Is the problem with MetaGer or Firefox?

Firefox reverts to Google after relaunch

Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open your Add-ons Manager. Hot key; (<Control> [Mac=<Command>] <Shift> A)

In the Add-ons Manager, on the left, select Extensions. Remove “ Google “ Anything.

Also remove SafeSearch, SearchAssist Incognito, FileConverter Addon, SearchLock, DiscreteSearch, WebSearch, Findwide Search Engine, securedsearch

Now do the same in the computer’s Programs Folder.

Windows: Start > Control Panel > Uninstall Programs. Mac: Open the Applications folder. Linux: Check your user manual.

The problem is with Firefox. It does the same thing with DuckDuck Go. I even removed google from the Search Shortcuts list, but the same result.

I never had any Google extensions, or SafeSearch, SearchAssist Incognito, FileConverter Add on, SearchLock, DiscreteSearch, WebSearch, Findwide Search Engine, or secured search.

The only extensions that I have are: 1Password, Metager, ExpressVPN, and uBlock Origin

I'm not sure what you meant by the computer's Programs Folder. I opened and inspected the contents of the FF application, but saw nothing Google related.

What else can I try, other than having to uninstall/reinstall FF?

Thanks

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

Windows: C:\Program Files . C:\Program Files (x86) Note: Check Both Folders

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; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux

Uninstalled and reinstalled FF, but the problem still remains. Suggestions?

Are any other settings changing in your Firefox when you quit it -- I mean if you do not log in to your Firefox Account.

Whenever I open FIrefox, Google always appears as the default browser, whether I log in or not. I also remove Google, Amazon, Bing, and EBay from the “Search Shortcuts “ list of alternative search engines, and they also reappear after I close and re-open FFox

So all your custom search engine settings get lost, but everything else is retained?

This could indicate that a file named search.json.mozlz4 in your profile folder either is not updating to reflect your changes or is getting reverted after you exit Firefox.

Could you open your profile folder in Finder and see whether changes to search engine visibility (check/uncheck or remove) or change to your default search engine cause the timestamp on the file to update? This article has tips on how to open your profile folder:

Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data

All of my other custom settings are retained. It's only the default search engine settings that are not retained. Changing the search engine visibility (remove) or changing the default search engine does cause the timestamp on the file search.json.mozlz4 to update.

Hmm, I don't know why the changes in the file are not retained. Does the Metager extension have any settings to make itself the default that might be getting turned off?

I did not see anything in the Metager extension that would cause that to happen. In any case it seems to be a moot point, since the same thing happens when I make Duck Duck Go the default.

I seems to me to be a fault with the FFox browser. After opening the troubleshooting pane, I noticed that the extension "google@search.mozilla.org" was enabled as "true". I then opened about:Config and changed the setting to "false", however after quiting and relaunching FF, Google was once agin the default search engine, and the extension reverted to "true'!

The default search engine information is not stored in about:config, so I still think there must be some problem with search.json.mozlz4. But I don't know what's going on.

To reset the search engines, remove these files in the Firefox profile folder; search.json + search-metadata.json + search.sqlite + search.json.mozlz4

search.json.mozlz4 ==only== (v45+)

New files are created when needed.

You may have ad/mal-ware. Further information can be found in this article; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware?cache=no

Run most or all of the listed free to use malware scanners. Each works differently. If one program misses something, another may pick it up.

I removed all of the files that you listed. Malwarebytes reports no malware. Google remains as the default search engine. This is so frustrating!

If you go to the internal About Policies page at about:policies does it list any active policies?

Some of the search-related policies are only applicable to the Extended Support Release of Firefox, which wouldn't apply to Firefox 85, but oddly your Firefox identified itself as Firefox 78. But that could be because of the privacy.resistFingerprinting feature.

There were no active policies listed. there was only a notice that "The Enterprise Policies service is inactive." I verified that I'm running FF85.0.1

Hi, this really does sound like there's a third-party app that's changing your default engine and then Firefox is blocking it and resetting your default to Google.

Please can you try this:

• Type about:config in the address bar, and acknowledge the warning.
• Search for 'browser.search.log' (without the quotes).
• Double click it to set its value to true.
• Use Firefox as you normally do.
• Next time you restart it, before you actually start it, take a copy of search.json.mozlz4
• Start Firefox and see if the default engine has reverted again.
• If it has, then go to Tools -> Web Developer -> Browser Console (not web console).
• Right click and select all.
• Do Cmd-C to copy everything
• Paste it here.

Keep the copy of the search.json.moz.lz4, we might need to see or look in the data for that as well.

It reverted to google again I'm have to send the info in two posts, because I receive an error message that I can't exceed 10,000 characters

[Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520001 (NS_ERROR_FILE_UNRECOGNIZED_PATH) [nsIXPCComponents_Utils.readUTF8URI]" nsresult: "0x80520001 (NS_ERROR_FILE_UNRECOGNIZED_PATH)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/L10nRegistry.jsm :: L10nRegistry.loadSync :: line 692" data: no] L10nRegistry.jsm:692:19 [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520001 (NS_ERROR_FILE_UNRECOGNIZED_PATH) [nsIXPCComponents_Utils.readUTF8URI]" nsresult: "0x80520001 (NS_ERROR_FILE_UNRECOGNIZED_PATH)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/L10nRegistry.jsm :: L10nRegistry.loadSync :: line 692" data: no] L10nRegistry.jsm:692:19 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 HTTPS-Only Mode: Upgrading insecure request “http://wpad/wpad.dat” to use “https”.

SearchService: init 3 SearchService.jsm:1287:16 HTTPS-Only Mode: Not upgrading insecure request “http://detectportal.firefox.com/success.txt” because it is exempt.

SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 Unknown category for SetEventRecordingEnabled: fxmonitor SearchService: _loadEngines: start SearchService.jsm:572:16 SearchSettings: get: No settings file exists, new profile? Object { operation: "open", path: "/Users/garycohen/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/5tcldzba.default-1492542418983/search.json.mozlz4", unixErrno: 2, stack: "", fileName: "(unknown module)", lineNumber: undefined } SearchSettings.jsm:115:18 1613033414371 addons.webextension.onepassword4@agilebits.com WARN Loading extension 'onepassword4@agilebits.com': Reading manifest: Warning processing key: An unexpected property was found in the WebExtension manifest. HTTPS-Only Mode: Not upgrading insecure request “http://detectportal.firefox.com/success.txt?ipv4” because it is exempt.

HTTPS-Only Mode: Not upgrading insecure request “http://detectportal.firefox.com/success.txt?ipv6” because it is exempt.

SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration en-US:US:release::false:firefox:85.0.1 SearchEngineSelector.jsm:202:16 SearchService: _loadEnginesFromConfig SearchService.jsm:615:16 SearchService: makeEngineFromConfig: Object { params: {…}, schema: 1605047692074, extraParams: (1) […], telemetryId: "google-b-1-d", webExtension: {…}, id: "cb8e7210-9f0b-48fa-8708-b9a03df79eea", last_modified: 1605203142486, default: "yes-if-no-other" } SearchService.jsm:1741:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration: google@search.mozilla.org,amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org,wikipedia@search.mozilla.org,bing@search.mozilla.org,ddg@search.mozilla.org,ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchEngineSelector.jsm:326:18 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchEngine: _setIcon: Setting icon url for Google to moz-extension://79795b4c-5e43-a84b-a967-a4718259116a/favicon.ico SearchEngine.jsm:747:16 SearchService: makeEngineFromConfig: Object { schema: 1599421304249, telemetryId: "amazondotcom", webExtension: {…}, id: "071c671c-7c1b-469d-a771-ab16ff6e8beb", last_modified: 1599574471320 } SearchService.jsm:1741:16 SearchService: makeEngineFromConfig: Object { schema: 1588177692141, webExtension: {…}, id: "3f3beb1d-e32e-40a4-b6ed-56741803e1d8", last_modified: 1589299342069 } SearchService.jsm:1741:16 SearchEngine: _setIcon: Setting icon url for Amazon.com to moz-extension://d5da84b0-503d-d44e-b219-63ad9a67b950/favicon.ico SearchEngine.jsm:747:16 SearchService: makeEngineFromConfig: Object { params: {…}, schema: 1592948527171, extraParams: (5) […], webExtension: {…}, id: "7ec766f6-639a-4618-91bc-33eb3d4378c6", last_modified: 1593025575021 } SearchService.jsm:1741:16 SearchService: makeEngineFromConfig: Object { schema: 1594312388385, extraParams: (5) […], telemetryId: "ddg", webExtension: {…}, id: "c0b26c0e-63e6-4235-b2ce-5f16b6a8bf87", last_modified: 1595254832054 } SearchService.jsm:1741:16 SearchEngine: _setIcon: Setting icon url for Wikipedia (en) to moz-extension://2f384cfa-2205-b941-9b76-6bf20580ffba/favicon.ico SearchEngine.jsm:747:16 SearchEngine: _setIcon: Setting icon url for Bing to moz-extension://6ef34eef-1df2-4d47-9cd2-72fa3c75bba0/favicon.ico SearchEngine.jsm:747:16 SearchEngine: _setIcon: Setting icon url for DuckDuckGo to moz-extension://dac9b5d9-aaa7-6349-a262-308001b05acf/favicon.ico SearchEngine.jsm:747:16 SearchService: makeEngineFromConfig: Object { schema: 1609962110792, webExtension: {…}, id: "cbe309e0-f638-4996-9dfc-ea5c19ef16e9", last_modified: 1610163579843 } SearchService.jsm:1741:16 SearchEngine: _setIcon: Setting icon url for eBay to moz-extension://ecbe75ea-dac6-cb47-a6cb-002556a93249/favicon.ico SearchEngine.jsm:747:16 SearchService: _addEngineToStore: Adding engine: Google SearchService.jsm:930:16 SearchService: _addEngineToStore: Adding engine: Amazon.com SearchService.jsm:930:16 SearchService: _addEngineToStore: Adding engine: Wikipedia (en) SearchService.jsm:930:16 SearchService: _addEngineToStore: Adding engine: Bing SearchService.jsm:930:16 SearchService: _addEngineToStore: Adding engine: DuckDuckGo SearchService.jsm:930:16 SearchService: _addEngineToStore: Adding engine: eBay SearchService.jsm:930:16 SearchService: _loadEngines: loading 0 engines reported by AddonManager startup SearchService.jsm:581:16 SearchService: _loadEngines: done SearchService.jsm:599:16 SearchService: _init: engines loaded, writing settings SearchService.jsm:281:18 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchService: Completed _init SearchService.jsm:300:16 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchService: getVisibleEngines: getting all visible engines SearchService.jsm:1416:16 SearchService: _buildSortedEngineList: using default orders SearchService.jsm:1202:16 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchService: getVisibleEngines: getting all visible engines SearchService.jsm:1416:16 Error: Can't find profile directory. XULStore.jsm:66:15

Error: Can't find profile directory. XULStore.jsm:66:15

   load resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm:66
   XULStore resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm:24

SearchService: init 2 SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: bing@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1657:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration en-US:US:release::false:firefox:85.0.1 SearchEngineSelector.jsm:202:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: ddg@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1657:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration: google@search.mozilla.org,amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org,wikipedia@search.mozilla.org,bing@search.mozilla.org,ddg@search.mozilla.org,ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchEngineSelector.jsm:326:18 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration en-US:US:release::false:firefox:85.0.1 SearchEngineSelector.jsm:202:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1657:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration: google@search.mozilla.org,amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org,wikipedia@search.mozilla.org,bing@search.mozilla.org,ddg@search.mozilla.org,ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchEngineSelector.jsm:326:18 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration en-US:US:release::false:firefox:85.0.1 SearchEngineSelector.jsm:202:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1657:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration: google@search.mozilla.org,amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org,wikipedia@search.mozilla.org,bing@search.mozilla.org,ddg@search.mozilla.org,ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchEngineSelector.jsm:326:18 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: google@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1657:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration en-US:US:release::false:firefox:85.0.1 SearchEngineSelector.jsm:202:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration: google@search.mozilla.org,amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org,wikipedia@search.mozilla.org,bing@search.mozilla.org,ddg@search.mozilla.org,ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchEngineSelector.jsm:326:18 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration en-US:US:release::false:firefox:85.0.1 SearchEngineSelector.jsm:202:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: wikipedia@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1657:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration: google@search.mozilla.org,amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org,wikipedia@search.mozilla.org,bing@search.mozilla.org,ddg@search.mozilla.org,ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchEngineSelector.jsm:326:18 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration en-US:US:release::false:firefox:85.0.1 SearchEngineSelector.jsm:202:16 SearchEngineSelector: fetchEngineConfiguration: google@search.mozilla.org,amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org,wikipedia@search.mozilla.org,bing@search.mozilla.org,ddg@search.mozilla.org,ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchEngineSelector.jsm:326:18 SearchService: installExtensionEngine: bing@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1777:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: installing: bing@search.mozilla.org : default SearchService.jsm:1795:18 SearchService: Engine already loaded via settings, skipping due to APP_STARTUP: bing@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1822:20 SearchService: installExtensionEngine: ddg@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1777:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: installing: ddg@search.mozilla.org : default SearchService.jsm:1795:18 SearchService: Engine already loaded via settings, skipping due to APP_STARTUP: ddg@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1822:20 SearchService: installExtensionEngine: amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1777:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: installing: amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org : default SearchService.jsm:1795:18 SearchService: Engine already loaded via settings, skipping due to APP_STARTUP: amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1822:20 SearchService: installExtensionEngine: ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1777:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: installing: ebay@search.mozilla.org : default SearchService.jsm:1795:18 SearchService: Engine already loaded via settings, skipping due to APP_STARTUP: ebay@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1822:20 SearchService: installExtensionEngine: google@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1777:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: installing: google@search.mozilla.org : default SearchService.jsm:1795:18 SearchService: Engine already loaded via settings, skipping due to APP_STARTUP: google@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1822:20 SearchService: installExtensionEngine: wikipedia@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1777:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: installing: wikipedia@search.mozilla.org : default SearchService.jsm:1795:18 SearchService: Engine already loaded via settings, skipping due to APP_STARTUP: wikipedia@search.mozilla.org SearchService.jsm:1822:20 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: firefoxextension@metager.org SearchService.jsm:1657:16 SearchService: installExtensionEngine: firefoxextension@metager.org SearchService.jsm:1777:16 SearchService: addEnginesFromExtension: installing: firefoxextension@metager.org : default SearchService.jsm:1795:18 SearchService: _createAndAddEngine: Adding MetaGer SearchService.jsm:1598:16 SearchService: _addEngineToStore: Adding engine: MetaGer SearchService.jsm:930:16 SearchService: _saveSortedEngineList SearchService.jsm:1129:16 SearchEngine: _setIcon: Setting icon url for MetaGer to https://metager.org/favicon.ico SearchEngine.jsm:747:16 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchUtils: NOTIFY: Engine: MetaGer Verb: engine-added SearchUtils.jsm:188:18 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchService: getVisibleEngines: getting all visible engines SearchService.jsm:1416:16 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchService: _handleIgnoreListUpdated SearchService.jsm:340:16 WebExtensions: new intermediate certificate added api.js:32 SearchUtils: loadListener: Starting request: https://metager.org/favicon.ico SearchUtils.jsm:53:16 SearchUtils: loadListener: Stopping request: https://metager.org/favicon.ico SearchUtils.jsm:60:16 SearchService: init 2 SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchUtils: NOTIFY: Engine: MetaGer Verb: engine-changed SearchUtils.jsm:188:18 SearchService: getVisibleEngines: getting all visible engines SearchService.jsm:1416:16 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchService: getVisibleEngines: getting all visible engines SearchService.jsm:1416:16 stderr output from native app 2bua8c4s2c.com.agilebits.1password: 2021-02-11 08:50:15.526 1PasswordNativeMessageHost[2345:35279] 70700015 [EXT_NMH:(Secondary Thread 0x7fed01737ab0):OPNMXPCConnection.swift] E connect() | Connection Established Unchecked lastError value: Error: Could not establish connection. Receiving end does not exist. background.js:2 Unchecked lastError value: Error: Could not establish connection. Receiving end does not exist. 2 background.js:2 WebExtensions: signatures re-verified api.js:42 SearchSettings: batchTask: Invalidating engine settings SearchSettings.jsm:155:20 SearchSettings: _write: Writing to settings file. SearchSettings.jsm:226:18 SearchSettings: _write: settings file written to disk. SearchSettings.jsm:233:18 HTTPS-Only Mode: Upgrading insecure request “http://wpad/wpad.dat” to use “https”.

Sync encountered an error - see about:sync-log for the log file. policies.js:996 SearchService: init 2 SearchService.jsm:1287:16 Warning processing windowTypes: This property is deprecated global.min.js:250 SearchService: init SearchService.jsm:1287:16 Failed to create WebGL context: WebGL is currently disabled. 2 Troubleshoot.jsm:658:21 1613033472980 Toolkit.Telemetry WARN TelemetryStorage::_enforceArchiveQuota - Unable to find the size of ping ea6cb050-25d1-e94b-997a-6c608b144c6f 1613033472981 Toolkit.Telemetry WARN TelemetryStorage::_enforceArchiveQuota - Unable to find the size of ping 851c45dd-caa5-5942-bcbd-832d33cf0375 1613033472982 Toolkit.Telemetry WARN TelemetryStorage::_enforceArchiveQuota - Unable to find the size of ping 0d486159-357e-7f41-8233-1b30b394114b 1613033472983 Toolkit.Telemetry WARN TelemetryStorage::_enforceArchiveQuota - Unable to find the size of ping 9e604746-5aed-a04d-8c9e-1a29dd96cdcb 1613033472984 Toolkit.Telemetry WARN TelemetryStorage::_enforceArchiveQuota - Unable to find the size of ping 1eee0483-6003-4c40-874d-0792fea0e5bc 1613033472985 Toolkit.Telemetry WARN TelemetryStorage::_enforceArchiveQuota - Unable to find the size of ping 73d827e3-2f1c-9e42-aa96-f38c2871bb2d HTTPS-Only Mode: Not upgrading insecure request “http://detectportal.firefox.com/success.txt” because it is exempt.

HTTPS-Only Mode: Upgrading insecure request “http://wpad/wpad.dat” to use “https”.

HTTPS-Only Mode: Not upgrading insecure request “http://detectportal.firefox.com/success.txt?ipv4” because it is exempt.

HTTPS-Only Mode: Not upgrading insecure request “http://detectportal.firefox.com/success.txt?ipv6” because it is exempt.

Warning processing windowTypes: This property is deprecated global.min.js:250 Key key_application of menuitem Application could not be found menu.js:292 Unchecked lastError value: Error: Could not establish connection. Receiving end does not exist. background.js:2 debuggee 'resource://devtools/shared/base-loader.js:289' would run builtin-modules.js:196:11 Warning processing windowTypes: This property is deprecated global.min.js:250 SearchService: init 3 SearchService.jsm:1287:16 SearchService: Running check on WebExtension engines SearchService.jsm:1353:16 SearchService: WebExtension engine check complete SearchService.jsm:1405:16 SearchService: init 2 SearchService.jsm:1287:16 Unchecked lastError value: Error: Could not establish connection. Receiving end does not exist. background.js:2

FYI — it also reverts to google when starting in safe mode

That doesn't surprise me, so far I think there's a third party in play, but we could do with those logs to try and determine what's happening.