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How do I keep Mozilla's "Yahoo" text, links, references off my computer screen, or do I need to start looking for a new web browser?????

  • 3 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 286 views
  • Last reply by John99

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I find the Yahoo search experience condescending, overbearing, dictatorial and offensive. I truly regret your forcing Yahoo on me without giving me a way to use a search engine I am comfortable with. Perhaps there is a way to opt out of Yahoo's contamination of Firefox, but I have yet to figure it out. How do I banish your Yahoo from my Firefox ? I'm trying not to be ugly about this but I really think this was a wrong turn for mozilla on the road to success.

I find the Yahoo search experience condescending, overbearing, dictatorial and offensive. I truly regret your forcing Yahoo on me without giving me a way to use a search engine I am comfortable with. Perhaps there is a way to opt out of Yahoo's contamination of Firefox, but I have yet to figure it out. How do I banish your Yahoo from my Firefox ? I'm trying not to be ugly about this but I really think this was a wrong turn for mozilla on the road to success.

Chosen solution

Yes James I realise there was no secrecy or conspiracy.

I just wish Firefox notifies what some users consider a major change to those users more effectively. I was well aware of the impending change but I doubt many end users were.

There was a Contributors discussion /forums/contributors/710945* and there are a few other complaints

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Sorry I know some people do not like this, and as usual Firefox made a change without advance warning, but it is easy to change back.

Just change the search engine set as default in the search bar that changes all the Firefox searches to use that search engine. So that includes, location bar, newtab, homepage, highlighted text

Hope this helps you to quickly get back to normal. Please post back to say how you get on. John


Full standard reply

Thank you for your question about the search changes in Firefox. There's been a lot of exciting news and we are happy to assist you. 

What has changed?
In the US and Canada, the default search engine has been changed from Google to Yahoo. In Russia, Yandex Search will become the default search and in China, Baidu will continue to be the default search. However, all other search engines will still be available in these regions. You will notice this change in Firefox 34.

Would you like to know more about the change?
See the blog post written by Chris Beard, New Search Strategy for Firefox: Promoting Choice & Innovation and the News Release, Yahoo and Mozilla Form Strategic Partnership.

Do you want to change your default search engine?
In Firefox 33 or below, you would change your default search engine from the Search bar, as shown in this animation. Starting in Firefox 34, you can use one of these methods:
Note: The following may not apply to localized versions of Firefox.

  • Click the menu button New Fx Menu and choose Options on Windows or Preferences on Mac or Linux, then select the Search settings panel.
  • Click on the magnifying glass icon in the Search bar, then click on Change Search Settings, as shown here:
search prefs 34

In the Search settings panel that opens, select a different search engine from the drop-down menu (see this screenshot).

For more information, see the article Search bar - add, change and manage search engines on Firefox.

Let us know if this answers your questions. If you have any other questions, we are happy to help.

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Mozilla rather did not make this change without notice or in secrecy as they mentioned it back on Nov 19 as can be seen in places like https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/11/19/promoting-choice-and-innovation-on-the-web/

Mozilla has wanted to get away from Google more. The only real change is that Yahoo is the default search bar engine and not Google in en-US Fx 34.0.5 and you can still change it to another.

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Chosen Solution

Yes James I realise there was no secrecy or conspiracy.

I just wish Firefox notifies what some users consider a major change to those users more effectively. I was well aware of the impending change but I doubt many end users were.

There was a Contributors discussion /forums/contributors/710945* and there are a few other complaints