
I cannot get firefox to work on my hp. Ask takes over. help
I have firefox on my mac and love it. I have an HP laptop and have put firefox on it as my web browser but it does not come up, I end up with ask.com as my browser and I hate it. How can I make firefox my default browser.
Chosen solution
Your Firefox might have been invaded by unwanted add-ons and settings.
A "quick fix" is to use the Refresh feature, but if you have numerous add-ons, then it's time-consuming to set those up again. Here's the article if you're interested: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings.
If you want to dig around a bit first, I suggest starting here:
(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help surface undisclosed bundle items from Ask or affiliated entities that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.
(2) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
- in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
firefox.exe "about:addons"
In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".
In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that all extensions are optional, none come with Firefox, and you can learn more about them by checking their reviews on the Add-ons site.
Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.
Any improvement?
(3) Repair settings
You can restore the built-in home page, default search engine, and standard new tab page using this extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/searchreset/
If you prefer to change them manually, these articles cover the home page and search engine:
- Startup, home page, tabs, and download settings or How to set the home page
- Use the search bar in Firefox
The new tab page is a little more involved:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the browser.newtab.url preference and enter your preferred page:
- Page thumbnails (default) => about:newtab
- Blank tab => about:blank
- Built-in Firefox home page => about:home
- Any other page => full URL to the page
Press Ctrl+t to open a new tab and verify that it worked. Fixed?
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Chosen Solution
Your Firefox might have been invaded by unwanted add-ons and settings.
A "quick fix" is to use the Refresh feature, but if you have numerous add-ons, then it's time-consuming to set those up again. Here's the article if you're interested: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings.
If you want to dig around a bit first, I suggest starting here:
(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help surface undisclosed bundle items from Ask or affiliated entities that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.
(2) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
- in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
firefox.exe "about:addons"
In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".
In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that all extensions are optional, none come with Firefox, and you can learn more about them by checking their reviews on the Add-ons site.
Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.
Any improvement?
(3) Repair settings
You can restore the built-in home page, default search engine, and standard new tab page using this extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/searchreset/
If you prefer to change them manually, these articles cover the home page and search engine:
- Startup, home page, tabs, and download settings or How to set the home page
- Use the search bar in Firefox
The new tab page is a little more involved:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the browser.newtab.url preference and enter your preferred page:
- Page thumbnails (default) => about:newtab
- Blank tab => about:blank
- Built-in Firefox home page => about:home
- Any other page => full URL to the page
Press Ctrl+t to open a new tab and verify that it worked. Fixed?