How can I stop Yahoo from taking over homepage and search?
It started this summer and seems to happen at random every few weeks. I open firefox and my homepage has been changed to Yahoo and my default search engine has been changed to Yahoo. I cant stand YAHOO!!! Obviously I immediately change them back to my preferred settings but it keeps changing back. it is not just on restarts, it can happen at any time.
I have Adblock plus installed as an extension and two plugins that I have no idea what they are: OpenH264 Video Codec and Widevine Content Dycription Module. Cant image any of those are the issue.
I have tried this:
Go to your profile folder Exit Firefox Look for a file called user.js if it exist delete or rename it. Also open the pref.js file, look for the entry:
user_pref("keyword.url","xxx")
Erase this line and save it Restart Firefox
It did not work. I also tried creating a new Firefox profile. That did not work either. Please help!
All Replies (16)
Hi !
You are most likely dealing with search.yahoo.com redirect virus, malware, that you will of course want to get rid of.
Go to the 3-bar menu (or 'Tools') => Addons => Extensions and look for any unfamiliar or suspicious looking extensions, like e.g. :
SafeSearch Incognito SearchAssist Incognito Search for Fire Fox 1.6 SafeSearch ch SafeSearch net Converter.onesearch org File Convertor and Search Addon Findwide Search Engine 1.7
When you find any : remove them.
Do the same in Windows Control Panel.
However : most malware will be 'hiding' somewhere , so let's run malware scans :
Further information can be found in this article : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware?cache=no
Run most or all of the listed malware scanners. They all work differently - what one program doesn't pick up, the other might.
Also see : https://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-search-yahoo-com/
I only have Adblocker as an add on. Nothing else.
I run Malwarebites regularly for this very reason. It does not seem to fix the problem.
Any other ideas?
bullseyedisc said
I only have Adblocker as an add on. Nothing else. I run Malwarebites regularly for this very reason. It does not seem to fix the problem. Any other ideas?
Yes : Run most or all of the listed malware scanners. They all work differently - what one program doesn't pick up, the other might.
(most malware will be 'hiding' somewhere)
I'm hesitant to install another Malware program. I have had issues on my system when running more than one virus protection or malware at the same time. Also, there are so many out there it is hard to know who to trust and installing more programs may just open me up to more problems.
Run AdwCleaner by Malwarebytes, it is stand alone https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/
bullseyedisc said
I'm hesitant to install another Malware program.
But you won't be installing these - merely letting them scan once.
Can you post the extensions list as shown on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" page (about:support)?
Here is a screen shot of the extensions. Not much to show. This is still happening. I cant seem to figure out why.
bullseyedisc said
Here is a screen shot of the extensions. Not much to show. This is still happening. I cant seem to figure out why.
Did you run all malware scans as advised earllier :
Run most or all of the listed malware scanners. They all work differently - what one program doesn't pick up, the other might.
(most malware will be 'hiding' somewhere)
I run malware bites and delete what ever it quarantines but it keeps happening every few weeks.
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 other file found here is suspicious and you can check the content of the file in a text editor.
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.
bullseyedisc said
I run malware bites and delete what ever it quarantines but it keeps happening every few weeks.
I have asked you three times to run all listed malware scans, and explained why .....
I am not sure what you mean by "all". I only have Windows Defender and Malware Bites on my PC. I can download more malware programs but I am not certain which ones are safe.
cor-el said
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 other file found here is suspicious and you can check the content of the file in a text editor. 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.
I did not find any of these files in the Mozilla folder. That could be because Malware Bites deleted them already. My concern is I delete the malware and it keeps coming back. I am not sure how to prevent it.
bullseyedisc said
I am not sure what you mean by "all". I only have Windows Defender and Malware Bites on my PC. I can download more malware programs but I am not certain which ones are safe.
By all I mean all the malware scans that are listed here :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware?cache=no
See my first post .....
Happy112 said
bullseyedisc saidI am not sure what you mean by "all". I only have Windows Defender and Malware Bites on my PC. I can download more malware programs but I am not certain which ones are safe.By all I mean all the malware scans that are listed here :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware?cache=no
See my first post .....
I did this. Hopefully it works. I wont know for a while since it happens so randomly. If I can go for a month without Yahoo taking over I will let you know.