Check out this popular thread from last year: Removal of My Web Search. Any luck?

got into about:config but lst of preferences did not include keyword.url so am back to square one. Not having a forward/backward arrow is making this very difficult

• If, on Windows, in Firefox 3.6 the menu bar is hidden then press and hold the Alt key down or press F10, that should make the "Menu Bar" appear
• Go to "View > Toolbars" and check-mark "Menu Bar" with a click on it to make that permanent. See Restore the Menu bar in Firefox).
• Make sure that you have the "Navigation Toolbar" and the "Bookmarks Toolbar" visible: "View > Toolbars"
• If items are missing then see if you can find them in the "View > Toolbars > Customize" window
• If you see the item in the Customize window then drag it back from the Customize window to one of the toolbars.
• If, in "View > Toolbars > Customize", you do not see that item then click the "Restore Default Set" button

See: Back and forward or other toolbar buttons are missing Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Toolbar_customization

have got navigation toolbar back thank you I typed about:config and eventually got the list of preferences. I did eventually find keyword url but when I right click I get the following options: open link in new tab:open link in new indow:bookmark this link:save link as:send link:copy link location There is no reset question. I very much want to get rid of this toolbar and have spent several hours trying. All suggestions gratefully received

"I typed about:config and eventually got the list of preferences. I did eventually find keyword url but when I right click I get the following options: open link in new tab:open link in new indow:bookmark this link:save link as:send link:copy link location"

It sounds as though your location bar redirected you to a web site. The about:config "page" is a built-in configuration tool that doesn't behave anything like a web site. Make sure you don't use http: or www or any domain ending when accessing about:config.

If you can't load about:config from the address bar, temporarily edit your home page setting to about:config and then click the Home button. Does that work?

I realise now that I was typing about:config into the search bar not the location bar. how stupid do I feel? I fixed my problem by instructing Firefox to deny access to the my web search site. This left me with no toolbar. I typed firefox start page into the location bar and set this as my home page. Bingo. Back to normal. Thank you for your response