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Firefox updated 2 days ago and now blocks DuckDuckGo

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

mcguffin
mcguffin
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Linux Mageia7 Firefox quantum 68.4.2esr 64bit updated 2 days ago and now blocks DuckDuckGo searches. The page flashes on and disappears. Changing settings does nothing, Bing works as in shows but isn't a good enough search engine to be useful. If Mozilla no longer wants Linux users they should be open about it instead of wasting time. There isn't even any help in the help section/results have nothing to do with the question.

Linux Mageia7 Firefox quantum 68.4.2esr 64bit updated 2 days ago and now blocks DuckDuckGo searches. The page flashes on and disappears. Changing settings does nothing, Bing works as in shows but isn't a good enough search engine to be useful. If Mozilla no longer wants Linux users they should be open about it instead of wasting time. There isn't even any help in the help section/results have nothing to do with the question.

All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Hi mcguffin, if I understand your description correctly, DuckDuckGo loads, results display, but then the page blanks out. Or is it that the tab closes completely?

If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are standard suggestions to try when it stops working normally:

Double-check content blockers: Firefox's Content Blocking/Tracking Protection feature, and extensions that counter ads and tracking, may break websites that embed third party content (meaning, from a secondary server).

(A) Do you see a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar, near the lock icon? More info on managing the Tracking Protection feature in this article: Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop (before Firefox 70: Content Blocking).

(B) Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix should provide toolbar buttons to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you may need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site.

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, click the lock icon at the left end of the address bar. After a moment, a "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button should appear at the bottom. Go ahead and click that.

In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. (On Mac, hold down the option/alt key instead of the Shift key.)

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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DuckDuckGo should be available as a builtin search engine.

Can't you use this search engine ?

You can rename/remove search.json.mozlz4 (and possible search.json, search-metadata.json, search.sqlite) in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed to rebuild the search engines registry.

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

Firefox will rebuild the search.json.mozlz4 file from the builtin search engines.

If you installed the search engine via an extension then try this:

You can check for problems with the extensions registry files in the profile folder.

Try to to reset the extensions registry and rename extensions.json (extensionsOLD.json) and rename/remove previously used extensions files like extensions.ini and extensions.sqlite when present and rename/remove compatibility.ini in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed.

New files will be created when required.

See "corrupt extension files":

You can check for possible updates in case of issues.

  • click the cogwheel button (left of the Search bar) on the about:addons page to "Check for updates"

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.