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When I hit preferences or change search settings, I get a "The address is not valid" error. How do I fix this?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

Muffin32113
Muffin32113
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I am trying to change my default search engine to google in the search bar. However, when I hit "Change Search Settings" or "Preferences" in the Menu tab, I receive an error message saying the address is not valid. Specifically:

The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded. 

   Web addresses are usually written like http://www.example.com/
   Make sure that you're using forward slashes (i.e. /).

How can I fix this?

I am trying to change my default search engine to google in the search bar. However, when I hit "Change Search Settings" or "Preferences" in the Menu tab, I receive an error message saying the address is not valid. Specifically: The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded. Web addresses are usually written like http://www.example.com/ Make sure that you're using forward slashes (i.e. /). How can I fix this?

All Replies (2)

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Let’s do a full clean re-install; Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link} Save the file. Then Close Firefox.

Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.

Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86)

Mac: Open the "Applications" folder.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-download-and-install-firefox-mac

Linux: Check your user manual. If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder Firefox in your home directory.

Do Not remove the profiles folder.

Look for, and rename any Mozilla or Firefox program folders by adding .old to them. Do not rename the Mozilla Thunderbird folder if there is one.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner if you have one. Then run the installer. If all goes well, remove the OLD folders when you are done.

If there is a problem, start your Computer in safe mode and try again.

Starting The Computer In Safe Mode;
Free Online Encyclopedia

cor-el
cor-el
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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Do you have the Firefox 45.6.0 esr version from the Mozilla server or a version from your IT department?

In case of the latter they may have disabled this feature or they may have added an extension to disable some features.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Appearance
  • Do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window