hello msprof, you can set a custom homepage by going to firefox > options > general.

How to set the home page

I have easily set my home page(s) -- that isn't the problem. The problem is, how do you set a default SEARCH ENGINE? (without being a programmer) I have Bing set on the right-side search box. The problem is the left-hand-side box -- that's where you type in a url, but also works as a search box, so if you type something there that isn't recognized as a url the browser will do a search. Firefox seems to default there to Google. How do I change that if I do not WANT that to default to Google? (Or do I have to avoid using that as another search box, which I was accustomed to doing with IE? Or go back to IE, which I only left because on my new computer, with Windows 7, IE wouldn't open up: Hotmail! Really, shouldn't THAT work seamlessly?) Thanks, madperson, for taking a crack at it.

ok sorry, then i've misinterpreted your original post.

you can set bing as default search provider in the location bar like this:

1. enter about:config into the firefox location bar (confirm the info message in case it shows up)
2. search for the preference named keyword.URL. double-click it and change its value to http://www.bing.com/search?q=

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/keyword.URL

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

Thanks, madperson! Of course I had to figure out what the "location bar" was ... lots like it is "fixed." Now I just have to figure out why I'm not getting sound from Mozilla while I am getting sound via IE. WHY are these things made so hard????????????????? (I think it may be a need for a Flash upgrade, but Flash keeps throwing Google/Chrome at me -- without asking.)

Thanks - from your link I confirmed what a "location bar" was so I could put in the information that madperson wanted me to type somewhere. Who knew I could get to some underlying programming there? (And why would this have to be so hard?)

You can click the Volume icon on the Windows Taskbar near the clock and click the Mixer link at the bottom to open the mixer.

You can adjust the volume level for each application in that window, so make sure that Firefox is not muted or set at a low level.

Current Firefox versions use the plugin-container process to run plugins, so you need to check the volume setting for the plugin-container process.
You will only see the Firefox program or the Plugin Container in the Mixer if you are on a website that plays sound.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Video+or+audio+does+not+play