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ECOSIA - can't get rid of it!

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by ReedSinger

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I have removed Ecosia (search engine that plants trees) from Add Ons / Extensions. I have removed it from my list of web browsers.

IT WON'T GO AWAY.

If anyone has had success in removing this, I would appreciate hearing from you. I'm on a Mac, running 10.10.4 and Firefox 40.0.

I have removed Ecosia (search engine that plants trees) from Add Ons / Extensions. I have removed it from my list of web browsers. IT WON'T GO AWAY. If anyone has had success in removing this, I would appreciate hearing from you. I'm on a Mac, running 10.10.4 and Firefox 40.0.

Chosen solution

In what way do you get that search engine?

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar and search for prefs that refer to Ecosia. You can reset user set (bold) prefs via the right-click context menu to the default value.

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

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Chosen Solution

In what way do you get that search engine?

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar and search for prefs that refer to Ecosia. You can reset user set (bold) prefs via the right-click context menu to the default value.

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

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Hi, could you describe in more detail where Ecosia is showing up now? For example:

  • listed with your other search sites or took over as your default search engine -- see:
  • replaces your expected new tab page (comments at the end)
  • other...

If you are able to clean it but then it returns when you quit and start Firefox again, please see this article for suggestions: How to fix preferences that won't save.


Here's how you can change your new tab page:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtab.url preference and enter your preferred page:

  • Page thumbnails (default) => about:newtab
  • Blank tab => about:blank
  • Built-in Firefox home page => about:home
  • Any other page => full URL to the page

Press Cmd+t to open a new tab and verify that it worked. Fixed?

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Thanks to you both. about:config solved the problem!