Please update to the most recent version of Firefox:

• Update Firefox to the latest release

The latest version is 40.0.3.

Second: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings

Thanks for the reply. Updated and refreshed and no help. I attached a screen shot of the tab. Again if I keep reloading it it will eventually go through.

I ran a Google search for recent posts on Microsoft's forums and this error seems to occur on a variety of different browsers for not-obvious reasons:

bing "ref a" "ref b" "ref c" site:answers.microsoft.com - Google Search - within the last month

Where are you searching from when you get this, which search bar/box?

Thank you for your time and effort. Either the context menu or the "search" box. Sometimes it works fine but more often than not it doesn't.

Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.

• http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/

Thanks cor-el. I tried that and it doesn't seem to help. Part of the problem is that its random. It will work fine for a while then start acting up then start working fine again. It almost seems to be a problem with the Bing servers. On the Microsoft support site I found a couple of people with the same problem. Of course Bing is not at fault (according to them) and the only replies the others got was to check for a problem with the browser. If I have to abandon Bing that's not a problem but at this point I'd like to know what the problem is out of curiosity.

Bing search from context menu returns "Ref A: BE4803316B6147E69E494715BFB81496 Ref B: 601C0CF916098FC04B6F8FD5D7D498D7 Ref C: Tue Aug 25 14:13:47 2015 PST".

Yeah. I have this problem too. I thought it was because we moved, have a new internet provider and I had to buy my own router. I thought I set it up wrong. I'm glad to know I didn't and that it isn't my internet provider. I'm beyond frustrated with this as I work from home and need to be able to do VERY quick searches on the fly for names and places during commercials. I am a broadcast captioner. I only have 120 seconds to do my searches and it becomes impossible to do so with this issue. Nothing I've done has helped. I've updated consistently. I do not have any add-ons except for ABP. I keep all my plug-ins in the "ask to activate" status as I cannot go to a website without SOMETHING playing noises and sucking up my CPU while I'm on the air. This REF A: and B: stuff is WAY out of hand. It's been going on almost two months.

Hi ladypeace82, does it work to run the searches on Yahoo? Yahoo gets its results from Bing, so that probably would be closer to what you are used to compared with Google.

I haven't tried. I just switched it to use Google instead. I tried about five random searches and so far it hasn't given me the REF A: and B: string. We shall see. I prefer not to use anything with Yahoo. It always has too much going on. I Just avoid Yahoo altogether.

So far so good with the search provider change.

Thank you all for your help. Started using Chrome and have the same problem. May be a problem with a Bing cookie? Maybe Google is causing this purposely somehow?? May be something with my Dell laptop??? If I figure it out I'll post what I find.

Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) to see if that has effect.

• http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/
• http://www.7tutorials.com/4-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-10

jscher2000 said

I ran a Google search for recent posts on Microsoft's forums and this error seems to occur on a variety of different browsers for not-obvious reasons: bing "ref a" "ref b" "ref c" site:answers.microsoft.com - Google Search - within the last month Where are you searching from when you get this, which search bar/box?

It happens from the context menu, search bar, and address bar. Started using Chrome and have the same problem. I've tried safe mode, clearing cache and everything else. And again it's random. Sometimes the search works fine, sometimes it will go through after 1 refresh, sometimes it takes 5 or 10 reloads to go through. Trying a SFC scan right now and will try some of the other ideas on the Microsoft site. I'll keep you up to date if and when I find the problem. Thanks again.