SPCR

This is my most recent reason to hate Microsoft.

I was doing a secure wipe and clean install on my sister's HP XP MCE 2005 computer. I restored the Firefox profile before all critical updates were acquired from Windows Update. Somewhere along the way Microsoft hijacked the Firefox address bar and substituted the sorry Bing search engine. Entering a web address without www and .com yields a search that doesn't even show the web site that was entered.

To solve this maddening screw-up requires finding and entering the correct string in the Firefox configuration utility. I wasted thirty minutes finding a solution.

Should I send Balmer a bill for my time?

Every other search engine can do the same to Internet Explorer if it makes you feel any better. Personally, I'd rather have it configurable than not.

Bing's search is pretty good in my experience.

Michael Sandstrom wrote:This is my most recent reason to hate Microsoft.

I was doing a secure wipe and clean install on my sister's HP XP MCE 2005 computer. I restored the Firefox profile before all critical updates were acquired from Windows Update. Somewhere along the way Microsoft hijacked the Firefox address bar and substituted the sorry Bing search engine. Entering a web address without www and .com yields a search that doesn't even show the web site that was entered.

To solve this maddening screw-up requires finding and entering the correct string in the Firefox configuration utility. I wasted thirty minutes finding a solution.

Should I send Balmer a bill for my time?

I thought something was up when I saw Bing instead of Google as the search engine in Firefox. Did you switch it back to Google?

Oh, I just fixed it on my own and it was very simple: I just clicked the drop-down menu and selected Google.

JVM wrote:Oh, I just fixed it on my own and it was very simple: I just clicked the drop-down menu and selected Google.

JVM, I was describing a hijacked smart address bar not a hijacked search bar.

One time Yahoo hijacked something of mine, I think it was my default browser page. When I tried to change it demanded to know why. Oh well since you requested I empty both barrels at you then so be it.

I think Yahoo and Google have ended up in my browser's menu bar area, but not recently.

I've also removed Yahoo from my default startup programs more times than I can count. Guess what continues to start every time I boot? And when that boot is complete I give Yahoo "Das Boot."

Arses.

This is one great thing about Spybot, it asks for permission to change the registry, so I can usually stop something before the dreaded final step is completed.

I like bing search better, but I'll be honest, ever since I switched to Firefox and started using Adblock, the search engine choice makes a lot less difference anyway, since it already blocks all the obnoxious ads.

Blocks obnoxious ads?

You mean you prefer totally blank pages?