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FF now forces unwanted dropdown list in Address Bar despite Preference settings

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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FF 78.0.1 installed. Why is FF search now forcing a drop down list of these undesirable websites: youtube, facebook, reddit, wikipedia, twitter. I never use these websites, I don't want to interact with them, I don't want to be told about them, I don't want to be directed to them. I don't want to be distracted with extraneous 'options' that divert my attention from the task at hand. This overrides my Preference settings. I already turned off or deleted all the alternative search engines "that appear below the address bar and search bar when you start to enter keywords." None of these new website additions are in that list.

Is there a simple way to get rid of this without monkeying around with internal settings? Company and public libary users are locked out of this.

PLEASE!!! Firefox is not doing anyone favors by forcing new features without warning or explanation in mandatory updates. We keep losing basic functions like the ability to see URLs in the address bar -which I do need - and then spend a lot of time trying to figure out why something unwanted like this started happening and whether it can be stopped.

FF 78.0.1 installed. Why is FF search now forcing a drop down list of these undesirable websites: youtube, facebook, reddit, wikipedia, twitter. I never use these websites, I don't want to interact with them, I don't want to be told about them, I don't want to be directed to them. I don't want to be distracted with extraneous 'options' that divert my attention from the task at hand. This overrides my Preference settings. I already turned off or deleted all the alternative search engines "that appear below the address bar and search bar when you start to enter keywords." None of these new website additions are in that list. Is there a simple way to get rid of this without monkeying around with internal settings? Company and public libary users are locked out of this. PLEASE!!! Firefox is not doing anyone favors by forcing new features without warning or explanation in mandatory updates. We keep losing basic functions like the ability to see URLs in the address bar -which I do need - and then spend a lot of time trying to figure out why something unwanted like this started happening and whether it can be stopped.

Chosen solution

You can exclude the top sites from showing as suggestions.

The location bar drop-down list can show history items, bookmarked pages, pages opened in tabs, and search suggestions.
You can set what suggestions show when you enter an URL in the location/address bar bar.

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Address Bar: When using the location bar, suggest:
    History
    Bookmarks
    Open tabs
    Top sites
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Chosen Solution

You can exclude the top sites from showing as suggestions.

The location bar drop-down list can show history items, bookmarked pages, pages opened in tabs, and search suggestions.
You can set what suggestions show when you enter an URL in the location/address bar bar.

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Address Bar: When using the location bar, suggest:
    History
    Bookmarks
    Open tabs
    Top sites
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Please only email me to answer question,

This forum doesn't work that way and there is no option for changing it.
All questions that are posted here are displayed within this fora questions pages, the option to receive an email is an option that is set to do by default when signing up here, but that option can be disabled thru your Profile for this fora thru Edit settings.

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Thanks to both of you for this helpful information. That was unintuitive! I don't know how the Top Site box became checked off unless I 'fat fingered' it somehow or the default was changed in an update. Appreciate the fast response.

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In Firefox 77 this feature to show top sites was already present, but the UI to show or hide it was only added with Firefox 78 and because this feature was already enabled then this is checked off as well in 78, but now you can use Options/Preferences instead of removing sites from the Firefox Home page.