How to enable search from location bar by ONE word.
Search from location bar (CTR+L) works fine if I type several words (for example, "bla bla"). But if I type just one (for example, "bla" or "bla-bla") word then the search doesn't work.
I want to resolve it without any additional extensions.
Several hours of googling didn't get me a positive result. Please help me.
Additional System Details
Installed Plug-ins
- Shockwave Flash 11.5 r502
- Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape 11.0.01
- Google Update
- NPRuntime Script Plug-in Library for Java(TM) Deploy
- The plug-in allows you to open and edit files using Microsoft Office applications
- Office Authorization plug-in for NPAPI browsers
- 3.0.40818.0
Application
- User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:18.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0
More Information
Hi moddom,
I'm sorry to hear you have this problem. What happens when you're trying to search for one word only? Are you getting any results or any error messages? How is it different from when you're trying to search two words?
See also:
Try to reset some preferences to the default with the SearchReset extension:
Note that the SearchReset extension only runs once and then uninstalls automatically, so it won't show on the "Firefox > Add-ons" page (about:addons).
Question owner
If try to search by one world i have the message which is in the attachment.
If i try to search by two words, i have the page https://www.google.by/search?ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=bal+bla
Also, i think it can happen because of my proxy doesn't give me error 404 if site isn't exist. And get me 503 instead of 404.
Question owner
Also, i've found additional information, which can be useful:
The problem appears only at this machine (windows 7 + firefox 18.0.1).
I have expected result with another machine (Ubuntu+ firefox [latest release version]). It means, search from location bar by one word is performed successfully.
I use Firefox Sync and i synchronize settings.
So it is one more case which is confirms that problem happens because of proxy.
Can I bypass this?
I also get this error, but only at school, when I am connected through a proxy server. Attempting to search 'test' will connect me to' http://test' with 'ERROR: The requested URL could not be retrieved.'
Yes, searching via the location bar when you use a proxy doesn't work very well.
If you use a proxy then best is to use a one letter keyword search, either via a bookmark or via manage search engine (drop down marker on the search bar).
When you type a single word in to the address bar Firefox will do a DNS lookup on that word to see if it is a valid domain. I don't know if you can change that behavior. I don't know if it is the right behavior since a word with no dots in it shouldn't be a valid domain, but I understand there has been some talk about it being allowed in the future so maybe it is the right behavior.
What's certainly wrong is the way a good number of DNS servers deal with domains that they don't recognize. Do they tell your machine it's an invalid DNS? No, they tell your machine that you're trying to look up their advertisement page. It's not just sketchy ISPs that do it, I see this behavior on OpenDNS too. How is Firefox supposed to know that you wanted to do a search when it is being told that the thing you put in the address bar actually is a valid URL?
If you have any control over your machine or your router I'd recommend finding a DNS server you can use that will return honest results. I've had success with the google public DNS servers, and I am sure there are others. When Firefox is told the truth about your single word not being a valid DNS then it will do a search on it.
Don't forget to clear your cache after you change the setting.