Removing Bing from Firefox

[theoldwolf]

It happens more and more frequently these days - you install some software or other, and the next time you type a few keywords in your Firefox URL bar, instead of your beloved Google you have been hijacked by Bing.

Well, Bing, read my Avatar.

It's not hard to get rid of, if you know what to do.

1. In the URL bar, type "about:config" (without the quotes) and hit Enter.
   
2. Answer the question with "I'll be careful, I promise!"
   
3. In the "Filter" box, type "keyword.URL" (without the quotes).
   
4. Double-click the resulting entry.
   
5. Clear the text box that comes up, and replace it with this string:

   
   

   http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

   
   
6. Notice that there are no spaces anywhere in that string.)

That's all. Google should now be your default search engine.

As far as I know, this should work if you've been hijacked by Ask, or any other search engine as well.

I hate stealth installations. Even if there's a pre-checked box somewhere that's easy to miss, installation should ALWAYS (yes, I'm shouting) by opt-in, not opt-out. Filthy buggers.

Comments

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

I have yet to have Bing hijack my browser. But it is the key browser on every computer in the school district. I hate Bing. I have always hated Bing. The only thing that Micro$oft ever did right with their search engine was back when it was called Live Search, they had higher resolution maps than Google, which lasted for about four months.

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

Microsoft, of all groups, is resorting to silent browser hijackings now? Oh, these guys are so sued!

[carlfoxmarten]

I try to look very carefully at each page of checkmarks I get shown during an install, but every once in a while, somebody changes something they're not supposed to.
Very annoying...

Thanks for showing how to fix Firefox's search box, I gather it's not always easy to figure this out.