Hello,

The Refresh feature (called "Reset" in older Firefox versions) can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, and other essential information.

Note: When you use this feature, you will lose any extensions, toolbar customizations, and some preferences. See the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article for more information.

To Refresh Firefox:

1. Open the Troubleshooting Information page using one of these methods:
   • Click the menu button , click help and select Troubleshooting Information. A new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.
   • If you're unable to access the Help menu, type about:support in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting Information page.
2. At the top right corner of the page, you should see a button that says "Refresh Firefox" ("Reset Firefox" in older Firefox versions). Click on it.
3. Firefox will close. After the refresh process is completed, Firefox will show a window with the information that is imported.
4. Click Finish and Firefox will reopen.

Did this fix the problem? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

This may be caused either by an extension (a kind of Firefox add-on) or by your internet service provider. What happens is, the page you're loading requests something that is unavailable (like an image that has been taken down), and the add-on or ISP then diverts you to a search page to try to find that resource.

Here's how I suggest investigating:

(1) Does the Yahoo search page mention DNS Solutions or trying to locate a missing link?

Check the address in the address bar, and look for a link on the right side or at the bottom that has anything like "About this page", "why do I have this page" or "opt-out" and click that link to learn what is causing it.

If you can't find anything suspicious, could you paste the address of an example results page here?

(2) Review/disable/remove potentially problematic extensions.

You can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
• type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions. Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any extensions Firefox installs for built-in features are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything suspicious or that you just do not remember installing or why? If in doubt, disable (or remove).

Any improvement?

The only thing unusual for me is that I am currently at a Marriott resort connected by their Wi-Fi. To get on their Wifi, I need to first open my browser at which point I am asked for the password, which I provide. Once that is accepted, their system tells me I am now connected and automatically opens Yahoo.com.. That is a bit of a surprise, because in the past, once the wifi connection is settled, usually the page that opens is a Marriott page, not a Yahoo page. So that is suspicious to me.

But aside from that, once connected, when I go to google.com and do a search that I know will list (among others) a link to a site I run myself, and click on the link, I wind up at Yahoo. I am attaching both a screen grab of Google results, that shows the link to my ownertrades.com website, and also attaching a screen grab of where clicking on the link takes me.

And in the process, I make sure that the the url the link is pointing to is correct before I click on it.

There is no indication of a bad url or anything like that. In addition, after I wind up at that Yahoo page, if I click my browser back button to get back to the google search results, and then repeat the process of clicking on the link to my site, everything works as it should and I am take to the proper ownertrades.com page.

So that is wierd also -- the yahoo redirect happens the first time I click on the link, but not on subsequent clicks.

I hope the uploaded images I attached show up ----

HI, if you feel it is suspicious follow your instincts and contact the Front Desk for Help. To be on the safe side this would be the best course of action. You can do this to see if there is anything related to this page change in your system : Please use more than 1 scanner as each uses diff tech :

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware

Save your Report and google each before deleting anything as do not want to delete something you need, If need help :

• https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/9573-im-infected-what-do-i-do-now/

Post in only 1 forum, then wait.

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

Pkshadow said

HI, if you feel it is suspicious follow your instincts and contact the Front Desk for Help. To be on the safe side this would be the best course of action.

I guess it's possible their proxy is not operating normally (i.e., could be hacked). I agree you should mention it to the hotel.

Could you also:

New Profile Test

This takes about 3 minutes, plus the time to test your sites.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Click the Create a New Profile button, then click Next. Assign a name like April2018, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

After creating the profile, scroll down to it and click the Set as default profile button below that profile, then scroll back up and click the Restart normally button. (There are some other buttons, but please ignore them.)

Firefox should exit and then start up using the new profile, which will just look brand new.

Does navigation from Google searches sites work any better in the new profile?

When you are done with the experiment, open the about:profiles page again, click the Set as default profile button for your normal profile, then click the Restart normally button to get back to it.

Mkll said

Hello, The Refresh feature (called "Reset" in older Firefox versions) can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, and other essential information. Note: When you use this feature, you will lose any extensions, toolbar customizations, and some preferences. See the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article for more information. To Refresh Firefox:

1. Open the Troubleshooting Information page using one of these methods:
   • Click the menu button , click help and select Troubleshooting Information. A new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.
   • If you're unable to access the Help menu, type about:support in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting Information page.
2. At the top right corner of the page, you should see a button that says "Refresh Firefox" ("Reset Firefox" in older Firefox versions). Click on it.
3. Firefox will close. After the refresh process is completed, Firefox will show a window with the information that is imported.
4. Click Finish and Firefox will reopen.

Did this fix the problem? Please report back to us! Thank you.

Ok, don't want you to think your comments are ignored. I had done an updated install of Firefox and added only one etension: adblock plus. So I did a reset, and have no addons or extensions going. This did not solve the problem.

I did check with Marriott and they said that after providing the password, I should in fact be taken to a Marriott site, not to Yahoo. This is taking so long because the problem is somewhat intermittent.

I can be connected, then purposely close the network connection, then open my firefox browser which attempts to go to my (Google) home page. Then I may get a warning that the connection is not secure and Firefox has not opened the page. I then open the network connection. Sometimes it all works (the server must be thinking I never disconnected) and sometimes it asks me for the wireless password. And then sometimes it takes me to Yahoo after I give the password (in that situation it should take me to a Marriott site).

More information: my son just arrived with his laptop and the same thing happens (sometimes). So I don't think it is my laptop.

Yet more information: When I first arrived here I was using Chrome browser and when these redirects started happening I found lots of internet discussion about Chrome redirects to Yahoo. That's when I decided to stop using Chrome and try Firefox. Buy obviously it was not Chrome.

So -- it seems not to be a particular browser, or a particular laptop. If I can manage to talk to some Marriott IS person maybe I can get to the bottom of this, otherwise, I will just wait until I get home at which point none of this will matter to me any more (this year).

Please follow up previous post of using Malware scanners. It is possible you both brought this from home where it went unnoticed but since having to connect differently it has brought the issue forward.

The first thing I did was run Malwarebytes Premium and Microsoft Security Essentials. I do not believe it is my computer because:

1. My son's laptop has shown the same problem

2. And this just in: My laptop is a Macbook Pro which my wife boots up as a Mac and I boot up as a PC. This afternoon she was on the internet with the Mac with Safari browser and apparently lost her connection. She calls me over to see her screen which is warning her that the site she is trying to connect to is not a secure connection and wants to know what she should do.

Since I had seen similar warnings when using it as a pc I quickly determined that she had lost the connection, so reconnected it for her which led to the screen to enter the wireless network password for her. Want to guess where she wound up? Sure -- Yahoo.com!

No, I don't think it is an issue with my machine ---

You can delete Yahoo from the Search Engine List if you feel it is a Firefox issue. But I do not think it will matter as it is embedded some where.

I have a paid for Malwarebytes also and it misses stuff that Malwarebyes/AdwCleaner finds and Hitmanpro finds.

You can try : SAFE MODE

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

In Firefox Safe mode these changes are effective:

• all extensions are disabled (about:addons)
• default theme is used (no persona)
• userChrome.css and userContent.css are ignored (chrome folder)
• default toolbar layout is used (file: localstore-safe.rdf)
• Javascript JIT compilers are disabled (prefs: javascript.options.*jit)
• hardware acceleration is disabled (Options > Advanced > General)
• plugins are not affected
• preferences are not affected

TEST''''is issue still there ?

Create a new Profile and test :

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles

I no longer believe it is a Firefox issue, since it has happened with two other browsers, one of them being a Mac using Safari. We are on Hilton Head Island at Marriott's Barony Beach Club resort. I have talked to support at the cable company that hooks Barony to the internet, and I agree with their take on this, that I need to talk to someone in Marriott's IS group -- that would be whomever it is that sets the Wi-fi user password and the landing page upon providing a correct password.

Good luck to me on getting in contact with that person!

As it happens, in a few days we are moving to Marriott's Grande Ocean resort, also on Hilton Head Island. That will be another data point, seeing if they use a different password (I think they will), and finding out if the same redirect is occurring.

I will report back here when (if) I manage to contact the right IS person and/or when I get home at which point I will know for sure where the problem lies.

OK, now this just happened:

Right after posting the above reply, I typed www.cnn.com into my browser url text box to go read the news, as I do every morning.

I got a quick screen with just the word "success" and then within about 1 second, the yahoo.com home page opened. I have seen that same "success" screen prior to the yahoo screen before,, and that sure feels like a hijacking. It is not repeatable though.

This is so weird. I'm off to try hitman pro, just in case

Hitman pro found nothing :=(

I managed to get hold of Marriott IS support, a guy in California somewhere. He re-booted the access point, and reset the time you can stay connected from 2 hours (too low!) to 4 hours.

As of right now, when I start my computer, start my browser, it automatically connects to my home page as it should. I won't be able to test this again until I am asked to re-enter the wireless password -- will report back tomorrow morning for sure.

OK, this morning after entering the wifi password I was still taken to Yahoo.

So I called Marriott IS Support, explained to them that if they were not purposely redirecting to Yahoo after receiving the password, their system might be compromised. They said it was probably my computer, I told them no, it was happening with three different laptops and a smart phone.

They said not to worry about the Yahoo thing. Back and forth we went. I finally said it's their problem and gave up.

Just to close the loop on this. We now moved to Marriotts Grande Ocean resort which is only 6 or 7 miles away and uses the same internet provider.

When I opened my browser and entered the wi-fi password (which, was the same password at the Barony resort eariier in the day) the system worked as it should, and landed me on a Marriott page.

No question in my mind. This is not a Firefox issue. It was some kind of compromised access point at Barony doing a redirect to Yahoo.

Hi, glad solved your issue : should run 1 scan for the heck of it : https://www.hitmanpro.com

Please Mark your above Answer as the Solution to your issue.

Already ran hitman pro (see earlier posts).

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.