Who sent me to Google after I gave an incorrect web page name?
???? Who Sent Me To Google ????
I am using Firefox version 29.0.1
Within the past year I have been forced to move from one ISP to another. (This was an unwanted move. A geographical move from one physical location to another within the same county prevented me from “taking my old provider with me”. I had to sign up with a different ISP.)
My question is in regard to an unwanted action of being redirected to Google which has occurred twice since I changed to my new ISP provider. I need to have you help me understand whether this action was caused by some Firefox setting, which I can change(although I don't see anything related to this in the Firefox “Preferences” choices), or by a default rerouting of my internet request carried out solely on the disgression of my new ISP, which I may not be able to change.
The situation is this: Occasionally one enters an incorrect URL on the location text. When I mistakenly did this with my old internet service provider, an ISP company page came up explaining that they could not connect me with the page as I had entered it. They asked if I would like to be redirected to a particular internet search resource. I was given the disgression to say yes or no.
With my current ISP, today was the second occurrence of being sent directly to Google. I DO NOT WANT to have the incorrect web address which I sent to my ISP passed along to Google. I strongly object to this overriding of my internet privacy. (Today I was using Firefox under Microsoft Windows XP, home Edition, Version 2002, Service Pack 3, but the other time I was using Firefox under openSUSE Linux, Version 12.3, so I do not think the operating system is a factor.)
Did this action originate with Firefox? Or was it my ISP? Please help me to understand:
???? Who Sent Me To Google ????
Thank you
Chosen solution
If you type in a domain name that doesn't exist, e.g. domainnamethatshouldntexist.com, then Firefox normally displays a "Server not found" error page.
If you get different behavior, then your ISP is redirecting you to a search page. You should have the choice of disabling this feature ("opt-out") somewhere on your ISP's site. If not, then you can try the following add-on or change your DNS settings.
- https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/noredirect/
- https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using
- If you type in a single word into the address bar, e.g. domainnamethatshouldntexist Firefox first checks if that's a valid domain. If it's not, it performs a search with the engine you have selected in the search bar.
- If you type in multiple words, e.g. gingerbread man, then Firefox performs a search with the engine you have selected in the search bar.
If you want to disable that feature,
- Type about:config into the address bar and press Enter.
- To bypass the warning, press the big button labeled "I'll be careful, I promise!".
- In the search box, paste keyword.enabled
- In the search results, double-click keyword.enabled to set its value to false.
All Replies (6)
Chosen Solution
If you type in a domain name that doesn't exist, e.g. domainnamethatshouldntexist.com, then Firefox normally displays a "Server not found" error page.
If you get different behavior, then your ISP is redirecting you to a search page. You should have the choice of disabling this feature ("opt-out") somewhere on your ISP's site. If not, then you can try the following add-on or change your DNS settings.
- https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/noredirect/
- https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using
- If you type in a single word into the address bar, e.g. domainnamethatshouldntexist Firefox first checks if that's a valid domain. If it's not, it performs a search with the engine you have selected in the search bar.
- If you type in multiple words, e.g. gingerbread man, then Firefox performs a search with the engine you have selected in the search bar.
If you want to disable that feature,
- Type about:config into the address bar and press Enter.
- To bypass the warning, press the big button labeled "I'll be careful, I promise!".
- In the search box, paste keyword.enabled
- In the search results, double-click keyword.enabled to set its value to false.
PuzzledPenguin,
Please explain what you mean by "sent directly to Google". Can you give an example of what you typed and what actually happened?
Thank you, Gingerbread Man
I was in the midst of typing a web page name which DOES exist:
I carelessly typed simply "geir" and accidentally must have touched the <Enter> key. Before I was aware of my mistake, the URL
appeared in my location textbox. I can see now that it was the default choice "Google" to the right of the location textbox which determined that my page_which_doesn't_exist should be sent to Google.
Thank you, Tony 98, for inquiring so to help me. I also received help from Gingerbread Man and will be careful to disable the automatic export by Mozilla to the designated search engine.
In my own life, I have a very carefully thought out hierarchy of bookmarks with Firefox. Since I am a keyboard preferring person rather than a mouse/pointer preferring person, I choose to branch out to my own chosen search site (very often Ixquick.com) by a short and efficient set of key strokes. I'll try to figure out how to even bump the Firefox search bar out off the screen entirely, since it provides a service which I don't use, although I recognize that to some Firefox advocates it really is helpful. I'm a long-time user of Firefox, by the way, and I congratulate all who have made it into such a marvelous and trustworthy peice of software. My thanks go out to all in this amazing cooperating community!
PuzzledPenguin wrote:
Thank you, Gingerbread Man
You're welcome, but why did you set the above post as the solution? It offers no advice at all.
PuzzledPenguin wrote:
I carelessly typed simply "geir" and accidentally must have touched the <Enter> key.
That's a single word. As I said above, you can set keyword.enabled to false if you never want Firefox to perform a search when you enter single or multiple words into the address bar.
PuzzledPenguin wrote:
I'll try to figure out how to even bump the Firefox search bar out off the screen entirely
- Click the icon on the left side of the search bar and make sure your preferred search engine is selected.
- Click the icon on the left side of the search bar and choose Manage Search Engines.
- Select an engine, then click the Edit Keyword button. For each engine, assign either one or two letters that are easy to remember (e.g. i for Ixquick or s for StartPage).
- Right-click an empty area of the tab bar and choose Customize. Drag the search bar into the customization palette, then click the Exit Customize button.
- When you want to perform a search from the address bar, enter the search engine keyword followed by your search query, e.g. i firefox help
You may want to bookmark the following URL to access the manage search engines screen without the search bar:
- chrome://browser/content/search/engineManager.xul
Also see
Hi PuzzledPenguin,
Note
- SearchBar is the master setting (This was not your issue)
So whatever is set as the search engine there is used in the other searches including the location bar, and the websearch from right clicking on a page. (Adons can change & revert that behaviour e.g. https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/keyword-search/ ) - Hidden Search Bar works easily (You did mention this)
You can move it away to the area within the NewButton menu.
The search bar itself may be dragged into the new button menu area with all the other icons. It then takes up no space on the navigation bar. It may be accessed and used from any suitable tab (that becomes the results page) by using the appropriate keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+K))
Also note that the default homepage about:home contains a search bar, and quite possibly future versions of NewTab pages about:newtab as opened with (Ctrl+T) may contain a search bar. (They do on some pre-release versions of Firefox at present)