NO search engine association with URL box inputs?
On my own installation of Firefox at home, when I want to go to a website, I can generally just type what I want in the URL box; for example, I could write, "firefox support", and then I will be directed to the Firefox support page. I am trying to achieve this on a Firefox installation I am setting up for my sister on her computer. She had issues with Yahoo toolbar overtaking everything and Yahoo search results being fed back to her when searching for terms in the URL box. I managed to disable this by going into "About:config" and making the "Keyword.url" preference blank. The yahoo results stopped appearing and Firefox just directed you to where you wanted to go based on the keywords entered, as described above. I thought I was done, and everything was behaving as expected. But then I updated to Firefox's latest version and am suddenly getting GOOGLE results when I type things into the URL box. Again, at home, no search results appear ... just the website, or firefox's best guess on the website you'd want based on what you typed. Like, if I typed, "The Sims", I'd likely end up on EA's The Sims website. Now, I am given Google results for "The Sims". This is a pointless step. The keyword preference in config is still blank, yet Google search results appear. How do I make it so that NO search results appear, and just the website does?
colvax trɔe
All Replies (2)
There is a change beginning in Firefox 4 in how Location bar search works.
- In Firefox 3.6.x, Location bar search uses Google "Browse by name" search. With the browse by name search, it performs a Google search and
- if there is a clear match it will take you to the site
- otherwise it shows the Google search result page
- Firefox 4 and newer versions the default is
- to perform a Google search and present the Google search results page if you type something which is not recognized as a URL
- you must type a complete URL, such as www.youtube.com , to go directly to the site
To get the Firefox 3.6.x behavior in Firefox 4 and newer versions. you need to change a hidden preference OR install the add-on below.
To change the preference:
- Type about:config into the location bar and press the Enter key
- If you see a warning, accept it (promise to be careful)
- A list of preferences will open
- Filter = keyword.URL
- Double-click on that preference in the lower pane
- A small window will appear; copy one of the URLs below and paste into the box in that small window (or type it into the box in that window exactly as shown below):
- Google "I'm Feeling Lucky": http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=
- Google "Browse by Name": http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=
Instead of the above, you could install this extension:
- Browse by name add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/browse-by-name
See:
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keyword.URL
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Location_Bar_search
If this reply solves your problem, please click "Solved It" next to this reply when signed-in to the forum.
Not related to your question, but...
You may need to update some plug-ins. Check your plug-ins and update as necessary (on the system from which you posted your question):
- Plug-in check: https://www-trunk.stage.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
- Adobe Shockwave for Director Netscape plug-in: Installing (or Updating) the Shockwave plugin with Firefox
- Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape: Installing/Updating Adobe Reader in Firefox
- Shockwave Flash (Adobe Flash or Flash): Updating Flash in Firefox
- Next Generation Java Plug-in for Mozilla browsers: Installing or Updating Java in Firefox
You can disable the keyword search by setting the pref keyword.enabled to false on the about:config page that you can open via the location bar.