Google search from search bar triggers Captcha
My current version of Firefox is 151.0.4 (64-bit) & for the past 2 weeks or so every time I use the search bar to google something it triggers one of those "We've detected unusual activity from your network" requiring a Captcha. At first I tried all of the typical stuff [antivirus, vpn, extensions, etc...] to make sure that wasn't the issue. But as of yesterday & confirmed today I can actually go to Google's website first & do the search from there with no issue & no captcha.
So, whatever the issue is has to do specifically with doing the search via the search bar... for some reason. Is this a bug in the browser, or is there perhaps some setting that could cause this to happen in the about:config page? Though, I doubt a setting could be it because I've changed the settings I've changed now for years without causing this issue.
All Replies (6)
Valitud lahendus
To verify any setting impact you can either restart into troubleshooting mode for some more conservative defaults, or use the "Profile" functionality to create a new temporary profile to just test this behavior with a "clean slate".
This user fought the same pattern some time ago: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1519592
TBH I'm getting it from time to time — mostly in testing things, and nuking profiles and running burner accounts, I get these for stretches of time here and there. Some "less severe" blocks mean just refreshing the same search again works. The "more severe" means I get these repeatedly unless I go from their home page or previous search. Might be related to me wiping the profile and browsing data for goog, or that I'm not signed in with them — but only ever seen it in testing environment (i.e. unreleased versions of browsers or systems, using remote systems with datacenter IP addresses or VPNs — basically "dubious" traffic origins). Wondering if you might have saved something in your session data with them that would trip them off. If you e.g. download a separate Firefox Nightly nightly.mozilla.org to compare, is it the same, or that's fine?
You can also try changing the default search engine to any custom URL, incl. some of Google's — Add custom search engines in Firefox e.g. to show "Web" results tab first, you can try adding a new https://www.google.com/search?udm=14&q=%s entry and use that — see if you get different handling from them.
Adding the custom search engine google address solved it for me.
Just for the record on some of the other stuff in case other people find this thread in the future. My Firefox wipes everything anytime I close all instances of it running [history, site settings, cookies, etc... as for session data it would do it even if first opening Firefox. I had never experienced this until around 2 weeks ago & then it was constantly. It would happen every time I would use the search bar to search, unless I had already entered a captcha & not closed all windows so I had the cookie/session data stored it. Other search engines in the search bar did not do this, nor did going to google's homepage directly to search, only the search bar.
I've experienced the same issue as the OP and it begin happening around the same time. For me it happens whenever there is no session history retained by the browser (i.e. when using Private Browsing mode).
Using a custom search url for Google does not solve the issue for me.
I believe this is related to Firefox somewhat recently implementing anti-fingerprinting features in Private Browsing mode by default or when using ETP (Enhanced Tracking Protection) in Strict mode or custom mode with certain ETP features enabled. This is a good thing for FF. But unfortunately causes Google servers to consider you a potential bot, since they can't match your current browsing session to any known previous human or logged in session.
Muudetud bbird2 poolt
Same problem. Watching this thread......
OK, so someone mentioned McAfee as a possible trigger for these. Uninstalled Firefox. I googled "McAfee" and found a MCPR.EXE tool out there. Removal tool. Downloaded it. Shut down everything on my laptop, ran it, it took a few minutes. Ended OK, I rebooted the laptop. Reinstalled Firefox, fired it up, did a search, and no more captchas. YMMV. Good luck.
UPDATE: Captchas are back after laptop sat idle for 2 hours. Watching this thread, again, for an answer that is more permanent. Opera and Chrome and Edge all work fine. A Firefox refresh didn't change anything.
So, tired of waiting, I mentioned I did a refresh and got the "old firefox data" folder created. Someone else suggested fiddling with the "about:profiles" function. So I tried it, taking defaults all the way, including creating a new profile, and a "default user" using the "old firefox data" as the input profile. Saved it all and exited. Added to this Hail Mary, I also changed the Settings>Search> engines to Duck Duck Go only. Unchecked "Google" as a search engine, and no more captchas. For now? Still holding, no captchas @ 19:00 EDT. As an after thought, using the old firefox data folder as input to the "new profile" service seems to have restored all my extensions, add ons, settings, etc. so I didn't have to reinstall all that stuff. Did limiting the search engines to DDG and removing Google do the trick? Maybe?? Try it, someone else, and post up your results?
Still curious, I put Google back in as a co-search engine to DDG, and no captchas. For now
Muudetud MrSensible poolt
I am having the same problem. When I first open firefox and go to google, it says there is unusual traffic from my network. Once I check the capcha box, I am fine until I close firefox and open it again. No vpn, no extensions. Only happens in firefox, not chrome. There is a whole reddit thread as well with people experiencing this as well, so its not solved.
Muudetud roberrt99 poolt
Bonjour
Search engine https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1601867#answer-1845180 https://www.google.com/search?udm=14&q=%s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPOMV02Mfx4
When i open firefox and do a first google search or when i open firefox and do a first google search with https://www.google.com/search?udm=14&q=%s entry, the result is the same. Nos systèmes ont détecté un trafic exceptionnel sur votre réseau informatique. Cette page permet de vérifier que c'est bien vous qui envoyez des requêtes, et non un robot. Que s'est-il passé ? https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/86640
@roberrt99 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1606479
Muudetud Agent virtuel poolt
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