hello david, you have an extension installed that is related to this search engine...

Disable or remove Add-ons

Did you also check the searchplugins folder in the Firefox profile folder?

Do you see this search engine in Manage Search Engines?

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_search_or_add_new_engines
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/remove-toolbar-has-taken-over-your-firefox-search-

You can use the SearchReset extension to reset some preferences to the default values.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/searchreset/

Note that the SearchReset extension only runs once and then uninstalls automatically, so it won't show on the "Firefox > Add-ons" page (about:addons).

This is not at all helpful. The instructions say to click on the "Firefox Button" - I presume that is the Firefox logo at the upper left of the page? If so, there is no "Add-Ons" option to select. If not, then where the he## is the "Firefox Button"?

When I tried the other "suggestion" - it resulted in "DuckDuckGo" taking over as the home page when I re-opened Firefox.

I definitely do not trust this DuckDuckGo #$%^&, and fear that my computer has been compromised.

It really shouldn't require a PHD in computer science to safely use a browser. Shame on the tech world for allowing this to happen to unsuspecting Internet users.

Yes I looked at the "searchplugins" folder. DuckDuckGo is NOT among those listed. It apparently is hiding somewhere else in my system, only to emerge each time I restart Firefox, even though I have manually "removed" it from my search options.

Very frustrating.

if you have set the menubar to be visible by default then there is no firefox button - you can access the addons manager through the tools menu.

please note that duckduckgo is a reputable search engine & site and has its addon listed at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-for-firefox/. it doesn't install by itself, so someone using your computer must have manually installed it...

I quit using FIREFOX because of this!

David:

To remove this without deleting your whole profile, this is what I did:

1) In %USERNAME%/AppData/Roaming/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/e2008b8d.default/searchplugins, delete duckduckgo.xml if it exists.

2) Look in %USERNAME%/AppData/Roaming/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/e2008b8d.default/extensions. I deleted a file called 'jid 1-....xpi'. If this does not exist, you will need to open each of the .xpi files with Wordpad (even though they are binary) and search for the string 'ddg'. When you find the file which contains that string, delete it.

3) I also deleted all the files in %USERNAME%/AppData/Local/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/e2008b8d.default/startupCache.

As you say, this should not be necessary. Those folks at duckduckgo are truly a bunch of arsewipes.

DuckDuckGo is generally considered reputable as already mentioned above. My own quick checks have not found any problems with it.

Of course malware may use innocent filenames which may be the explanation in this case.

Personally I use a Mycroft implementation as one of my search engines integrated into the search bar of Firefox and that has behaved as expected and not given me problems.

In light of problems reported in this thread I tried the DuckDuckGo addon. This is available from the official Firefox related site. It installed easily. (It is one of the newer restartless addons). I then uninstalled it. By the simple and standard method of clicking on [remove] in the add-ons manager. It removed and did not as far as I can see leave any remnants or changed preferences behind.

• Official download https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-for-firefox/
• Homepage https://duck.co/help/desktop/firefox
  Includes useful links and full & correct uninstall and reinstall instructions.

Hi tdemex, I think it's odd that you keep returning to announce this...

Mozilla doesn't include DuckDuckGo with Firefox, and you can either change your currently active search engine and/or remove search plugins following the steps in this article: Search bar - add, change and manage search engines on Firefox.

In addition to the search plugin which affects the search engine used for the search bar, address bar, and built-in home page, there might also be a separate DuckDuckGo toolbar. A toolbar is nearly always generated by an extension. You can disable or (usually) remove extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions. While you're there, look for any unrecognized or nonessential extensions and plugins and clean those out as well.