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Google is changing the default search engine

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I had Duck Duck Go set as the default search engine. Recently every time I turn on the computer Google is the default search engine. The OS is Ubuntu 20.04.3. I unchecked Google as a search engine. Do I need to delete any files that say Meta or take some other action? Thanks for your help.

I had Duck Duck Go set as the default search engine. Recently every time I turn on the computer Google is the default search engine. The OS is Ubuntu 20.04.3. I unchecked Google as a search engine. Do I need to delete any files that say Meta or take some other action? Thanks for your help.

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If clearing the "Restore Default Search Engines" on the "Settings -> Search" page doesn't work, try to rename/remove search.json.mozlz4 in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed to rebuild the search engines registry.

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).

Firefox will rebuild search.json.mozlz4 from the built-in search engines.


You can try Firefox from the official Mozilla server if you currently use a version from the repositories of your Linux distribution to see if it behaves differently.