hello, first please see if installing the search reset addon can resolve the issue: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/searchreset/ (a restart of the browser is necessary afterwards).

otherwise you could try the firefox beta version, which will use the same search engine on the start-page as is selected in the searchbar: www.mozilla.org/firefox/beta/

You probably have some search bar installed that has taken over he searching. There are two stages in fixing such a problem.

1. Find and uninstall the software
   • You may have more than one lot and the name may be rather unexpected
   • It probably needs uninstalling from the Operating System, that means the Control Panel in Windows
   • Such software may be a global install and may affect other browsers, and could be in hidden folders or sub folders.
2. After the software is found and uninstalled you may need to reset Firefox settings, an addon is available to help with this
   • see Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page
   • use https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/searchreset/

I will add an advance warning.

With Firefox 23 the search options will always use whatever you select in the search bar.

• The upside: that may be helpful in resolving a lot of this sort of problems with search not working as expected or going somewhere else.
• The downside: you will get unexpected results when for instance the location bar uses the same search as the search bar.

If the problem is malware see

• Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware
• this is a useful link for information on and downloads of AdwCleaner
  (The above article links to a French language site I think)
  English http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

_{(edit Typos)}

I have solved the problem. Yahoo had change the few things in firefox, the problem I have now solved on another machine with the same problem. Reading: Going to the address bar and type: about: config. Search for the line (browser.search.defaultenginename) Verdi quantity must be Google if you want to have this, on my stood Yahoo.

Restart Firefox and the search box works again.

You may consider installing an official versionof Firefox if you are currently using one from Yahoo.

If you do wish to install an official version perform a Clean reinstall. This means you remove Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. Please follow these steps:

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
   • Windows:
     • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
     • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
   1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
   2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

Note

• You may still customise and for instance add a Yahoo search
  • Use popular search suggestions in the Firefox Search bar
  • http://mycroftproject.com/yahoo-search-plugins.html
• The clean re-install should NOT affect Bookmarks, passwords or the extensions and plugins you installed yourself; as long as you do NOT use options to delete personal information. (That does destroy passwords and bookmarks )