How do I stop yahoo from being my default homepage?
Over the weekend, Yahoo has somehow been made my default homepage. When I go to Preferences and change it to my desired homepage, it only works for the next launch - then it reverts back to Yahoo. So I uninstalled Firefox and downloaded a new copy. Same thing, so apparently it's a moderation you have made to your browser.
I do not like this. If you don't tell me how to permanently remove Yahoo as my default page, and allow me to PERMANENTLY decide for myself what my default homepage is, I will stop using Firefox altogether, even if it until now has been my favorite browser.
I am on an iMac running OS X 10.6.8
Chosen solution
This is a side effect of the SearchMe extension, which apparently is bundled with some popular torrent software.
You can disable that extension, then restart Firefox and choose your preferred home page again. You'll do that here:
Tools menu > Add-ons > in the left column, click Extensions
It might also be possible to track this extension down on your computer and physically remove it, but as a Windows user, I don't know the ins and outs of how to do that on a Mac.
Read this answer in context 👍 7All Replies (11)
Sorry to everyone who finds this. I thought I was sending an email to Mozilla's customer service...
But... if you have a solution, I'd be glad to try it! Nothing I've seen so far has worked.
Chosen Solution
This is a side effect of the SearchMe extension, which apparently is bundled with some popular torrent software.
You can disable that extension, then restart Firefox and choose your preferred home page again. You'll do that here:
Tools menu > Add-ons > in the left column, click Extensions
It might also be possible to track this extension down on your computer and physically remove it, but as a Windows user, I don't know the ins and outs of how to do that on a Mac.
What do I do when I get to the Extensions page? There is no "searchme" program there. There is no searchme program in my computer at all.
Modified by pooshka
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
You can use the SearchReset extension to reset some preferences to the default values.
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).
If you do not keep changes after a restart or otherwise have problems with preferences, see:
Hi pooshka, the reason I mentioned Searchme was that the original poster had provided a detailed list of their add-ons with the question. This isn't automatic for replies. If you try the steps in cor-el's post but cannot track down the problem, you can paste your settings into a reply, or start a new question.
To extract your settings manually, use the Troubleshooting Information page. Either:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type about:support in the address bar and press Enter
Click the "Copy text to clipboard button" and then you can paste all that data into your reply.
If you decide to start a new question, there's an "Ask a question" link at the top of the page. The system will suggest solutions based on your input. If those aren't helpful, scroll down to continue with the form.
If you're using Advanced System Care in Windows, you have to remove homepage protection, then you can change your homepage as you want
Thanks Vinbju, My problem was with the Advance System Care. Once I went and turned off the homepage protection I was able to set my homepage back to default.
I too have had this problem and proved to be the IOBit Advanced System Care homepage protection. Thanks to Vinbju for finding this one. Why has it not been found before, I wonder, as the IObit software has been around for ages? Actually I like the idea of something protecting my home page so after turning it off in IObit I then made sure Firefox was displaying my proper home page. I then went back to IOBit homepage protection and modified the setting to 'Use Current'. Hey presto it automatically turned itself on and kept the Firefox setting that I wanted. I have tried logging in and out of both firefox and IOBit several times and nothing adverse has happened. I still have my required home page and -hopefully - IOBIt is protecting it. Hope this help someone!!!
I am operating OSX 10.8.5 and Firefox 26
Recently (without having installed new software or extensions) my homepage setting in firefox default to yahoo. Yahoo also showed up as one of my search engines w/o me having installed it. I deleted it and everything was fine for a while. But now instead of showing my windows and tabs from last time, it just shows yahoo instead.
This is very annoying, because I keep loosing all my pinned tabs. None of the solution discussed above are helpful and the problem persists even in the safe mode.
Any suggestions what else I can check - and how?
Hi hskoppek, can you start a new question? Please run the add-on suggested during the process to capture your list of extensions and settings. This should avoid a lot of back and forth asking you to look things up.
You can start a new question at the following link. Scroll down past the suggestions to continue with the form (I think it has 3 different screens). https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/fix-problems
Thanks jscher2000
Done this and posted as
How do I stop yahoo from re-setting as my default homepage?