What is Firefox Search?
I got prompted to try out Firefox Search. I can't find any information about it online or in Support. Is it just Yahoo without tracking? Is it just rebranded Yahoo? What is it?
All Replies (7)
Hmm, either it's an experiment that random users are asked to try or it's something unofficial that may have unexpected consequences. Is there a URL associated with it that you can share? If some download is required, then I would say skip it.
I don't think it's malware, only because it didn't require a download or installation or anything. Here's a picture of the screen: it uses Yahoo but branded as Mozilla...very confusing!!!
Okay, yes. The normal Yahoo! search engine plugin gives links like this:
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=pad+thai&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001
Yours has a change right at the end which switches up the branding on the page:
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=pad+thai&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-019
I have no idea whether there are other differences.
Interesting! If only Mozilla would publish an article or something on it!!!
If you are not sure, don't use it until others report on it.
The System Details list shows this extension:
- Firefox Search Test 1.0 (firefoxsearchtest@mozilla.com)
- Follow-on Search Telemetry 0.9.1 (followonsearch@mozilla.com)
This makes it more likely that you are part of some search experiment. You may have a funnelcake build, so you could try a clean reinstall of the current release to see if that makes these two extensions go away.
You can check the install location of a specific extension in the extensions.json file in the profile folder. You can open the extensions.json file in the Scratchpad and search for this extension. The descriptor field should list its install location.
You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.
- Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Directory:
Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
Mozilla is always seeking new ways to ensure our users get the best Web experience. We constantly test new UX treatments and we are still in the early stages of the experiment. Once we have the results, we’ll determine next steps.