Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

I don't want Yahoo as my Firefox search engine; I want Google!! How do I get Yahoo out of my computer cause I can't find it in the control panel. It's like Yahoo's a Virus!!! AAAHHH

more options

Yahoo infiltrated my computer by downloading a free program that i realized was no good. removed the program since, however yahoo is still here and replaced my google search engine on firefox. I can't find it on add/remove programs on my PC and it's driving me nuts. I now have to use google chrome. I miss my google firefox I've removed Firefox and re-downloaded it and it doesn't help. please help me

Yahoo infiltrated my computer by downloading a free program that i realized was no good. removed the program since, however yahoo is still here and replaced my google search engine on firefox. I can't find it on add/remove programs on my PC and it's driving me nuts. I now have to use google chrome. I miss my google firefox I've removed Firefox and re-downloaded it and it doesn't help. please help me

All Replies (7)

more options

Yahoo Toolbar messes up Location Bar Search

Remove the Yahoo Toolbar

  1. "Ctrl+Shift+A" (Add-ons Manager)
  2. Select Puzzle piece on left-side for Extensions List
  3. Find "Yahoo Toolbar" and click on "Uninstall" button, and restart Firefox. (if you really need to keep the Yahoo toolbar, you can hide the toolbar instead with customize, and still change all the search defaults as below)

Then to fix the default search engine used at the Location Bar, change the value of keyword.URL in about:config to one of the values shown in Location Bar search at MozillaZine.

  1. type in about:config into the location bar (in a new tab)
  2. if the warning message nonsense comes up uncheck the box before dismissing the dialog message
  3. filter on keyword
  4. right-click on keyword.URL and choose "modify" then paste in the Google search engine string of your choice.
  5. filter on keyword
  6. right-click on browser.search.defaulturl and again choose "modify" then paste in the Google search engine string of your choice.
  7. right-click on yahoo.ytff.search.popup_src (if it exists, and not empty) and again choose "modify" then paste in the Google search engine string of your choice.

Avoiding the problems: Many software installations contain additional baggage know as crapware. The Yahoo Toolbar is packaged with Java picture

More information on ask.com, Yahoo Toolbars

More information on configuration variables available in about:config entries and for users not familiar with the process there is about:config (How to change).

more options

How do I do this on a Mac?

more options

Ctrl key is same as Command key on the Mac for most keyboard shortcuts. The Addons-Manager can also be reached through

  Tools > Add-ons         if you have the menu bar,  

or with the default Firefox 4 and Firefox 5 toolbars

  "Firefox" > Add-ons    (are in the second column of the drop-down)

Everything else should be the same.

more options

I tried to do this and know things are even worse. If I type something in it doesn't even search, it just opens up the Google home page. Before at least it used to search on Yahoo! I tried installing the Yahoo toolbar again but that didn't work. How do I get it to search. Instead of just opening a page.

more options

I just discovered a solution! Go to the upper right hand corner in Firefox where the search bar is. Click on the icon and you'll get a drop-down menu. Go to "manage search engines". You can then delete all the no-good ones, like Bing and Yahoo.

more options

This was VERY helpful. However, the drop down meny was at the LEFT of the Search bar on my Firefox 4.0.1. Therefore, I went to upper LEFT hand corner in Firefox where the search bar is. Click on the icon and you'll get a drop-down menu. Go to "manage search engines". You can then delete all the no-good ones, like Bing and Yahoo! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

more options

This did not help me. However, someone else suggested to go to the drop down menu (on the LEFT of the Search bar on my Firefox 4.0.1 but on the RIGHT of the Yahoo Search Bar others). Therefore, I went to upper LEFT hand corner in Firefox where the search bar is, Clicked on the icon and got a drop-down menu. Go to "manage search engines". You can then delete all the no-good ones, like Bing and Yahoo!  :-)