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Why do preferences no longer work?

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by McCoy

TPCaldwell
TPCaldwell
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I set my search preferences to Google and eliminated Yahoo entirely, but when I do a search, it goes right to Yahoo — which never gives a selection that matches my search, instead suggesting sites that it wants me to see. Also, when I'm viewing a page, a popup replaces the page, asking me to update Flash when, in fact, I had just updated Flash. It offers a choice of canceling, updating later, or updating now, but it won't let me cancel, and I can't get back to the page I was viewing. For all of these reasons, I've had to choose another browser, rather than Firefox, which has been my preferred browser for years. The latest updates have removed all of the advantages Firefox used to have.

I set my search preferences to Google and eliminated Yahoo entirely, but when I do a search, it goes right to Yahoo — which never gives a selection that matches my search, instead suggesting sites that it wants me to see. Also, when I'm viewing a page, a popup replaces the page, asking me to update Flash when, in fact, I had just updated Flash. It offers a choice of canceling, updating later, or updating now, but it won't let me cancel, and I can't get back to the page I was viewing. For all of these reasons, I've had to choose another browser, rather than Firefox, which has been my preferred browser for years. The latest updates have removed all of the advantages Firefox used to have.

All Replies (6)

WestEnd
WestEnd
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Screenshot of your setting?

TPCaldwell
TPCaldwell Question owner
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Here it is

Shadow110
Shadow110
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HI, This could be an issue caused by AdAware or Web Companion from Lavasoft.

You can look for a file named dsengine.js in these locations. You should only find channel-prefs.js in the "defaults\pref" location. Any file found here apart from channel-prefs.js is suspicious. You can check the content of the file in a text editor (use open with and do not double-click the file).

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\ C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\ You can look for a file named dsengine.cfg in the main Firefox program folder. C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\

Delete the dsengine.js and dsengine.cfg files when present.

Please run a scan : https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

McCoy
McCoy
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In addition to the above - especially for MAC :

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

TPCaldwell
TPCaldwell Question owner
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I am working on a Mac, so the C: solution did not work, and when I ran a Malwarebytes scan, it detected nothing out of the ordinary.

McCoy
McCoy
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TPCaldwell said

I am working on a Mac, so the C: solution did not work, and when I ran a Malwarebytes scan, it detected nothing out of the ordinary.

You may already have done this, but just in case :

Check in Preferences => Add-ons => Extensions, and look for anything suspicious or unfamiliar. If you find any - please remove it.