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Wo archive tread sia. Meɖekuku bia biabia yeye ne ehia kpeɖeŋu.

Why can't I change my search engine?

winterpuddles
winterpuddles
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This has happened a few times, and uninstalling and reinstalling firrefox fixes the problem but only for a couple days. My search engine (google) keeps gettting deleted and replaced by https://search.protectedio.com/search.php/. I have no ad ons, extensions, or viruses that I am aware of. I have been scanning my computer for viruses but haven't found any, and I do not see any malicious programs installed on my computer. I have read every article about this and nothing has helped me fix it yet. I cannot change the settings on firefox, sometimes I cannot even get to the search setting page. It just refuses to go there, and refuses to accept any changes to my search settings.

This has happened a few times, and uninstalling and reinstalling firrefox fixes the problem but only for a couple days. My search engine (google) keeps gettting deleted and replaced by https://search.protectedio.com/search.php/. I have no ad ons, extensions, or viruses that I am aware of. I have been scanning my computer for viruses but haven't found any, and I do not see any malicious programs installed on my computer. I have read every article about this and nothing has helped me fix it yet. I cannot change the settings on firefox, sometimes I cannot even get to the search setting page. It just refuses to go there, and refuses to accept any changes to my search settings.

All Replies (2)

philipp
philipp
  • Moderator
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hi, please try to run a scan of your system with the following two security tools in particular as they are specialised in detecting adware and browser hijackers:

Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Some online articles suggest that this program also may hijack the shortcuts you use to start up your browsers. After cleaning your system...

If you are getting their page at startup instead of your home page, even though your home page setting is correct, here's the process for cleaning your Firefox shortcut (other browsers would be similar).

Access the Properties dialog for the shortcut. Either:

  • Desktop shortcut: right-click the icon, choose Properties
  • Pinned taskbar icon: right-click the icon, right-click Mozilla Firefox, choose Properties

Windows normally will select the Shortcut tab. If not, go ahead and click the Shortcut tab.

The Target line should not have anything after this part:

  • 64-bit Windows, standard 32-bit Firefox: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
  • Otherwise: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

If any URLs are listed after that, clear them out and save your change. To test, you can either:

  • Desktop shortcut: double-click the icon to launch a new window
  • Pinned taskbar icon: right-click the icon, click Mozilla Firefox to launch a new window

If you get your home page, it worked.

Some users have reported a faster fix for a pinned taskbar item:

  • unpin the current icon
  • go into the Start menu, right-click Mozilla Firefox, then Pin to Taskbar