maybe this article will help you out:

Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page

Thanks for that, and for the amazing promptness!

Yes, I've read something similar about Ask (which is also the engine behind Norton Safe Search) taking over the search tool bar via NIS, but sadly that's not my problem.

My Nav toolbar is unmolested, but I do have this large ugly unnecessary orange lump cluttering the screen, and seems to be shadowing what I put into Google; I sometimes find the same text I've typed into the Search pane on the Nav bar turning up in the Safe Search pane (see screenshot).

I want to use the Safe Web feature, so I need to keep the toolbar running, but I also really want to get rid of this annoying eyesore.

Thanks all the same for the effort, though. Much appreciated.

does this large ugly unnecessary orange lump happen in Internet explorer as well? Does it turn up in the "Safe mode" - see Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode ?

Hey Smo.

I don't have time to check that right now, but will have a look when I return from work and get back.

Thanks for helping.

Kif

This is the correct and #1 solution Open your Norton 360 , click settings, enter your password if there is one, click on Identity Protection top right, 1st selection in the list, click configure, a dialog box opens, at the bottom of this dialog box, at the left, there is this icon that looks like a gear, click on it, another dialog box opens, next to where it says "options" remove the check out of the box, next to, which says enable Norton Safe Search. You're done. No need to save, you're done, the safe search has been removed. If you want to remove the whole toolbar, you can do that too,

I wouldn't recommend that because this thing helps save your usernames and passwords, for a safer sign in experience, because there are hackers out there who can watch your keystrokes, also who can hack into your computer and steal your user names and passwords.

Hi Alexander.

Thanks for that. I followed your instructions, but found only options to turn off Safe Web and Safe Share, but not Safe Search (screenshot attached).

So sadly it didn't work, but thanks all the same.

Kif

Sorry for the long delay.

Yes, it's in IE8 and I can't turn if off there, either.

Ok I didn't see your second post till now, but I had the same problem in Windows xp Professional, 1st I checked Windows 7, then Windows Vista Ultimate, it was working fine there, but when I checked Windows XP Pro, I had to do some research but couldn't find any, so I called Norton Support, they were very helpful, What she told me to do was disable the toolbar in all the browsers, make sure all errors are fixed with your Norton 360 after opening it, if there are any to fix, I had to fix it in my XP because I thought it was because I haven't ran it in about a month. To make a long story even longer lol... After disabling the Norton Tool bars in all your browsers, run live update until it says completed after processing, and pending reads not required. Make sure you update it until it says not required. Don't turn on those tool bars just yet, after updating; follow my previous instructions, to see if the options show up, she told me it should fix the problem in windows 8 as well. But if it does not; Create an account in the Norton Community, because these people have administrators there that can offer you fixes. It's free with the Norton 360. The browser communities have no idea about these updates, The Norton Community does. But if you do see those options then re-enable those tool bars and you are good to go. Hope this works this time.

Hi and thanks again.

When I find time (how often do I find myself saying that?!) I'll give it a go.

I'm on XP SP3. I gave Vista a very wide berth, and given Win7 came and went just as quickly, I'm quite happy to keep it that way.

The interesting thing is I have the same software on the same browser on the same OS on my laptop, and Safe Search is off.

Cheers,

Kif

UPDATE!!

Since posting this, I got a pointer.

I don't use any SocNets, so I have the Identity Protection in N360 Settings set to "off", as I'm not inclined to terrorise celebrities or to distress grieving relatives in 140 characters or less. I activated it, went into Config, and the missing NSS on/off box that wasn't there before was now visible. Hooray!

I deselected NSS, then saved to return to Settings. Then deactivated ID Protect again and backed out of N360. Loaded Firefox, and NSS was gone from the Norton Toolbar (NTB). So that has worked. :-)

Why it's worked I don't know. It could be that a subsequent update fixed the issue, or it might be just a quirk. Why Symantec chose to bury an NTB setting three layers deep and remove the options button from the bar itself is beyond comprehension (along with a number of annoying changes since N360 v5 in 2011).

All the same, many thanks for those who had a crack at this. Salutations!

Kif

Thank you Alexanderemrys. That worked perfectly for removing the Norton Safe Search portion on the toolbar.