STOP forcing browser/plugin/extensions to run: Google, Bing, Amazon, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Wikipedia, and whatever else you are forcing down our throats
Several people have complained and NOBODY is listening. I specifically switched to FF so I don't have to deal with intrusive sites. FF I thought claimed to be UNLIKE GOOGLE and was more "private," so why are you putting in a Google browser/plugin/extension and forcing it to run on our PC's? I have enough crap on it taking up MEMORY and slowing it down, don't force anything people do NOT want. Just because these might be popular with many does NOT mean everybody wants it. Get rid of Google, Bing, Amazon, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Wikipedia, and WHATEVER else you are forcing us to run on FF.
Does FF have an agreement or partnering with these companies to TRACK US where ever we go on the internet? Looks like it. Per Wikipedia: DuckDuckGo earns revenue by serving ads from the Yahoo-Bing search alliance network and through affiliate relationships with Amazon and eBay. OK, so we have 4 of those And this at https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/best-private-search-engine: DuckDuckGo displays ads for affiliate sites in the right sidebar, which is a little less aggressive than Google which presents ads at the top of search results. It earns additional profits from commissions from sites like Amazon and eBay, so you may want to be wary if those pop up a lot in search results. Also: As DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, explains in a Quora answer, the search engine does use your IP address to serve local results.
Why is FF pushing these sites when many of us do NOT use them nor want them? Why don't you add them as extensions where you can CHOOSE it if you wish? I found instructions on how to delete them in the FF File Explorer folder because merely deleting them in Settings does NOT remove them permanently as FF has them "hidden," however, they just come back and it messed up other add-ons. ALSO, these add-on's you are forcing on us is TAKING SPACE on my PC and I resent that.
I do NOT want to HIDE THEM, I want them REMOVED PERMANENTLY.
All Replies (8)
Hi jj, some time back, search engines were changed from XML files to XPI files (extensions). They are part of Firefox's program files and aren't easily removed from those files, as you discovered.
These extension set up URLs for searching, and do not "run" like add-on extensions; there is no code to run, and they are very small if you are concerned about disk space.
If you want to see what is in the DuckDuckGo extension, for example, you can see it here:
https://searchfox.org/mozilla-release/source/browser/components/search/extensions/ddg
The extension consists of two files, a manifest.json file and an icon.
The manifest.json file defines the URLs used for searching and for search engine suggestions.
That is all.
I don't think there's anything to get excited about, but if you have a seen an analysis that shows this extension, or the other built-in search engine extensions, can track your browsing, please provide a link.
And of course, if you don't like what particular search websites do once you load one of their pages, don't use those sites. Use whatever search engine you're comfortable with. If you need help setting that up, let us know.
Thank you for trying to help, and your response although I'm not thrilled with it. And I saw your other post. It's bad enough I have 2,000+ json files on my PC, many in the Program Files, then there are the json.dll, json.data, and who knows what else. All these little bits add up to a lot. Wasn't there a time when there were only 10-20 which resulted from only cookies? It's ridiculous, it's getting to the point a PC will need 2TB just to run only Windows and then you'll need another 2TB for your own stuff. And I've turned off several services. So WHY is a browser who is supposed to be BETTER and more PRIVATE such as FF adding these in? I just do NOT want anything running unnecessarily, esp anything intrusive such as Google, Bing...
I created a new profile recently and discovered belatedly that Firefox had made Google (which I didn't install) the default search engine. I was able to remove it but that left a line which referred to searching with Google. Someone gave me code to get rid of that but, if I hover over the searchbar, I see a flag reading (Search using Google). Mozilla's antics are getting worse.
TerryN21, so Google sneaked in there, thankfully I didn't see any red flag nor Google when I did the same. What I did see was VERIFIED BY AMAZON. My question is what does Amazon have to do with Mozilla? So I went in to check the certificates, there's Amazon again, I see Google too. Why can't we have a browser that works decently without esp Google being shoved down our throats? Next it will be the gov't infiltrating us, via Google or themselves? Does FF support big brother?
Hi jj, If I understand correctly, you want to remove the included search shortcuts. Here's how:
- Go to Settings > Search
- Under Search Shortcuts, select the search engine you want to remove, and click Remove
For more in-depth instructions, visit the following article: Add or remove a search engine in Firefox
Because the source-code is public, adding search engine shortcuts use a standard format. Community members have created search engine shortcuts for a wide variety of sites, which you can install from the add-ons website: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?q=search%20engines
Why are those specific ones included by default? They're the most popular. ☺️
Chris Ilias, I deleted them a long time ago, the ones FF "assumes" everybody wants, besides that's NOT A SOLUTION as they are hidden deep apparently. They show up automatically after FF is launched even though I have UNABLED them in Ccleaner. Also, I ran this machine's profile which shows all defaults, now I have two sets running from AppData/Roaming as "default" and "default-release." Great, more crap added to my computer, thank you. I looked at your link, WHY can't FF just do that for the subject sites? Let ppl choose them. And just because they are "popular" does NOT mean everybody wants them. I'm trying to get rid of ANYTHING unnecessary and having these sites shoved down my throat really ticks me off...
Hi jj, When you say "They show up automatically after FF is launched", would you mind sending us a screenshot of what you're seeing? For instructions, see How do I create a screenshot of my problem?.
jj said
It's bad enough I have 2,000+ json files on my PC, many in the Program Files, then there are the json.dll, json.data, and who knows what else. All these little bits add up to a lot. Wasn't there a time when there were only 10-20 which resulted from only cookies?
Search engine extensions are part of a single large program file under C:\Program Files so removing them would not save space. Fortunately, cookies are stored in a single database file named cookies.sqlite so the number of cookies is not related to the number of files.