My google search bar has ben hikacked!
I use several PCs and all have Firefox installed. I noticed on one machine that the Google search bar has a different logo. When I use it I notice that I don't end up at Google's site either. It appears that I have some sort of issue and I can't seem to fix it. I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling FF 3.6.10 and then copying parts of my old profile to the new profile. It seemed to work for the first time I opened FF, but once I opened it a second time, the other icon was back (The old G one).
Any ideas?
Isisombululo esikhethiwe
Do you have any plugins in the searchplugins folder in the Firefox Profile Folder ?
Search plugins are XML files, so you can check them with a text editor to see to which site they point.
The default search engines are in the searchplugins folder in the Firefox program folder and custom search engines are in the searchplugins folder in the Firefox Profile Folder
Funda le mpendulo ngokuhambisana nalesi sihloko 👍 0All Replies (8)
Which search engines do you see in the Manage Search Engines window?
See:
I see:
Google Yahoo Amazon Answers Creative Commons eBay Wikipedia
But the Google is not the same as the other Google search bars on my other PCs. It looks like the one in the first link you posted, when the rest of my PCs look like the "g" next to Everything on the main Google page seen here: http://www.google.com/search?q=google&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
If I search for something in the search bar the URL is something like search-search.star instead of Google.com/search
Isisombululo Esikhethiwe
Do you have any plugins in the searchplugins folder in the Firefox Profile Folder ?
Search plugins are XML files, so you can check them with a text editor to see to which site they point.
The default search engines are in the searchplugins folder in the Firefox program folder and custom search engines are in the searchplugins folder in the Firefox Profile Folder
See discussion, and some solutions that worked for others, here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1954541
Thanks for the links!
Looks like it may have been fixed. I replaced the "Google Search" xml file in the searchplugins folder with a known good "google" xml file from another install. After several close and re-opens of Firefox it was still working. I'll keep an eye on it.
Thanks again!
You are welcome.
Well, the fix was only temporary. When I started Firefox again today the "google" xml file is GONE, and the "Google Search" is back in the searchplugins folder, although it is not in the drop down list. Something else must be containing the info as well and recalling it at some point.
I did some digging around last night and found what appeared to be some malware in the registry. I downloaded malwarebytes and ran a scan. Sure enough, it found some issues. Cleaned those up and it has been running smooth again. Hopefully that is the case in a couple of days, months, years too!