Why does Firefox keeps putting search clients back after I remove them?
There are some search clients I never want to use that Firefox comes with by default. I remove them and Firefox keeps adding them back. Why? This strongly with prejudice does not seem to be in the spirit if not in fact the rules of open source software. How can I keep only the search clients I want?
All Replies (5)
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-fix-preferences-wont-save
Note: Some software, like Advanced SystemCare with Surfing Protection, can protect files in the Firefox profile folder against changes. If you have such software then check the settings or uninstall this software.
FredMcD thanks for the reply. Don't have such software to uninstall.
The search clients I remove include Ask.com, Jamendo, and Google. If Bing was in the list it would be first to go. Every once in a while I check and they are back. Seems like something commercial.
Type about:support in the address bar and press enter.
Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To its right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.
To reset the search engines, remove these files in the Firefox profile folder; search.json - search-metadata.json - search.sqlite - search.json.mozlz4 New files are created when needed.
Are you using Sync or otherwise sync data between multiple devices as I see the Xmarks extension in the System Details list?
It is possible that that extension re-adds the search engines.
Maybe your distribution is different, but normally Google and Bing are built-in and Ask is nowhere to be found (needs to be added on).
I don't think it really is worth trying to "remove" built-in search engine plugins -- they can't actually be deleted from the program file -- but you can hide them from the search bar by unchecking them on the Preferences page, Search panel, and Firefox should remember that setting.