After getting help on the irc Firefox chat in the end I created a new profile and manually moved the files for everyone else it turned out to be prefs.js which is uploaded Here it is now working perfectly and I am just posting this for everyone else.

Update: The error is on line 126 keyword.url to change this go to about:config and search keyword.url and change it to: http://www.google.com/search?q= for Google etc.

The jar: issue can be caused by the "Ask.com Toolbar" or the "ZoneAlarm Spy Blocker Toolbar" or the Fox-it toolbar (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions).

See:

• Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems

do what now?

@cor-el: I did and do not have any of those. But said you solved it because I need to show it as solved.

Did you try Safe mode to find if other extension are responsible for the error message?

Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).

• Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.

See:

• Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems

If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all extensions and then try to find which is causing it by enabling one at a time until the problem reappears.

• Use "Disable all add-ons" on the Safe mode start window to disable all extensions.
• Close and restart Firefox after each change via "File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit")

@cor-el: Yes I tried safe I think but am not sure that it was Conduit Engine. The only thing that worked was what I wrote above.

@Love: changing the value of keyword.url worked for me as well - great job finding this solution Thank you!

@HelenaSmith Your welcome though it was a group effort on the Firefox IRC chat. You can join the chats at irc.mozilla.org

Rather than set up a whole new profile, access "about:config" in the address bar ("here be dragons", etc), then search for the keyword.url variable. Set it's value to "http://www.google.com/search?q=" (no quotes), and you're golden.

If keyword.url doesn't exist, create it...

@Waster There is a bug here:https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=647063 the bug is that keyword.url resets every time Firefox starts, (this should be covered in the first patch to be out soon) but creating a new profile apparently worked for that so I put up the solution above instead of yours but thank you for your solution which should work for many but maybe not some.

Prefs never get changed by itself. There is always an extension or a file user.js in such a case causing it or software that makes changes to prefs.js directly. Other causes can be a corrupted file prefs.js that doesn't get updated.

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

@cor-el It is a bug that should be addressed in the first patch it could be caused by the program rewriting the file upon closing and not writing it properly I don't know but it is a bug.

Go to about:config by typing the same in address bar

search keyword.URL from search opt

change value to " http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q= "

This seems to be a common problem caused by certain combinations of extensions or add-ons. The fix is usually to disable an extension or add-on. The following is a list of extensions that have caused this problem in the past: Alexa Sparky 1.4.4; Delicious; "Ask.com Toolbar" ; "ZoneAlarm Spy Blocker Toolbar"; or the "Fox-it toolbar"

If you have any of these or similar extensions, try: 1. Disable a suspected extension in "Add-ons" list (under "Tools" menu) 2. Restart Firefox (can use "Restart now" link that will appear by the disabled addon) 3. Test Address Bar If still not working, then 4. (Re)Enable the last extension that you just disabled 5. Go back to Step 1 and start again.

Another reported solution was in the about:config file. Search for keyword.url and for Google change it to: http://www.google.com/search?q=

Worst case scenario you can always create a new profile, but be careful about installing the same set of add-ons (try your address bar after each new addon installation).