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How Can I Stop Firefox From Updating My Search Engines?

  • 20 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 118 views
  • Last reply by amatasta

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Firefox seems to continually re-add search engines to my Search Engine options. I delete all but two Search Engines, yet every week or two, or maybe it's when the browser processes an update, all the old, removed search engines re-appear. It's annoying to have to endlessly delete them over and over again. I could just let them stay, I guess, but I'm stuck on the principle of the thing.

For example, I delete Google, Yahoo, Ixquick, etc. And yet, two or three weeks later, they're all back again. I have toggled browser.search.update to 'false', combed through about:config for anything related, toggled the setting in Preferences, and nothing seems to work. Is this a bug or a feature?

I have two instances of Firefox - Firefox beta and the standard one. Beta is at 56.0b12 (64-bit). The standard Firefox is up to date at whatever the current release version is.

Firefox seems to continually re-add search engines to my Search Engine options. I delete all but two Search Engines, yet every week or two, or maybe it's when the browser processes an update, all the old, removed search engines re-appear. It's annoying to have to endlessly delete them over and over again. I could just let them stay, I guess, but I'm stuck on the principle of the thing. For example, I delete Google, Yahoo, Ixquick, etc. And yet, two or three weeks later, they're all back again. I have toggled browser.search.update to 'false', combed through about:config for anything related, toggled the setting in Preferences, and nothing seems to work. Is this a bug or a feature? I have two instances of Firefox - Firefox beta and the standard one. Beta is at 56.0b12 (64-bit). The standard Firefox is up to date at whatever the current release version is.
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Chosen solution

Have you tried this;

To reset the search engines, remove these files in the Firefox profile folder; search.json + search-metadata.json + search.sqlite + search.json.mozlz4

search.json.mozlz4 ==only== (v45+)

New files are created when needed.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (20)

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Type about:preferences#advanced<enter> in the address bar.

Under Advanced, Select Update.

At the bottom, do you see Search Engines?

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FredMcD said

Type about:preferences#advanced<enter> in the address bar. Under Advanced, Select Update. At the bottom, do you see Search Engines?

Fred - Hi, yes, this is what I see (this is in Firefox Beta). The "automatically update search engines checkbox is at the bottom, unchecked.

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Hmm, built-in search engines you have hidden using the Remove button should remain hidden after updates. This data is stored in a compressed file in your profile named search.json.mozlz4. Is this the only setting that gets lost during updates or do you lose other settings?

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jscher2000 said

Hmm, built-in search engines you have hidden using the Remove button should remain hidden after updates. This data is stored in a compressed file in your profile named search.json.mozlz4. Is this the only setting that gets lost during updates or do you lose other settings?

Hi, yes, so far as I have noticed, this is the only thing that gets lost during updates.

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Do you use Sync between the two different profiles (the one you use for the release/stable version of Firefox and the one you use for Beta)?

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jscher2000 said

Do you use Sync between the two different profiles (the one you use for the release/stable version of Firefox and the one you use for Beta)?

I had to go check before answering, because I've turned it on in the past to sync between a tablet and my laptop; but at the moment I'm not signed in, and the latest beta refresh (day before yesterday, I think) brought all the unwanted search engines back into the list.

So although I've used sync in the past, I think at the moment the answer is "no, sync isn't involved" because I'm currently not signed in and haven't been recently.

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Maybe it's a Firefox 56 thing? Sometimes file structures change between versions and need to be upconverted and during that process some settings can be lost.

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jscher2000 said

Maybe it's a Firefox 56 thing? Sometimes file structures change between versions and need to be upconverted and during that process some settings can be lost.

Yes, could be. I can't say if I ever noticed this before 56.

I suppose I could test by installing a back-dated version, then disabling search engine updates, but I'd have to create a new profile so the config information would be clean for testing, right?

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I don't think it's an issue of enabling or disabling search engine updates. As far as I know, what that does is check whether any search engines you've installed from the Add-ons site have been updated. I don't think that has any effect on the built-in search engines; those are part of Firefox and you can't block them from being installed or updated. But for some reason the data file with the indication hidden=true for the ones you "removed" is getting reset by installing/updating Firefox 56 beta. I don't know what's causing that, whether it's a bug or intentional.

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Chosen Solution

Have you tried this;

To reset the search engines, remove these files in the Firefox profile folder; search.json + search-metadata.json + search.sqlite + search.json.mozlz4

search.json.mozlz4 ==only== (v45+)

New files are created when needed.

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jscher2000 said

I don't think it's an issue of enabling or disabling search engine updates. As far as I know, what that does is check whether any search engines you've installed from the Add-ons site have been updated. I don't think that has any effect on the built-in search engines; those are part of Firefox and you can't block them from being installed or updated. But for some reason the data file with the indication hidden=true for the ones you "removed" is getting reset by installing/updating Firefox 56 beta. I don't know what's causing that, whether it's a bug or intentional.

Maybe this is a bug?

FredMcD said

Have you tried this; To reset the search engines, remove these files in the Firefox profile folder; search.json + search-metadata.json + search.sqlite + search.json.mozlz4 search.json.mozlz4 ==only== (v45+) New files are created when needed.

I'll try this, and then I'll rehide the search engines I'm not interested in seeing. If they re-appear at a later date, then maybe I've stumbled on a bug.

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FredMcD said

Have you tried this; To reset the search engines, remove these files in the Firefox profile folder; search.json + search-metadata.json + search.sqlite + search.json.mozlz4 search.json.mozlz4 ==only== (v45+) New files are created when needed.

Just by way of an update, this seems to have worked. My beta instance was upgraded this morning and my search engine preferences were *not* - ie. the removed/hidden search engines weren't added back into the list of available engines. so maybe this was just file corruption of some sort?

anyway, it seems to have worked. thanks!

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Glad that FredMcD's suggestion solved your problem  !

Would you be a dear and mark FredMcD's post (not the one that you quoted) as 'Chosen Solution'  ?

Thank you in advance  !

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Happy112 said

Glad that FredMcD's suggestion solved your problem  ! Would you be a dear and mark FredMcD's post (not the one that you quoted) as 'Chosen Solution'  ? Thank you in advance  !

hi - yes, i'd be happy to, but i'm not seeing where to mark it as the 'Chosen Solution'.

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amatasta said

hi - yes, i'd be happy to, but i'm not seeing where to mark it as the 'Chosen Solution'.

You in advertently marked my post as 'Chosen Solution' ...... You can rectify that by clicking the Undo button to the right, and then maybe try again  ? If it doesn't work at all, then you can click the 'Report Abuse' button (also to the right) and in the dropdown click 'other' and type : rectify 'Chosen Solution'. A moderator then will mark FredMcD's post.

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- redacted -

Modified by amatasta

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amatasta said

i'm sorry, i'm not seeing an edit button for your post that's marked "Chosen Solution". am i missing something? pls. see screenshot.

Don't worry about it - I'll flag it and get a moderator to mark the right post.

Thank you for trying - now, you go and relax  !

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Glad to help. Safe Surfing.

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@ amatasta :

You managed to do it after all - well done  !

The moderator can ignore my flag ........

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Happy112 said

@ amatasta : You managed to do it after all - well done  ! The moderator can ignore my flag ........

yeah, you know, it's just strange : i didn't have a single clue as to where these posts might be marked as the 'Chosen Solution', no idea where the button was or if one even existed; and there's that whole thing about my not having interacted at all with your post prior to viewing it upon being notified in an email that you were interacting with me. i'm just scratching my head as to how it might have been me who marked your post, inadvertently or not, as the Chosen One.

life can be such a mystery sometimes.

)

tchau !