Google doesn't show up as a default search engine
I'm using Mac OS X, the most recent version. When I use the search bar (or the tool bar search function), Firefox uses Google Scholar instead of Google. I've gone to the preferences page, and the only default search engine available is Google Scholar. The button to restore default search engines is greyed out. I can't fine a Google search extension anywhere, and you can't add Google as a search engine from the toolbar. Please help!
Chosen solution
So, the malware scans didn't help and I went through the steps to manually removed the hijacker file (it wasn't there). However, as I looked back through one of the links you provided, it offered me a "refresh Firefox" option, and that worked like a charm. Yay! Thanks so much.
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Hello joe.bellon,
I assume that you never installed this add-on (which was last updated ten years ago) :
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-scholar-10310/
But you're probably dealing with this hijacker, that changes your settings :
https://www.precisesecurity.com/hijacker/how-to-remove-googlescholar-co
Would you please do this :
Go to the Firefox menu (≡) => Options => Add-ons => Extensions and remove anything that looks unfamiliar or suspicious.
Next step is to run malwarescans - further information can be found in this article :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware?cache=no
Run most or all of the listed malware scanners. They all work differently - what one program doesn't pick up, the other might.
Especially for Mac : https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/
Any luck ?
Hi McCoy, and thanks for the ideas. I have had MalwareBytes installed for quite a while. I went through all the search ideas for locating the offending hijacker and couldn't find it. Any other ideas?
joe.bellon said
Any other ideas?
Two questions, actually :
In that second link I posted (about the hijacker), did you scroll down to the section "Manually Remove Googlescholar.co from Mac" ?
And second question : Did you run all malware scans that are listed in the "troubleshoot" article ?
I was hoping you'd find the culprit in Preferences => Add-ons => Extensions, though ....... bummer !
Chosen Solution
So, the malware scans didn't help and I went through the steps to manually removed the hijacker file (it wasn't there). However, as I looked back through one of the links you provided, it offered me a "refresh Firefox" option, and that worked like a charm. Yay! Thanks so much.
I'm glad you got things back to normal - well done !