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How do I change my default search country to Australia permanently?

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I am forever changing my search results to Australia. When I am looking for information about an Australian object, I do't want to have to wade through pages of US and UK results to find what I want.

I am forever changing my search results to Australia. When I am looking for information about an Australian object, I do't want to have to wade through pages of US and UK results to find what I want.

All Replies (9)

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You could type www.google.com.au Or whatever the alternative is for Australia and make that your default search engine. That way all of your searches and requests will be related to Australia. Additionally, you could try looking into plugins the localize searches instead of switching everything to AU every time. Let me know if this helps!

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G'Day Josh,

Thank you, that was quick.

This works great for Google but I am now anti anything Google since they deleted my gmail account of 14 years and won't tell me why.

They were quite happy to tell a third party that the deletion was justified but won't tell them or me why.

Anyway, I tried the same thing with DuckDuckGo ( my preferred search engine) but it just defaulted back to all regions.

Before I posted this question I looked on the web and found someone else that had asked the question after spending ages playing with plug ins with no luck.

If I ever forgive Google, I will keep this in mind.

I also found a result that talked about changing .src files but I deduced that was on a Macintosh.

Garry

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Hmm... you could try changing your localization settings in Windows. If your locale is set to a specific country, it should direct the majority of your searches towards that country.

(Plugins are still an option)

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G'Day Josh,

Geez you are quick.

Thanks again but my location in windows is already set to Australia.

Garry

Here is the text of the answer I mentioned earlier but it is also for Google.

In the Finder, navigate to /Applications -> Firefox.app -> (Control-click and choose Show Package Contents) -> Contents -> MacOS -> searchplugins. This is where Firefox stores all its search engine files. 
3. Find the relevant .src file (the .png and .gif files are icons) and make a backup copy (put the copy elsewhere). 
4. Open the chosen .src file using the contextual menu's Open With -> Other option. Select any pure text editor (I used Text Edit). 
5. Find the line that contains the URL (in google.src, it was the seventh line, which reads action="http://www.google.com/search and change it accordingly (to action="http://www.google.com.au/search in my case). 
6. Reading the last line, updateCheckDays="1", I presumed that the engine might be updated automatically, so I changed this to "0", which I assume sets the updater not to update. This would prevent the hack being overwritten later, I guessed. Perhaps someone can tell me if this is so--I'm not sure if this bit is necessary or helpful. 
7. Save the file. 
8. Open Firefox and try out your new search engine.
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Location but not Locale :) These two are different settings in Windows (And the words have also different meanings). Try to google Windows Locale Settings and set that. As Windows Locale are global system level region settings, and very few people actually set that for search.

Your other option is to go directly to the Australian google version.

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G'Day Josh,

Again with the speed.

Locale is also set to Australia, although the system indicates this is only a language setting.

I looked in add-ons for Default Country and also for Australia but nothing relevant showed up.

There were a lot of add-ons to indicate with a National Flag where the site you were viewing was located but nothing to set the Default Country for searches.

Garry

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I have notifications on my Gmail, I don't actually sit here actively waiting for your response :) Hmm.... I have a longshot solution, no clue if this is going to help you with the problem. Uninstall Firefox fully and use CCleaner to cleanup every file related to Firefox, including cookies and cached files. Change your locale to UK. Restart PC. Change your Local to Australia. Restart PC. Install Firefox, check if that does anything.

I am out of potential solutions on this front. Chrome is a much better alternative for your needs right now. However, with the new Firefox launching by the end of the year, it should be pretty hype to know if it works then.

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G'Day Josh,

Thank you again.

I will give that a try. It is getting a bit late here so I will try it when I am fresh

Garry

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Please do not scrub all Firefox files off your system unless you have a backup! Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles

I assume you set Australia in your Country preference in DDG settings (https://duckduckgo.com/settings). This is saved in a cookie. I don't know whether there is a way to preset that without saving that cookie. (Sometimes a specially crafted URL can do it.)

How do you manage cookies now? For example, here's what I do:

(1) By default, cookies are erased at the end of the session

Options > Privacy > Firefox will: Use custom setting for history

  • Under cookies: Keep until: I close Firefox
  • No checkmark for "Clear history when Firefox closes"

(2) For sites whose settings I want to persist beyond the current session, I change the cookie permission from Allow for Session to Allow

While on the site, call up the Permissions panel of the Page Info dialog using either:

  • right-click a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Permissions
  • (menu bar) Tools menu > Page Info > Permissions
  • click the padlock or "i" icon to the left of the site address, then the ">" icon, then More Information > Permissions

Scroll down to "Set Cookies" and uncheck the "Use default" box, and then select "Allow".

This may not take effect until your next session, depending on how the site handles cookies. To ensure a fresh set, you can click over to the Security panel, click the "View Cookies" button, and remove the existing cookies set by the site, then close out of Page Info and reload the page.

Also, I do not use any add-ons or external "cleaners" that would remove the cookies I have decided to save.

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