Yahoo keeps sneaking back as my browser, although it's been eliminated. How do I get rid of it forever in favor of Google?
My computer indicate that only Google and McAfee Secure are search options. But when I type an address into the website space, a green plus sign appears in the search bar and then the search engine being used is Yahoo,, not Google. I have used a website to remove the Yahoo search engine, and I cannot find any evidence of Yahoo on the computer (but I'm not very computer literate). Help!!!
Wšě wotmołwy (11)
A green plus next to the search engine icon normally means that the website offers a search engine and shouldn't change the current search engine,
Did you disable or remove any search engine in "Options/Preferences > Search"?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
- Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - AdwCleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml - SuperAntispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/ - Microsoft Safety Scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Windows Defender:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender - Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Kasperky Free Security Scan:
http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan
You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.
- Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open your Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac:<Command>)<Shift> A)
In the Add-ons Manager, on the left, select Extensions. Remove Yahoo Anything. Now do the same in the computers Programs Folder.
Windows: Start > Control Panel > Uninstall Programs. Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. Linux: Check your user manual.
After the problem is fixed, Bookmark and use this; Download the Mozilla Search Reset {web link} This add-on is very simple: on installation, it backs up and then resets your search preferences and home page to their default values, and then uninstalls itself. This affects the search bar, URL bar searches, and the home page.
Security Issue: Update your Flash Player Version 19.0.0.226
https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html
Note: Windows users should download the ‘’’active_x’’’ for “Internet Explorer,”
and the ‘’’plugin’’’ for “Plugin-based browsers” (like Firefox).
Note: Edge on Win10 does not use ActiveX version but its own Flash.
See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration
I ran all of the malware/spyware, and yahoo still keeps coming up when I type something into the address bar. Anything that was removed through the malware did not involve yahoo.
Can you attach a screenshot?
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem
- Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
- Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB
You can use the SearchReset extension to reset some preferences to the default values.
Note that the SearchReset extension only runs once and then uninstalls automatically, so it won't show on the "Firefox > Add-ons" page (about:addons).
I do not find a "print screen" button on the web page or on my toolbar; therefore, I cannot send a picture of the screen. I have typed the word "books" on the address bar, and the information that appears on my screen is a list of various websites relating to books supplied by Yahoo.
Taking a Screen shot; Windows > Start > search box > Snip. Select Snipping Tool.
Save the picture(s) to your desktop. Now look at the Reply box below. Press the button under it that says Browse. Now select the screen shot(s) from the desktop and load them one at a time.
There are also add-ons available that can take pictures of Firefox. Go to the Mozilla Add-ons Web Page {web link} (There’s a lot of good stuff here) and search for what you want.
Here's a picture of what I get when I type the word "books" into the address bar, even though Yahoo is supposedly no where on my computer.
The print screen button is normally positioned to the right of the functions keys of your keyboard. If you have a laptop or a tablet then this might be different.
The link shows mcafee and that would suggest that McAfee software is possibly involved. Your System Detail list shows McAfee components, so at least that would be possible. A lot of security software for Windows tries to modify Firefox with add-ons and other modifications, so you will have to check that.
Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) to see if that helps.
This is a desktop computer. The top left has File, Edit, View, History, Bookmarks, Tools and Help. The top right has icons for Downloads, Home Page, Bookmark this Page, Show your Bookmarks, Save to Pocket, Share this page, Start a Conversation, Open menu (which does not include Print Screen), View Site Report. Don't see Print Screen anywhere.
"Print Screen" is a key on your keyboard and not a button on your screen although your OS might have a utility to take a screenshot that you can start via the Windows Start menu.
Did you look at this Wikipedia article?