Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Technical Help and How To's Computer help - address bar

I managed to accidentally delete my menu bar in FireFox. I figured that out pretty quickly, but now that I have it back, my address bar is using my local internet provider rather rather than Google. I can't figure out how to fix it. The Google search window is still present to the right of that, but I often use the address bar for searching and I don't want to use my local internet provider for that because it is limited. Help me fix it! I've looked for help on the internet, but I kept getting things about strings and such and I barely know what that is let alone try to mess with it.

Well, I found a site that showed me pictures and I fixed it. Strings and all.

Hi Nancy,

I think this may be what you need:

1. In the address bar (AKA the "awesome bar" in Firefox), type about:config and hit the enter key. You will be given a warning to scare you off from making changes to your configuration. Indicate that you wish to proceed anyway.
2. Scroll down until you see keyword.URL
3. Double-click on keyword.URL
4. Type http://www.google.com/search?q= and press OK.


Joy,
Lynn

Oops... I don't think that this is a case of "Better late than never." But perhaps you'll at least consider it a case of "It's the thought that counts"?

Joy,
Lynn

Thanks, Lynn! I did just exactly that, but I couldn't figure out till I saw the pictures.

But my fix (twice) didn't work long. My internet provider seems to be hijacking the setting. I must not be the only one having problems because they had a very long wait time for phone questions which is unusual for my provider. But maybe this is a FireFox problem. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Did you notice our posts were just a minute apart?

Hi Nancy,

Ugh! How frustrating to seem to have solved the problem only to have it pop back up! Perhaps someone else on the list might have a suggestion that would make the change more permanent. I fear I don't have any other suggestions.

Did you eventually get through to your ISP, or did you give up because of the wait? What did they have to say?

I had noticed that our posts were close together; apparently you must have found the web site with pictures while I was typing up my suggestion.

Joy,
Lynn

I gave up and decided to call back later. I'll let you know what they say.

I know that RoadRunner "hijacks" any non-URLs. Basically, if what you type in doesn't go to an actual page (what would normally give you a DNS/Site not found error), it sends you to it's own branded search page. I think there are other ISPs out there that does this, too. I don't know of any way around this, though.

Nancy,

After you changed the information on the "about:config" keyword.URL string, and it started again, did it change the keyword.URL string (not Google anymore)?

If so, then your local internet provider might have installed some program in your computer that is changing this information.

If not, then see if you can try this (suggested by Google). It will bypass your local internet provider to search for addresses. No pictures, but lots of text to explain what to do in each system.

Hope this helps.

malu

You should check to see if a user.js file has been created by your isp. Here is info on where to find a user.js file and how to edit, add or remove entries if a user.js file exists.

Amy

Well, I called my provider (Armstrong) and they said they didn't know what I was talking about but suggested that I reset FireFox to original settings that would remove all ad-ons. I'm not sure I'm willing to do that because the lack of an ad blocker may have been the reason why my computer got hit with multiple trojans about a month ago. I would have thought I had plenty of protection without that but I don't want to take a chance.

No, Malu, it didn't change the string.

I'll try what Malu and AmyN suggested.