install the Search Reset Tool.

Or use Adwcleaner

For further information, please read Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page.

Did this fix the problem? Let us know!

I tried the Search Reset Tool previously. It did nothing. I tried it again with the same results.

Have you uninstalled any AOL toolbars then scan with ADWCleaner as explained above?

Yes, I uninstalled or deleted everything that I could that says aol. Scanned and deleted with ADWCleaner, and used the Search Reset Tool. My problem remains.

delete a possible user.js file in your profile folder

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-fix-preferences-wont-save#w_user-js-file-overriding-preferences

When I get to the step where I have opened my profile folder and am supposed to click "File" and select "exit", "exit" does not exist. I don't see a user.js file in the folder either.

In order to be able to find the correct solution to your problem, we require some more non-personal information from you. Please do the following:

• Click the Firefox button at the top left, then click the Help menu and select Troubleshooting Information from the submenu. If you don't have a Firefox button, click the Help menu at the top and select Troubleshooting Information from the menu.

Now, a new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.

• At the top of the page, you should see a button that says "Copy text to clipboard". Click it.
• Now, go back to your forum post and click inside the reply box. Press Ctrl+V to paste all the information you copied into the forum post.

If you need further information about the Troubleshooting information page, please read the article Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Application Basics

       Name
       Firefox

       Version
       21.0

       User Agent
       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:21.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/21.0

       Build Configuration

         about:buildconfig

 Extensions

       Name

       Version

       Enabled

       ID

       NoScript
       2.6.6.7
       true
       {73a6fe31-595d-460b-a920-fcc0f8843232}

       SearchReset
       0.3
       true
       [email protected]

       Updated Ad Blocker for Firefox 11+
       0.7.7
       false
       {4DC70064-89E2-4a55-8FC6-E8CDEAE3618C}

 Important Modified Preferences

     Name

     Value

       accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar
       0

       browser.cache.disk.capacity
       358400

       browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run
       false

       browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max
       false

       browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value
       358400

       browser.places.importBookmarksHTML
       false

       browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion
       4

       browser.search.useDBForOrder
       true

       browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID
       20130511120803

       browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone
       21.0

       dom.mozApps.used
       true

       dom.w3c_touch_events.expose
       false

       extensions.lastAppVersion
       21.0

       font.name.serif.x-western
       Georgia

       network.cookie.prefsMigrated
       true

       network.protocol-handler.warn-external.dnupdate
       false

       places.database.lastMaintenance
       1373067628

       places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages
       53427

       places.last_vacuum
       1335388968

       plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types
       application/pdf

       plugin.importedState
       true

       print.print_printer
       Brother MFC-240C USB Printer

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_bgcolor
       false

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_bgimages
       false

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_command

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_downloadfonts
       false

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_edge_bottom
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_edge_left
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_edge_right
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_edge_top
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_evenpages
       true

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_footercenter

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_footerleft
       &PT

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_footerright
       &D

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_headercenter

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_headerleft
       &T

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_headerright
       &U

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_in_color
       true

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_margin_bottom
       0.5

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_margin_left
       0.5

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_margin_right
       0.5

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_margin_top
       0.5

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_oddpages
       true

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_orientation
       1

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_pagedelay
       500

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_paper_data
       1

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_paper_height
       11.00

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_paper_size_type
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_paper_size_unit
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_paper_width
       8.50

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_reversed
       false

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_scaling
       1.00

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_shrink_to_fit
       true

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_to_file
       false

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_unwriteable_margin_left
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_unwriteable_margin_right
       0

       print.printer_Brother_MFC-240C_USB_Printer.print_unwriteable_margin_top
       0

       privacy.popups.showBrowserMessage
       false

       privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs
       true

       privacy.sanitize.timeSpan
       3

       security.warn_viewing_mixed
       false

 Graphics

       Adapter Description
       Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family

       Adapter Drivers
       ialmrnt5

       Adapter RAM
       Unknown

       Device ID
       0x2582

       Direct2D Enabled
       Blocked for your graphics driver version.

       DirectWrite Enabled
       false (0.0.0.0)

       Driver Date
       7-19-2005

       Driver Version
       6.14.10.4363

       GPU #2 Active
       false

       GPU Accelerated Windows
       0/1 Basic Blocked for your graphics driver version. Try updating your graphics driver to version 6.1400.1000.4764 or newer.

       Vendor ID
       0x8086

       WebGL Renderer
       Blocked for your graphics driver version. Try updating your graphics driver to version 6.1400.1000.4764 or newer.

       AzureCanvasBackend
       skia

       AzureContentBackend
       none

       AzureFallbackCanvasBackend
       cairo

 JavaScript

       Incremental GC
       true

 Accessibility

       Activated
       false

       Prevent Accessibility
       0

 Library Versions

       Expected minimum version

       Version in use

       NSPR
       4.9.6
       4.9.6

       NSS
       3.14.3.0 Basic ECC
       3.14.3.0 Basic ECC

       NSSSMIME
       3.14.3.0 Basic ECC
       3.14.3.0 Basic ECC

       NSSSSL
       3.14.3.0 Basic ECC
       3.14.3.0 Basic ECC

       NSSUTIL
       3.14.3.0
       3.14.3.0

Also, for peformance reason i'd would update your graphics drivers if i was you

• Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL

About the AOL issue, boot into Windows Safe Mode with Networking

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/start-your-computer-in-safe-mode

Its the same in XP too.

and then?

See if AOL hijacks your browser, does it also hijack Internet Explorer?

Firefox is no longer being "hijacked", I simply don't have any options in the search bar, and cannot seem to reinstall those options. Aol DOES hijack Internet explorer. There isn't a search bar but IE comes up as "aol" and shows aol as the homepage destination.

Now reboot (into regular mode) and does it still hijack Firefox, you may need to make a new profile or reinstall firefox.

• Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page
• Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles
• Recover important data from an old profile

I think you misunderstand. I removed the aol search from Firefox even before starting this thread. Nothing changed when I went to safe mode. The problem is that the files or code that enables the search bar is gone or disabled. The only thing in the search bar is Firefox add-ons.

I already understood that.

Yes, I uninstalled or deleted everything that I could that says aol. Scanned and deleted with ADWCleaner, and used the Search Reset Tool. My problem remains.

How about reinstalling Firefox, which should reinstall search plugins.

Please follow these steps:

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
   • Windows:
     • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
     • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
   1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
   2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

Please report back to see if this helped you!

I deleted the Firefox folder. Firefox still opens. I tried to remove it with the add/remove. When I click the remove button, nothing happens.

Try adding a google search plugin back to firefox. http://mycroftproject.com/google-search-plugins.html

click the 1st one and it should ask you to add google.

Well, now I've been trying to upgrade my graphics drivers. Intel says they don't have an update for my driver. Windows automatic update glitches. When I try to look for graphics updates manually it seems I have the latest driver already.