Google search is intermittently working in Windows 10

When I type something in Google search I have two issue. #1 it moves the search up to the browser address bar which is utterly annoying. I've tried finding ways to disable that and use Google the original way which I think most people prefer. But #2, more annoying than this is that starting in July 2024 the searches started randomly not working. You hit enter... nothing happens. I'll clear all the browser cache and history (everything selected) and it will work once or twice, then nothing. At first I thought maybe the enter key on my keyboard was going bad since it was seemingly a little intermittent, but no, it's not the keyboard... it's Firefox. I also tried a full delete and reinstall of Firefox but that doesn't work either. I also tried shutting off my free version of AVG, which I've had for quite awhile, and that didn't help either. I have no idea what else to try and absolutely no idea what else could be causing this. I just know I use Google A LOT and have never liked other search engines. So with that said, I think my days of using Firefox have come to an end. If someone doesn't post a legitimate fix to this by the end of the month (Aug 2024), I'm just going to delete and use Chrome. I don't feel I have any other choice at this point. This has simply become way too frustrating. And from what I've found, no one else has been able to resolve this either.