Firefox users please comment

14 replies
Does Firefox change your home page to their search engine, or am I the only one this happens to. It happens every time I reboot, or just close all my browser windows. I am getting damn tired of resetting my home page to what I want and from Firefox search engine.
#comment #firefox #users
  • Profile picture of the author Steven Millard
    Firefox does not change my home page everytime I fire it up... if your sure about backing up everything in firefox... I would consider re-installing it and see if it still happens... just food for thought.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I believe there's a plug-in that you have to download to set your homepage even when you open up new tabs, or when you launch firefox everytime.
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    • Profile picture of the author dfs_dean
      Tim

      First, I assume when you say you reset your home page you mean you go through the Tools > Options > General > Startup settings. If not, give that a go and see how it works for you. (No plugin is needed to set your browser's start page.)

      FF doesn't just change things by itself. If the above option doesn't help then you've either installed an extension that is doing it or you've picked up some malware. From the startup setting under the Tools > etc, you should see the full web address for the search page that keeps showing up as your start page. That should give you a clue as to what is causing the change.

      With a couple kids in the house that love doing online games, visiting Transformer and Super Hero type sites, and so on, I have to do some cleanup on their PC about once a week. Toolbars get added, start pages get hijacked, extensions get installed. You get the idea. I say all that to say that it generally isn't hard to clean the stuff up once you see what it is that's causing the problem. Running Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware program (free) periodically helps keep things clean, too. And a Google search can help with the more serious issues.

      Good luck with it.

      Peace
      Signature
      Find something to enjoy about reality. It's not going to go away.
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      • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
        No, never.

        FF hasn't ever changed anything on its own. I've heard malware can do that though, as the others have suggested.

        Terra
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  • Profile picture of the author Tony Humble
    Banned
    Download Microsoft Security Essentials and scan your PC. You probably have malware on it that is redirecting the homepage to their search engine which they make money from.
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  • Profile picture of the author starcraft2
    Banned
    Might be courtesy of malware or browser hijack - try malwarebytes, one of the best antivirus scans IMO
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  • Profile picture of the author Riggs
    If it's malicious malware, the redirection to their official search engine doesn't make it very evident.

    Navigate to your address bar and type about:config, then in your Search bar type home.

    Right-click on browser.startup.homepage, click Modify and change the address to your preferred homepage.

    Restart FF and tell me if you have the same issue.
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    • Profile picture of the author barbaramoore225
      Uninstall it. And install it again. I think the problem should be solved.
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  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    I obviously have some malware. I down'oaded some trojan recently that redirected me to ishare.com or something like that. I thought I had got rid of it finally, then this popped up. I just wanted to check as FF updated itself recently while I wasn't at my computer. I came back and all my programs had been shut down and a reboot.

    Thanks everyone for your feedback/help.
    Signature

    Tim Pears

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  • Profile picture of the author DotComBum
    Go to Tools>Options>General

    Change the startup page to your preferred one, it should solved your problem.
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    • Profile picture of the author timpears
      Originally Posted by DotComBum View Post

      Go to Tools>Options>General

      Change the startup page to your preferred one, it should solved your problem.

      I wish it was that easy, but it isn't. Every time I reboot, my home page is changed back to the FF start up page.
      Signature

      Tim Pears

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      • Profile picture of the author rpstaller
        Originally Posted by timpears View Post

        I wish it was that easy, but it isn't. Every time I reboot, my home page is changed back to the FF start up page.
        Can you post a screen shot of the default home page that it opens? If it is the one I think you're referring to, mine does the same thing and it's not because of any kind of malware it's just Firefox's default start page. However, I cannot speak to why it might be switching back to that from the homepage you try to set because I haven't changed mine. I always just let that page come up and use the "Restore Previous Session" button to re-open the tabs I had open the last time I shut down Firefox.
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  • Profile picture of the author kchanda
    Not at all, it's working fine here. Never changed my default search engine.
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