I'm sorry that our comments were not helpful to you. Bing should not have been enabled by default, so I am thinking that you may have gotten a customized version of Firefox. If this ever happens again, a quicker solution may be to download Firefox from our official site (https://mozilla.org/firefox/).

You did not get Firefox from Mozilla, did you? That is where you should get it - from the source. I would download Firefox from a Mozilla page, uninstall Firefox (but do not remove the profile), and install the new one.

• http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html

You may also have to reset a setting in about:config.

• browser.newtab.url - set to about:blank if you want a blank new tab

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

• Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe mode start window or otherwise make changes.

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

If you do not keep changes after a restart then see:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Preferences_not_saved

Uninstalling and re-installing Firefox worked. Thanks.

I also had this problem. Thanks for your post. I disabled a tool bar that I don't remember ever adding, by following your directions, and Blam! Bing is gone. Woohoo! It was driving me crazy! The toolbar I deleted, for anyone who may have it, was called SweetPacks.

Wow...sounds like a pervasive, desperate intrusion has infiltrated the halls of Mozilla...an unauthorized redirect. I suddenly started having the same issue as well starting 3 days ago. Have tried the toolbar approach but that's a non-issue. The initial window loads properly then BAM...ask for a new tab and Bing kicks in -- no rhyme or reason! Plus Firefox in general starts functioning in a really hinky way. And the excuse I've seen about it occurring after installing Firefox from a third-party site also flies out the window...I only load directly from Mozilla. Try again.

This has happened to me before and the only solution I've found to get rid of this misbegotten pest is to backup your bookmarks and profile and undergo only a completely clean install of Firefox, then rebuild your customizations.

It's a hassle that is getting very old very fast and will probably find me considering other browsers in the near future because of this "pattern." Anyone with recommendations I should include on that list??? Thanks in advance.

This Bing issue does not come in any Firefox builds from Mozilla.org. It was likely installed by some other software recently for example so be mad at them instead.

Appreciate the feedback but am sorry to burst your bubble on that one, James. Only Java update installed over a week ago -- not even Flash for a few weeks now -- have automatic updates set to run directly through Mozilla (running 21.0), and well know how to do customized installs on any added features I might allow so this kind of redirect garbage doesn't occur. There has been no change when launching my default homepage or a new window...only kicks in when requesting a new tab. If it were some other software installation/toolbar/plug-in that got by me, it would affect ALL activity -- and that would be extremely obvious...it would not just affect new tabs upon a launch request during a session.

If you can explain that one...I'm listening.

In the meantime...I blew it away and have started with a fresh install.

Installing or updating Java may includee with unwanted extras, so if you get a notification to update software always make sure to remove any check-marks that would install extra software.

If you have been using Firefox 21 for a while and only just got this Bing issue recently then you cannot blame the Firefox browser. There has been no Firefox updates for 21.0 since it was released (no 21.0.1 chemspill) and will not be now as 22.0 may be released tommorow if all goes well.

Besides Mozilla would never add such nor do so without anybody noticing ;)

For me, when I started digging around, I found that BING had attached itself to an add on provided for Mozilla Firefox... the one called Social Search tool bar... I disabled it for a day to see if I would get any redirects where I have had them in the past. To my amazement I was no longer redirected to BING due to incomplete or lost search addresses (closed threads). After a day I removed the add on and have been running happily, "BING free", ever since. This is not Mozilla's fault, more to the point, it was the creator of the add on. They may have used some free tools where Micro Slut slyly slid their crappy search engine tool bar onto. Try it, if it works for you great, if not, be kind and figure out where you are getting the redirects and try losing some of the useless add ons.

Not necessarily Bing all the time, but some addon creators and websites that help a creator build an addon get paid for sending search traffic to some search engines. A small identifier code is slipped into the search request string to "tell" the search engine "who" is to be paid for that "referral".

Just like with downloading Firefox, it is best to install extensions from the official add-ons website. Mozilla carefully screens submitted add-ons before posting them to the website (or tells you it is experimental).

I installed CD-ripper from NCH and got "pregnant" with that Bing BULLCRAP addon. I inactivated the addon and then I removed it, restarted Firefox and I don't have any problem since...

Any app such as Bing that must resort to such deceptive methods of installation will never be accepted. No matter how much they spend on TV advertising.

Here is another way. I apologize if someone else suggested this, though I didn't see it.

I tried the various methods I've read on this and other forums. Nothing seems to permanently work.

So, I went to Control Panel (by whatever method you get to your control method, just do it.) And I looked at all the programs which have been installed recently. And there they were, two programs. One called Conduit Search. Another was toolbar (with a number next to it, which I forget.)

The thing is, these were the two most recent programs snuck onto my computer when I was dling what I thought to be an innocent little video player.

They do not identify themselves as BING, or as Bing toolbar, or as a Bing program. They use innocuous-sounding names.

I also changed my default browser to Firefox, but initially that did not help.

It's just one more, fairly easy thing for anyone with the same problem to try. It won't damage or change anything. Just go to control panel, and list/view your programs by date. That way you can find which programs were recently installed - which you did not purposely install or want.

jane

Thanks Jane,

Wasted alot of time trying to remove something I didn't ask for in the first place.

'about:config > newtab" and "remove add-on" and "reinstall" solutions didn't work for me for whatever reason (hopefully I didnt mess things up in about:config as I went frantic to amend multiple lines under a search term 'tab").

However I found Conduit Search in programs and uninstalled. Needless to say when I restarted my computer I was finally BING FREE!!!!!