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Why does the location bar in firefox 4 go to a google search instead of reverting to the correct website like it used to?

  • 1 reply
  • 39 have this problem
  • 109 views
  • Last reply by TonyE

xoonelove
xoonelove
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For Example: When I type in CNN in the location bar, it takes me to a google search of CNN. In firefox 3, it went straight to CNN.com. I would say maybe I installed something that over wrote it, but this happens on both of my computers since I installed the new edition. How do I fix this??? This is one of my favorite features of firefox!

Thanks so much for your time.

For Example: When I type in CNN in the location bar, it takes me to a google search of CNN. In firefox 3, it went straight to CNN.com. I would say maybe I installed something that over wrote it, but this happens on both of my computers since I installed the new edition. How do I fix this??? This is one of my favorite features of firefox! Thanks so much for your time.

All Replies (1)

TonyE
TonyE
  • Moderator
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The change between Firefox 3.6.* and Firefox 4 is how location bar search works. In Firefox 3.6 it uses Google "Browse by name" search. With the browse by name search, it performs a Google search and if there is a clear match it will take you to the site, otherwise it shows the Google search result. With Firefox 4 it just performs a Google search if you type something which is not recognised as a URL.

To get the Firefox 3.6 behaviour on Firefox 4 you need to change a hidden preference.

  1. Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
  2. Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
  3. Locate the preference keyword.URL, double-click on it and change its value to the link shown below

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

If you prefer, you can also do this by installing the Browse by Name extension - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/browse-by-name