hello, this sounds like a problem possibly caused by malware on your pc. please go to firefox > addons > extensions & remove any suspicious entries (toolbars, things that you have not installed intentionally, don't know what purpose they serve, etc). also go to the windows control panel / programs and remove all toolbars or potentially unwanted software from there and run a full scan of your system with the security software that you have in place and different other tools like the free version of malwarebytes & adwcleaner.

Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

Does this affect links on all pages or particularly in search engine results? Search engine redirects usually indicate malware, as noted above, or at least an unwanted extension. Try disabling ALL nonessential or unrecognized extensions here:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Extensions category

Usually a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.

So far none of the suggestions have worked. The only thing I haven't done is try adwcleaner. I ran malwarebytes and spybot to no avail. Any other ideas?

Thanks

could you go to firefox > help > troubleshooting information, copy the contents of that page and paste them here into a reply on the forum? this might give us a clue what is going on...

Application Basics
------------------

Name: Firefox
Version: 24.0
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/24.0

Extensions
----------

Name: Add to Amazon Wish List Button
Version: 1.10
Enabled: true
ID: [email protected]

Name: Autofill Forms
Version: 0.9.9.0
Enabled: true
ID: [email protected]

Name: CoolPreviews
Version: 3.9
Enabled: true
ID: {CE6E6E3B-84DD-4cac-9F63-8D2AE4F30A4B}

Name: DownloadHelper
Version: 4.9.21
Enabled: true
ID: {b9db16a4-6edc-47ec-a1f4-b86292ed211d}

Name: FastestFox
Version: 5.1.9
Enabled: true
ID: [email protected]

Name: Forecastfox
Version: 2.2.2
Enabled: true
ID: {0538E3E3-7E9B-4d49-8831-A227C80A7AD3}

Name: RealDownloader
Version: 1.3.0
Enabled: true
ID: {34712C68-7391-4c47-94F3-8F88D49AD632}

Name: Skype Click to Call
Version: 6.11.0.13348
Enabled: false
ID: {82AF8DCA-6DE9-405D-BD5E-43525BDAD38A}

Name: Symantec Intrusion Prevention
Version: 11.3.0.9 - 5
Enabled: false
ID: {BBDA0591-3099-440a-AA10-41764D9DB4DB}

Important Modified Preferences
------------------------------

accessibility.blockautorefresh: true
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.fixup.alternate.enabled: false
browser.places.importBookmarksHTML: false
browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 4
browser.search.useDBForOrder: true
browser.startup.homepage: http://www.google.com/
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20130910160258
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 24.0
browser.tabs.loadInBackground: false
dom.w3c_touch_events.expose: false
extensions.lastAppVersion: 24.0
font.internaluseonly.changed: false
font.name.serif.x-western: MS Serif
keyword.URL: http://safesearchr.lavasoft.com/?source=3336ca5f&tbp=url&toolbarid=adawaretb&u=C62D2EDBC1CD06F4A1796A507D57859A&q=
network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
places.database.lastMaintenance: 1379701465
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 103753
places.history.expiration.transient_optimal_database_size: 166003506
places.last_vacuum: 1306242624
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf
plugin.importedState: true
print.print_printer: hp LaserJet 1320 PCL 5
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_bgcolor: false
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_bgimages: false
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_command:
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_downloadfonts: false
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_edge_bottom: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_edge_left: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_edge_right: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_edge_top: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_evenpages: true
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_footercenter:
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_footerleft: &PT
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_footerright: &D
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_headercenter:
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_headerleft: &T
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_headerright: &U
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_in_color: true
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_margin_bottom: 0.5
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_margin_left: 0.5
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_margin_right: 0.5
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_margin_top: 0.5
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_oddpages: true
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_orientation: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_page_delay: 50
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_pagedelay: 500
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_paper_data: 1
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_paper_height: 11.00
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_paper_size_type: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_paper_size_unit: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_paper_width: 8.50
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_reversed: false
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_scaling: 0.70
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_shrink_to_fit: false
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_to_file: false
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
print.printer_Adobe_PDF.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_bgcolor: false
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_bgimages: false
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_command:
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_downloadfonts: false
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_edge_bottom: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_edge_left: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_edge_right: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_edge_top: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_evenpages: true
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_footercenter:
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_footerleft: &PT
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_footerright: &D
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_headercenter:
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_headerleft: &T
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_headerright: &U
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_in_color: true
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_margin_bottom: 0.5
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_margin_left: 0.5
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_margin_right: 0.5
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_margin_top: 0.5
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_oddpages: true
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_orientation: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_page_delay: 50
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_pagedelay: 500
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_paper_data: 1
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_paper_height: 11.00
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_paper_size_type: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_paper_size_unit: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_paper_width: 8.50
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_reversed: false
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_scaling: 0.70
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_shrink_to_fit: false
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_to_file: false
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
print.printer_hp_LaserJet_1320_PCL_5.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0
privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true
security.warn_viewing_mixed: false
storage.vacuum.last.index: 1
storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1379520217

Graphics
--------

Adapter Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics
Adapter Drivers: igdumd64 igd10umd64 igdumdx32 igd10umd32
Adapter RAM: Unknown
Device ID: 0x0046
Direct2D Enabled: Blocked for your graphics driver version. Try updating your graphics driver to version 8.1500.1000.2202 or newer.
DirectWrite Enabled: false (6.1.7600.16972)
Driver Date: 3-31-2010
Driver Version: 8.15.10.2104
GPU #2 Active: false
GPU Accelerated Windows: 1/1 Direct3D 9
Vendor ID: 0x8086
WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0)
windowLayerManagerRemote: false
AzureCanvasBackend: skia
AzureContentBackend: none
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo

JavaScript
----------

Incremental GC: true

Accessibility
-------------

Activated: false
Prevent Accessibility: 0

Library Versions
----------------

NSPR
Expected minimum version: 4.10
Version in use: 4.10

NSS
Expected minimum version: 3.15.1 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.15.1 Basic ECC

NSSSMIME
Expected minimum version: 3.15.1 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.15.1 Basic ECC

NSSSSL
Expected minimum version: 3.15.1 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.15.1 Basic ECC

NSSUTIL
Expected minimum version: 3.15.1
Version in use: 3.15.1

Hi David, it appears that the malware is installed at the Windows level, outside of Firefox. You can try a forum such as the following for concentrated assistance with removal when the do-it-yourself tools are not immediately effective:

• http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/f/22/virus-trojan-spyware-and-malware-removal-logs/
• http://forums.malwarebytes.org//index.php?showforum=7