How can I get rid of "search.smartsuggestor.com/web.php" which is neither within my addons nor in my extensions?
Since the most recent Firefox-Update I am permanently kidnapped by the a "smartsuggestor" function, which takes me - without asking - EVERY TIME WHEN I CLICK A LINK IN ANY WEBSITE away from my target to SPONSORED LINKS, - and this happens even while I am password protected customer websites.This is more than annoying, but .... it doesn't happen when I'm using Opera. But I would love to stay with FIREFOX. Therefore I deactivated selectively (=set after set of) - finally - all of my addons. The same I did with my "Erweiterungen" (in English it probably is called "extensions" ) of Firefox. Nothing helped, nothing is protecting me from being taken away from the target of my "click". PLEASE help me out of this horrible problem. My German Firefox version is 15.0.1. - the XP-edition is most up-to-date.
Modified by Joey
Chosen solution
Did you look in your installed programs - the very first item in my reply - to verify that the application is or is not installed on your system and to uninstall it if it is there?
- Be sure to do that step with Firefox closed.
- Uninstalling the application, if present, is important because the changes to Firefox will be made again immediately upon restarting Firefox if the application is still on your system.
You can install and run the Search Reset add-on
- after performing the uninstall, if present on your system,
- or if the application is not installed on your system per the examining your installed applications.
- Restart Firefox after running the Search Reset add-on and test to see if the situation is corrected.
You can perform the Firefox Reset after
- performing the uninstall, if needed,
- or if the application is not installed on your system
- and the Search Reset did not help your situation.
All Replies (7)
Developer uninstall instructions - http://www.smartsuggestor.com/uninstall.html (do this with Firefox closed)
You may need to install and run the following add-on to reset your Firefox search parameters after the uninstall above - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/searchreset/
You may need to start with a clean profile after the uninstall above. Read the following carefully and all of the links in the following to clearly understand what the reset does and does not do - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/reset-firefox-easily-fix-most-problems
Dear Sir, I am extremely thankful that you have been reacting thus fast. Unfortunately I was not able to walk that path as:
a) the Developer uninstall instructions read: Firefox Browser Users:
Click on tools + Click on Add-ons + Click on Uninstall Smart Suggestor
BUT: I had looked up my ADDON-manager within Firefox before: the SAMRT SUGGESTOR does NOT appear, neither within my ADD-ons nor within my extensions. Thus I can neither deactivate nor uninstall it from the ADD-ons-manager. By the way: My 15.0.1 is a GERMAN Firefox-Version but this would probably not have any effect, does it?
b) You recommended to reset my search parameters (and evenntually to restart with a clean profile) only AFTER the above uninstall, but as I was unable to perform the first step, I don't dare to run one of these steps ahead of having succeeded with a)
Chosen Solution
Did you look in your installed programs - the very first item in my reply - to verify that the application is or is not installed on your system and to uninstall it if it is there?
- Be sure to do that step with Firefox closed.
- Uninstalling the application, if present, is important because the changes to Firefox will be made again immediately upon restarting Firefox if the application is still on your system.
You can install and run the Search Reset add-on
- after performing the uninstall, if present on your system,
- or if the application is not installed on your system per the examining your installed applications.
- Restart Firefox after running the Search Reset add-on and test to see if the situation is corrected.
You can perform the Firefox Reset after
- performing the uninstall, if needed,
- or if the application is not installed on your system
- and the Search Reset did not help your situation.
Modified by TheOldFox
Dear Sir, once again THANK YOU for standing by me in this uncomfortable situation. - Before I entered my problem in this forum I had already investigated if any program like "smartsuggestor" is installed via the Control Panel, and went through the list of installed software line by line, but NOTHING was to be found. After your second reply I run the "Search Reset add-on". The add-on itself worked fine, as my homepage was reset to "Mozilla-Firefox Startseite" i.e. the German Firefox homepage..... but after restaring Firefox the same problem reoccured: I entered the homepage of a company that is producing swivel- and lift-systems and while opening one of the subpages with product details I was taken to a competitors site. I will perform the Firefox Reset as soon as I get up again - it's midnight over here - and you made my day by showing me, that I am not alone in this quicksand .... THANKS again, and I will report immediately after having performed the Firefox reset.
Modified by Joey
Finally ..... it seems like the Firefox Reset did the job !!!!!! Some of the add-ons are missing, but I will be VERY careful with re-installing them. Only the Norton Toolbar is a must, - but I do feel MUCH better now. THANKS AGAIN !!!!
All user-installed extensions will need to be reinstalled. The Norton toolbar items should automatically reinstall when you restart Firefox because they are installed by Norton through Windows registry entries. The names of the 2 items to check for Norton are included in this information (scroll down a bit in the following link) - http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Toolbar-Norton-Identity/Firefox-15-Support-for-Norton-Toolbar/td-p/791174 If those 2 items are disable, then click the enable button.
Plugins installed by other applications that you have installed on your system (Adobe Reader, Flash, etc) should automatically reinstall in your new profile.
Modified by TheOldFox
Dear Sir, your help was comprehensive and precise and I learned a lot. With your help I was able to overcome the recent trouble. THANKS AGAIN ! I am most grateful !!