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i keep deleting search engines in my search bar and everytime i reload firefox they are all there again

  • 3 replies
  • 7 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

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I go into my search engine bar and manage my search engines, and delete the ones i dont use and rearrange them, and then every time i close firefox and restart it, all of the search engines are reset! they all reappear and are in the original order. plus there are two yahoos? is there some malicious software on my computer or is there something i can do to fix this in firefox?

I go into my search engine bar and manage my search engines, and delete the ones i dont use and rearrange them, and then every time i close firefox and restart it, all of the search engines are reset! they all reappear and are in the original order. plus there are two yahoos? is there some malicious software on my computer or is there something i can do to fix this in firefox?

All Replies (3)

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If you do not keep changes after a restart or otherwise have problems with preferences, see:

Try to delete the search.json file and possible search-metadata.json and search.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder to reset the search engines to the default.

Firefox will rebuild the search.json file from the default search engines in the "browser\searchplugins" folder in the Firefox program folder and the searchplugins folder in the Firefox profile folder.

You can use this button to go to the Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
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i just deleted the files listed above, and i deleted the search engines i didnt want, now i will restart my firefox to see if it works. thanks!

now i did this and restarted my firefox, and it didnt work! it just deleted all of my saved usernames and passwords and i had several! how frustrating!

Modified by jbunds

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Some of those programs have to be removed not just from Firefox, but from your computers programs installed. Windows > Start > Control Panel > Programs > Remove. And some need to be removed just like malware.

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Sometimes a problem with Firefox may be a result of malware installed on your computer, that you may not be aware of.

You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one.

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

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