philsmum said

I have recently had the problem of Yahoo search becoming my default search engine. I loathe Yahoo having had many problems with them in the past so refuse to use them. I have tried uninstalling and re-installing...no change. I tried all your suggested fixes and none works. There is now no mention of Yahoo when I go to change search settings, but despite this Yahoo is the default search engine. This is intolerable for me and I am seriously on the verge of removing firefox for good. Stop me!!! I am having to send this in a different search engine as in Mozilla firefox this account is inactive...work that one out! It means there is no point giving you troubleshooting info...

The start question should have ended won't let it load...

You may have ad / mar-ware changing your settings.

First, check the programs that are on your computer

Windows: Start > Control Panel > Uninstall Programs. Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. Linux: Check your user manual.

Go thru the list. If you find something that you don't know what it is, use a web search.

Troubleshoot Firefox Issues Caused By Malware {web link}

Bookmark and use this; Mozilla Search Reset {web link} This add-on is very simple: on installation, it backs up and then resets your search preferences and home page to their default values, and then uninstalls itself. This affects the search bar, URL bar searches, and the home page.

Settings Guard for Firefox {web link} Detects and resets changes to settings that are frequently done by add-ons and application installers.

The only thing that came in at the right kind of time was Adobe Flash Player update 16 NPAP! and PPAPI. Could this be the culprit and if so why does it not affect the other search engine I use? I will await further advice before uninstalling flashplayer!

If you are using Firefox 34 or newer, there is a new Search Bar scheme that drastically changed how the Search Bar works in Firefox. Please read this when using Firefox 34 or newer: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/search-bar-add-change-manage-search-engines-firefox

To the-edmeister, I tried all of this before involving Mozilla directly...none of it works! on IE, I initially get yahoo but it is over-ridden by google. That is why I am wondering if it is Adobe Flash Player what done it! What do you think?

What do you see selected as default search engine in Options/Preferences > Search?

You can check for problems with preferences.

Delete possible user.js and numbered prefs-##.js files and rename (or delete) the prefs.js file to reset all prefs to the default value including prefs set via user.js and prefs that are no longer supported in the current Firefox release.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Preferences_not_saved
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Resetting_preferences

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

sorry for the delay in response...I have been trying to tolerate it...not working!

It says that my default search engine is Google, despite yahoo being what actually comes up! I don't understand how to do what you suggest...delete possible user.js etc...can you explain?

You can first try Safe Mode.

You can check for recently installed suspicious or unknown extensions.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

• Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
• Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

Open your Add-ons Manager and your Programs Folder. Remove Google ANYTHING !