To revert to Google as your preferred search engine, please do the following.

• In the location bar, type about:config and hit Enter.
• In the filter at the top, type: keyword.URL
• Double click it and remove whatever's in there and replace it with http://www.google.com/search?q=

The URL to add in "keyword.URL" becomes a link in this post, so right click it and choose "Copy Link Location" to copy it to the Windows clipboard. Then hit CTRL+V to paste it. Saves you having to type the whole thing.

Also, click the Firefox button, go to Add-ons | Extensions. If you find any instances of JZip in there, click Remove.

To reset your home page, do the following.

• Go to the site you want to set as your homepage.
• Click the orange Firefox button and go to Options | Options | General
• Make sure it says "Show My Homepage" in the first dropdown menu.
• Click the button called "Use Current Pages" to set the homepage to the one you have on the screen.

After you complete the above steps, install this add-on to prevent another search engine from modifying your preferences: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/browserprotect/

this did not fix the problem at all.

Open about:config again and in the filter at the top, type: jzip

Next, right click each entry with that name in it and choose Reset from the menu to restore default values.

Finally, close Firefox and restart it again.

Also, please check in Add/Remove Programs for "Windows Jzip Toolbar". If you find it, click "Remove".

where do i go for about:config? sorry, not super computer savvy anymore.

See:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

If you didn't know where to go to type about:config, why did you say that my first suggestion didn't fix the problem? That requires you to type that in the location bar.

because i found a different route to change the search engine. right after i posted my last comment i found the answer. i also have solved the problem at this point. thanks for your help.