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How do i remove "searchassist" and change to google??

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Today i did a search from the URL bar and I'm having this http://searchassist.verizon.com....... instead of Google. I don't know how it changed or how to change it back to Google. I found other threads that say to go to about:config than choose keyword.url, but "keyword.url" doesn't exist. Please advise. I'm using a Mac, i don't know if that matters.

Today i did a search from the URL bar and I'm having this http://searchassist.verizon.com....... instead of Google. I don't know how it changed or how to change it back to Google. I found other threads that say to go to about:config than choose keyword.url, but "keyword.url" doesn't exist. Please advise. I'm using a Mac, i don't know if that matters.

All Replies (3)

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I'm sorry this has taken over your computer. This is fairly easy to remove fortunately.

Try the steps found at Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page

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You may have an ISP that automatically redirects you to a search page if a DNS look up fails. This takes the control from Firefox to do a search. You can contact your ISP and ask for a DNS server to opt-out of that feature. You can check if there is a link on the search results page to go to your ISP and opt-out. You can set different DNS servers.

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Does this problem only occur for one-word search, such as puppies ?

When you submit a search that has no spaces in the address bar, Firefox will check whether it is a valid server name with your DNS service provider (typically the company that supplies your internet connection). While some DNS service providers will honestly report that there is no such server, others will redirect Firefox to their own search results page instead.

In that case, there may be an "opt out" option on the page so that Firefox gets the correct signal. If not, you can switch your DNS service provider to one that plays by the rules.

In the case of the page you mentioned, look in the upper right for "What is this page?" to get to the opt-out links.