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My firefox keeps redirecting me through two different websites before giving me my search results from yahoo, my preferred search engine is Google and I think my browser has been hjacked, I did a complete wipe of data and Firefox files and a dns cache clear from my computer but it seems it's still happening, any help would be appreciated

Just noticed this starting yesterday. Possibly it started when Ffox updated to v144.0 and I just didn't notice immediately.

I use the address bar (location bar, awesome bar) for searching (with Google, per settings). Up until very recently, the result of hitting Enter after entering my search string would be the URL for the Google results. This can be very handy to copy; e.g., when offering citations during an online discussion.

However, I don't see the URL anymore. After pressing Enter, my original search string remains there, in the address bar. That's not what I want. Using Google means my original search string is right there at the top of the page, in an input field, that can be made active with a single keystroke. Therefore, if it is intended to be helpful by keep the contents of the address bar what they were before I pressed Enter, may I just say that it is not.

Note: I can get the old desired behavior by going to google[.]com and entering the search string there, but that's an annoyance, after years of being able to simply hit Ctrl-L.

Attached is a screenshot of what I now see. Note what's in the address bar -- my original search string. Previously, it would have been something like "https://www.google.com/search?q=this+is+a+test&sca_esv=[ ...]"

Recently, when I copy and paste an error message to the search box in Firefox and the first word contains a ':', such as when searching for this error message - "MESA-LOADER: failed to open dri: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gbm/dri_gbm.so: cannot open shared object file" - I get the "Open the mesa-loader link with System Handler?" prompt (see screenshot).

I used to be able to copy and paste such an error before into the search box and it would just work but now the browser defaults to thinking you are entering a URL. This could be because when I start typing in the search box, it immediately relocates what I'm typing to the address bar. Maybe this is the behaviour I need to disable? But how and why is it the default?

Help!

Browser details

$ > snap info firefox name: firefox summary: Mozilla Firefox web browser publisher: Mozilla✓ store-url: https://snapcraft.io/firefox contact: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/file-bug-report-or-feature-request-mozilla license: unset description: |

 Firefox is a powerful, extensible web browser with support for modern web application
 technologies.

commands:

 - firefox
 - firefox.geckodriver

snap-id: 3wdHCAVyZEmYsCMFDE9qt92UV8rC8Wdk tracking: latest/stable/ubuntu-24.04 refresh-date: 19 days ago, at 13:56 AEDT channels:

 latest/stable:    144.0.2-1    2025-10-29 (7177) 261MB -
 latest/candidate: 145.0-1      2025-11-04 (7242) 262MB -
 latest/beta:      145.0b9-1    2025-10-31 (7213) 262MB -
 latest/edge:      146.0a1      2025-11-05 (7250) 298MB -
 esr/stable:       140.4.0esr-2 2025-10-14 (7023) 258MB -
 esr/candidate:    140.5.0esr-1 2025-11-05 (7236) 258MB -
 esr/beta:         ↑                                    
 esr/edge:         ↑                                    

installed: 144.0-2 (7084) 261MB -

OS Details

PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS" NAME="Ubuntu" VERSION_ID="24.04" VERSION="24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat)" VERSION_CODENAME=noble ID=ubuntu ID_LIKE=debian HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/" SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/" BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/" PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy" UBUNTU_CODENAME=noble LOGO=ubuntu-logo

I'm struggling to disable this behavior of firefox. When I type "something: text", it's opening a pop-up asking "Open link with System Handler?".

I would rather just search the internet for "something: text".

How can I do that?

I've tried to play with parameters like network.protocol-handler.expose.something network.protocol-handler.app.something network.protocol-handler.external.something network.protocol-handler.warn-external.something

but didn't manage to do it

I have been using Firefox and Duck duck go to search. This morning I could not search and duck duck and was requested to I download Duck duck go as browser. Now I can't search except in Google. Help. I plan on uninstalling the Duck duck go browser. What is a good private search engine?

In what file does Firefox store information about the icons of added search engines?

(After copying the profile with the search.json.mozlz4 file, search engines added by the user work correctly, but their icons cannot be seen - each search engine is marked with the same icon 'magnifier' - as you can see in the attachment.)

I actively use keywords to search from the address bar, mainly g for google, gs for google scholar and w for wikipedia. Until a recent update (until last week, I think), pressing ctrl + L to go to the address bar would select all the text in the address bar, including the keyword, such that if I had made a google search by typing g and some query, I could immediately do a wikipedia search by typing w and some query.

Now, with an updated firefox (141.0.3, on xubuntu 24.04), the search engine from the previous search remains when I press ctrl + L, so I have to type backspace(s) to remove the search engine keyword, before typing a new keyword.

Is it possible to get the old behaviour back?

Doing any search brings up result page that just has my query and a search magnifying glass - not the search results as expected and working on Mac.

This is 2 days old only as of 11 June 25.

Crying here as I depend on it sooo much; this is a work PC and DDG is my go-to for research.

I switched my default search engine from Google to Bing. As you can see in the attached screenshot, it should be searching with Bing. But for some reason the search results are always Google. How do I fix this? I haven't refreshed Firefox yet. I was hoping to avoid that.

The name Drorinat appears in my Search engine options. It is Not removable. What is it, why is it there and why is it Not removable? I have searched the Internet but am unable to come up with any information about it. Thank you.

While I enjoy the capability of selecting a search engine as I see fit, I would prefer that my local drives take precedence. Is there an easy way to enable this for everyday casual use? In other words, can I specify "search local drives first, followed by the web i.e. casting a wider net to search on the world wide web, and an arbitrary third placeholder such as foreign sources (example only) or foreign news items (again, fictitious example)

My search engine has stopped working. I just get blank pages when I enter any subject in the search bar. I am forced to open a private window which always works without issues. Closely related to this problem I believe, is the fact that any online forms I try to complete and submit will not submit. Again if I copy and paste the address into a private window, I can complete and submit without any issues.

It is getting very frustrating to keep having to go private windows.

When I open a new tab, it opens fine, I get all the articles as per normal. But when I enter my search criteria I get nothing (see attached screenshots)