Which method of searching do you mean? *searching via the location bar (pref: keyword.URL) *search bar on the Navigation Toolbar *search bar on the about:home page *other search bar (e.g. added by extension) Try to reset some preferences to the default with the SearchReset extension: *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).