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how do i remove bing from my search engine choices in Firefox 31?

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  • Last reply by CreateID

510man
510man
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I'm running Firefox 31 on a Windows 8 system. I have removed Bing from my search engine choices as I would do in previous versions of Firefox. In version 31, Bing will reappear when Firefox is restarted. There are no plug-ins or add-ons for Bing. There is no longer a choice to remove it either. Yet it continues to load as the default search engine in the search bar.

I have tried "about:config" as suggested for previous versions of Firefox. I do not have anything called "keyword:URL".

It appears the process is different to remove Bing from Firefox 31 but Mozilla has yet to post those unique V31 instructions for its users. Please advise.

I'm running Firefox 31 on a Windows 8 system. I have removed Bing from my search engine choices as I would do in previous versions of Firefox. In version 31, Bing will reappear when Firefox is restarted. There are no plug-ins or add-ons for Bing. There is no longer a choice to remove it either. Yet it continues to load as the default search engine in the search bar. I have tried "about:config" as suggested for previous versions of Firefox. I do not have anything called "keyword:URL". It appears the process is different to remove Bing from Firefox 31 but Mozilla has yet to post those unique V31 instructions for its users. Please advise.

All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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I'm not sure you can delete the handful of search engine plugins that come installed with Firefox, but your selection of default search engine should not change when you exit and start Firefox up again.

Some possible explanations:

(1) An optional configuration file named user.js that could have been created by other software. Firefox reads this at startup and uses it to override your previous session settings. See this article for steps to find and remove a user.js file: How to fix preferences that won't save.

(2) Utility software that rolls back browser setting changes. One example is Advanced SystemCare, particularly its surfing protection feature.

(3) Malware that locks browser settings. One we have heard about is called Search Protect. This needs to be removed using the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program.

(4) An add-on that has a affiliation with Bing. You can review, disable, and often remove extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions. Then on the right side, if in doubt, disable.

CreateID
CreateID
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ran malawrebytes, it removed a registry key entry for search protect. seems to have solved it. AVG would have search protect as something to be deleted, but didn't seem to fix it. running malawarebytes removed key and seems to be fixed. I don't know if running AVG first is necessary.