rick...@gmail.com]

indeed the search/browser hijack was a result of this freeware.

in addition to changing your search engine it forces content to open
when you open a new tab.... which is even more annoying.

if you look closely at the search page they hijacked firefox with.....

i checked the html code and it explains that you can remove it from
windows 'uninstall' in the control panel

they deftly hid it on the list under "search settings"

take that out and you're back to normal

[clay]

I recall one such browser hijack on a friends PC, gave me fits trying to
remove it. All my reg cleaning, dll deleting, and it would come back
soon as we went online.
Finally read the fine print and all that was required to remove it was
via windows uninstall.
Best part was, when I ran windows uninstall the generic popup says "Are
you sure you don't want to uninstall..?"
Blindly clicking Yes removes nothing.
Clicking No removed the ap.

Sneaky bastards!

--
100% money back guarantee!
If at any time you are dissatisfied with the performance of your Mozilla
product, feel free to return it for a complete refund of your full
purchase price...

[danjk...@gmail.com]

I uninstalled noscript and I'm still having the same problems. I don't
understand what's going on. The browser automatically defaults to
"www.____.com". When I change the browser.fixup.alternate.enabled
value to false, then I just get the message "Firefox can't find the
server at ____". I'm at a loss at this point.

[David McRitchie]

<danjk...@gmail.com> wrote in message news:ae6845a4-c959-4bf3...@q70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...

The default engine used in the search box is Google and
is set with
browser.search.defaultenginename set to Google
browser.search.defaultrl
Each can probabably be reset by right click then reset

keyword.URL user set string
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=
keyword.enabled user set boolean false
Each of those can be reset by right click then reset

The default search from the location bar is

[argen...@gmail.com]

Well, that did help me in changing the search engine, but i just
reseted all the stuff at the about:config with yahoo in them.

Now i can use megaupload and use google at the address toolbar.

Mind my grammar.

[jim.m...@emcom.co.uk]

My defaultl Search engine keeps getting changed yo Yahoo and I cant find out why!!!

Ive manually changed keyword.url, but it changes back as soon as Firefox loads. I've deleted prefs.js, but a new one gets created and the Yahoo search gets installed. Ive disabled all Add ons, but still my default search gets changed.

What else can I do to stop Yahoo getting changed as my default?

[Furface]

Remove it from your computer. Go to Control panel....Uninstall programs
....look for Yahoo....remove

[Chris Ilias]

On 12-10-05 4:48 AM, jim.m...@emcom.co.uk wrote:
> My defaultl Search engine keeps getting changed yo Yahoo and I cant find out why!!!
>
> Ive manually changed keyword.url, but it changes back as soon as Firefox loads. I've deleted prefs.js, but a new one gets created and the Yahoo search gets installed. Ive disabled all Add ons, but still my default search gets changed.
>
> What else can I do to stop Yahoo getting changed as my default?

This article should help
<http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remove-toolbar-has-taken-over-your-firefox-search>.

--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
Mailing list/Newsgroup moderator

[senti...@googlemail.com]

We had this exact problem and got rid of the nasty little hack by going into installed programs and uninstalling a little bugger that had turned up called SPIGOT.

This was this sneaky programme that had sneaked on along with a free download. Once you've deleted it, you can change your search bars and homepages back to the ones you want, and it won't keep repeatedly overwriting your preferences.

Frankly I think it's shocking that a corporation as big as Yahoo would resort to such flagrantly shocking business practices. The only explanation I can think of is that it's a competitor of Yahoo who are trying to get them a bad reputation. Then again, I have had experience of yahoo before, so scratch that, it's probably part of their standard marketing.

[fadlata...@gmail.com]

بتاريخ الخميس، 6 ديسمبر، 2007 UTC+2 9:50:41 م، كتب lifea...@gmail.com:
> I am not sure what is going on, but I suspect it is a freeware program
> that I recently installed, that put some bot on my system. My default
> Firefox browser keeps switching to Yahoo, from Google. I prefer Google
> (not interested in a debate...). every time I go into about:config and
> change all the Yahoo settings to Google, it lasts a little bit and
> then eventually I get some message telling me that my browser settings
> have been changed back to their default (Yahoo), which indicates that
> some ^%#$% program is reseting my default to Yahoo. Indeed when I go
> back into about:config, it is back to Yahoo. Anyone have nay idea what
> program is doing this? I just ran spybot, and removed a few tracking
> programs, but it was nothing obvious, and it didn't fix the problem.
> Thanks

here's how I solved it
let us know what happend , you istalled a program and it add a virus to do what you are talking about
1)download Vista manager , then go to " Cleaner " >>> " Smart Unistaler "
2) click on Options , and mark all cheack boxes
3) now look in the programs titles in anything wierd , like " Google update "
beacause google is not a program ( this is an exampel )
4) click on the program you want to remove and click " Uninstall"
5)after uninsatllation the program will ask you to look up in the registery , click yes
6) then any dump files will show clear them by clicking " Remove "
7) use this method for all programs you dont know about them + ( toolbars,searchbars)
8)download " C Cleaner " and click on registery ,anylize and remove registry files
9) lunck Firefox and " Google " will be your defult search :)
peace

[weeklyc...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, December 6, 2007 1:50:41 PM UTC-6, lifea...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am not sure what is going on, but I suspect it is a freeware program
> that I recently installed, that put some bot on my system. My default
> Firefox browser keeps switching to Yahoo, from Google. I prefer Google
> (not interested in a debate...). every time I go into about:config and
> change all the Yahoo settings to Google, it lasts a little bit and
> then eventually I get some message telling me that my browser settings
> have been changed back to their default (Yahoo), which indicates that
> some ^%#$% program is reseting my default to Yahoo. Indeed when I go
> back into about:config, it is back to Yahoo. Anyone have nay idea what
> program is doing this? I just ran spybot, and removed a few tracking
> programs, but it was nothing obvious, and it didn't fix the problem.
> Thanks

My fix - went to settings, Search - Manage Search Engines - some program messed with the code in the Google Default.. I deleted google, and reset it up from the bottom of "Other Search Engines" using this code: http://google.com/search?q=%s and now I get no other but google, and no longer an annoying Yahoo when I search from the URL (omnibox) bar. Nothing else was required.

[cawo...@gmail.com]

one solution-
I saw no solution at the forums at Mozilla so I tried
going to "File"
then "options"
and then entered this full address into the address bow-
http://www.google.com/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

worked for me.
:)

[cawo...@gmail.com]

One solution that worked for me-
Go to "File" in upper-left corner
the click-on "Options"
In the address-bar past this address-
http://www.google.com/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

hope it works for ya
:)

[EE]

Have you looked at the searchbar to see what the selected search engine
is? If you use the address bar to search, it will use the search engine
selected in the searchbar.

[ankit gadgil]

Hi all,
Here is a fix that you can try, [ it involves customizing your browser ]

Step 1: GO to firefox browser
Step 2: Type *about:config *in url bar(address bar)
Step 3: search for *browser.search.defaultenginename*
Step 4: Change it to (one you want) eg: Google

Let us know if this works:

More on about:config:
To control the browser you use while using the web is the most basic right
one deserves
over the open web. "about:config" gives user the complete freedom and
opportunity to
control his/her's presence over the internet. Mozilla Firefox is highly
customizable, and
there are a number of ways to change its appearance and behaviour.
To modify a preference in the Firefox browser, type '*about:config*' into
the Location Bar
(address bar) and press Enter.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_About:config_Entries



*Regards,**Ankit Gadgil.*

*Mozilla Rep <https://reps.mozilla.org/u/ankitgadgil>@anknite
<https://twitter.com/anknite>*
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>

[Peter Holsberg]

From a google search:

1. Open Firefox browser. Click on Tools, then Options, select Privacy.
2. Click “Remove individual cookies.”
3. In the Cookies panel, click on “Show Cookies.” Remove a single cookie
click on the entry in the list and click on the “Remove Cookie button.”
4. To remove all cookies click on the “Remove All Cookies button.”
5. Click Tools and select Add-ons. On the Extensions and Plugin tabs
search for any suspicious add-ons and remove them.
7. Come back Tools again, this time you need click on “Clear Recent
History” and you need clear all recent history.
8. Click on the Start menu go to Control Panel, then click Network and
Internet. You then click on the Programs tab, then select Set your
default programs.If you want to set Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome,
you can select either of them


1. In the search bar, click the down arrow and select Manage Search Engines.
2. Remove Bing and set Google as your default
3. In your Firefox settings, select Add Ons and then Extensions - remove
any trace of Bing
4. Next go to about:config in the address bar. Search for Bing.
5. There are three settings: browser.search.defaultenginename,
browser.search.order.1, and browser.search.order.3. Double click each
one and set them to Google.
6. Restart FireFox and it should be all set.


open a new tab >type about:config in the address bar
1: browser.fixup.alternate.enabled should be false
2: keyword.enabled should be true
3: keyword.URL should be http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

[WaltS]

Thanks for your response to an original post of 2007, that the OP said
was solved in their second post.

You are aware that there is a Yahoo branded version of Firefox that
Windows and Mac users can download and install from
<http://downloads.yahoo.com/> ?

A user that installs that version will have Yahoo as the default search
engine.

Not sure it existed in 20007 though. ;-)

[WaltS]

Well, that was a colossal blunder on my part. :-[

How did I respond to the wrong post? Damn knee-jerk reactions.

[EE]

Keyword.URL is not in use any more. The engine in the search bar
controls the search in the address bar.

[ezeepos...@gmail.com]

I had the same sort of issue. Open Chrome expecting new tabs page to open and *Boom* Yahoo opens yet there is no set search pages or anything related to yahoo in my settings. I went through various sites looking for answers and saw many solutions all of which either did not work or was not applicable. Then I noticed this strange process called Lrcnta.exe that i never noticed before... So I checked it out and found it belonged to a program called Smart Bar then I delved into the program deeper and found that it was Yahoo Smart Bar by a company by the same name as the process and not yahoo.. Alarm bells rang in my head and I decided to uninstall this program via Control panel, Add/remove programs and guess what.... It stopped the yahoo page loading up. So for those who can not find a solution that wont work or is not applicable.. check your machine for Yahoo Smart Bar ... KILL IT before it lays eggs.

[nmlo...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, December 6, 2007 2:50:41 PM UTC-5, lifea...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am not sure what is going on, but I suspect it is a freeware program
> that I recently installed, that put some bot on my system. My default
> Firefox browser keeps switching to Yahoo, from Google. I prefer Google
> (not interested in a debate...). every time I go into about:config and
> change all the Yahoo settings to Google, it lasts a little bit and
> then eventually I get some message telling me that my browser settings
> have been changed back to their default (Yahoo), which indicates that
> some ^%#$% program is reseting my default to Yahoo. Indeed when I go
> back into about:config, it is back to Yahoo. Anyone have nay idea what
> program is doing this? I just ran spybot, and removed a few tracking
> programs, but it was nothing obvious, and it didn't fix the problem.
> Thanks

I read everything everyone else wrote and it still wasn't working.

I ended up:

Opening Firefox
Entering "about:config" in address line
Entering "I will be careful" button
Then I went through all information that had yahoo listed and right clicked and set it to default.
I set my home page as google and it was finally fixed.

[thevi...@gmail.com]

I hade the same problem as you guys but the program i hade changing my internet shearch engine was shearching protection so that may help you all

[in...@jara-aviation.co.uk]

On Monday, December 22, 2014 10:09:59 PM UTC, thevi...@gmail.com wrote:
> I hade the same problem as you guys but the program i hade changing my internet shearch engine was shearching protection so that may help you all

I had this problem last week - I found a program called "Search Secure" had been installed on my computer. I deleted it in windows add/remove, and the Yahoo problem has gone away

JJ

[commie...@yahoo.com]

Having same problem in FF 34.0. I opened a new window and typed in about:config in the address bar. Scrolled down to browser.search.defaultengine and saw that it was set to Ask.com even though I have never selected it as default. Right clicked and changed it to google.com.

Also, under browser.search.order.1 I switched that over from Ask.com to google.com.

I'll see if this keeps FF 34 from switching my google default back to yahoo after about 3 or 4 browser starts...

[Tonya Marshall]

If you go to Tools/Add-ons/Get Add-ons and put, search engines, in the
search bar, there are a number of different add-ons that will configure
your preferred search engine for you.
The bottom one in the list, Google search link fix, specifically names
Yahoo.

[Caver1]

You can delete the search engines you don't want.

--
Caver1

[yanag...@gmail.com]

Preferences/Search/change the default engine to Google. Worked for me.

[Ron Hunter]

On 12/30/2014 8:02 PM, yanag...@gmail.com wrote:
> Preferences/Search/change the default engine to Google. Worked for me.
>

There are any number of malware programs that have this effect. I
suggest a good malware scanner, or better yet, several, to see what is
doing this, and eliminate it.

[skyle...@yahoo.com]

I have the same problem, but with Google Chrome. Weird.

[rbs...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 2:50:41 PM UTC-5, lifea...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am not sure what is going on, but I suspect it is a freeware program
> that I recently installed, that put some bot on my system. My default
> Firefox browser keeps switching to Yahoo, from Google. I prefer Google
> (not interested in a debate...). every time I go into about:config and
> change all the Yahoo settings to Google, it lasts a little bit and
> then eventually I get some message telling me that my browser settings
> have been changed back to their default (Yahoo), which indicates that
> some ^%#$% program is reseting my default to Yahoo. Indeed when I go
> back into about:config, it is back to Yahoo. Anyone have nay idea what
> program is doing this? I just ran spybot, and removed a few tracking
> programs, but it was nothing obvious, and it didn't fix the problem.
> Thanks

Had the same problem after downloading and installing utorrent! My firefox search was switched to yahoo and browser home page too. I uninstalled utorrent
but everytime i opened firefox it was back to yahoo. Tried many times to switch firefox search back but back to yahoo again. I opened process explorer and found utorrent was still a running process! Killed the utorrent process and yahoo gone!

[WaltS48]

Really? Well, glad you solved this 7 year old problem.

Just for others information, Yahoo is now the default in North America, maybe just the USA. Google in most other countries except Russia and China.

--
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.0a1

[»Q«]

In
<news:mailman.8807.142170723...@lists.mozilla.org>,

Even seven years ago there were different defaults for different
locales.

I haven't used it and can't vouch for it, but the BrowserProtect
extension is supposed to prevent anything changing the search engine
choice (or a couple of other things) without the user's knowledge.
Get it only from a trusted source, as there are slimewares masquerading
under the same name.

<https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/browserprotect/>

Maybe that'll help someone seven years from now.

[abradd...@yahoo.com]

I found out that this was actually a program called "Yahoo! Search" by Pay-By-Ads. I used Windows uninstall to uninstall it. Goodbye forever, Yahoo search!

[barry.r...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 2:50:41 PM UTC-5, lifea...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am not sure what is going on, but I suspect it is a freeware program
> that I recently installed, that put some bot on my system. My default
> Firefox browser keeps switching to Yahoo, from Google. I prefer Google
> (not interested in a debate...). every time I go into about:config and
> change all the Yahoo settings to Google, it lasts a little bit and
> then eventually I get some message telling me that my browser settings
> have been changed back to their default (Yahoo), which indicates that
> some ^%#$% program is reseting my default to Yahoo. Indeed when I go
> back into about:config, it is back to Yahoo. Anyone have nay idea what
> program is doing this? I just ran spybot, and removed a few tracking
> programs, but it was nothing obvious, and it didn't fix the problem.
> Thanks

Please walk me through what to do on the macbook to fix this, thank you.

[WaltS48]

Did you install/update Java?

[Oracle starts pushing Yahoo instead of Ask Toolbar with Java
installations - gHacks Tech
News](http://www.ghacks.net/2015/06/25/oracle-starts-pushing-yahoo-instead-of-ask-toolbar-with-java-installations/)

--
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[Visit Pittsburgh](http://www.visitpittsburgh.com)
[Deutschtown Music Festival | A free full day of music July 11th,
featuring 120+ live bands playing all over
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[EE]

Copy the settings after changing them again from prefs.js into a new
file named user.js, and put that file into the profile. That should
make the settings stay put.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/User.js_file

[Chris Ilias]

Note that the post you're replying to is from 2007. Since then the
default search engine in Firefox has changed to Yahoo.
You should be able to set it to Google using the instructions at
<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-search-bar-firefox-and-manage-search-engines#w_set-a-default-search-engine>.

If that doesn't work and you feel that you have malware installed that
is hijacking your search engine, this article should help
<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remove-toolbar-has-taken-over-your-firefox-search>.

--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
Mailing list/Newsgroup moderator

[rajat...@gmail.com]

i had the same problem of yahoo appearing as default search ,i tried everything but nothing worked ,and then i went to control panel and saw samw yahoo pay by ads programs , i uninstalled it ,it worked for some time ,bu t now ame problem ,please tel me the solution if u have got rid of this problem.please reply !!!

[Good Guy]

On 18/08/2015 08:06, rajat...@gmail.com wrote:

i had the same problem of yahoo appearing as default search ,i tried everything but nothing worked ,and then i went to control panel and saw samw yahoo pay by ads programs , i uninstalled it ,it worked for some time ,bu t now ame problem ,please tel me the solution if u have got rid of this problem.please reply !!!

Have you read the entire thread yet?  If not try this:

1) In your URL bar type: about:config
2) Click on "I'll be careful" button
3) Now in the search bar type something like: search
4) You will get something like in this picture:



5) Right-Click on the word that you want to change.  For example, in my picture I have Google so I would right-click on Google and change it to Yahoo or vice versa.

6) You get the idea.

Good luck.

 

[Gabor]

Good Guy wrote:
>
> On 18/08/2015 08:06, rajat...@gmail.com wrote:
>> i had the same problem of yahoo appearing as default search ,i tried everything but nothing worked ,and then i went to control panel and saw samw yahoo pay by ads programs , i uninstalled it ,it worked for some time ,bu t now ame problem ,please tel me the solution if u have got rid of this problem.please reply !!!
>
> Have you read the entire thread yet? If not try this:
>
> 1) In your URL bar type: about:config
> 2) Click on "I'll be careful" button
> 3) Now in the search bar type something like: search
> 4) You will get something like in this picture:
>

> Search-Engine <http://s24.postimg.org/cc9rmjjxh/2015_08_18_2033.png>

>
> 5) Right-Click on the word that you want to change. For example, in my
> picture I have Google so I would right-click on Google and change it to
> Yahoo or vice versa.
>
> 6) You get the idea.
>
> Good luck.
>
>

If you use the address bar for searching, there is also a key called
keyword.URL which sets the search engine there. I typically only
type URLs into the address bar and don't want any search engine to
try to "search" for my mis-spelled names, so I also toggle
keyword.enabled to false.

--
Gabor

[»Q«]

In
<news:mailman.316.1439927856...@lists.mozilla.org>,

Gabor <ga...@alacron.com> wrote:

> If you use the address bar for searching, there is also a key called
> keyword.URL which sets the search engine there.

That info is for very old versions of Firefox. keyword.URL has no
effect now.

[Gabor]

Thanks, I'll delete it. Probably shows how long ago I toggled
keyword.enabled to false (which *is* still in the latest FireFox).

--
Gabor