I'm unable to turn off Search Suggestions in Firefox 10.0.2.
I unchecked the "Show Search Suggestions" box in the "Manage Search Engines" pane. No change. Restarted Windows and the box was still unchecked, but the Google search suggestions still appear as I'm typing my search phrase. They also appear on sites like IMDB. How can I turn the suggestions off?
Modified by Jutt
All Replies (8)
Hi,
Please also Remove All Cookies or Remove Cookies for the individual sites in Tools ('Alt + T) > Options > Privacy > Show Cookies.
Remove all Cookies????
This is NOT a solution - it simply masks the problem for a while - until the cookies come back.
Why doesn't the program work correctly when the "Show Search Suggestions" box is unchecked???
Because it's CRAP, that's why!
Sites like Google show such suggestions by default.
Some have a way to disable suggestions in their settings or allow to disable suggestions otherwise.
This Google search site doesn't have them, but enables autocomplete instead.
See also:
- Tools > Options > Privacy > History: "Remember search and form history"
Modified by cor-el
It seems impossible to me for Firefox to have a single checkbox solution to disable all search engine suggestions, even for search engines that do not allow that, unless the coding disables sending till the return key is hit. If that is true, Firefox appears to be broken. My intent in disabling the search suggestions is to prevent sites from watching what I'm typing in case I change my mind before I send the completed text. This applies to any site I visit, not just Google. As I noted in my original post, IMDB was monitoring my typing.
Modified by Jutt
You can look at NoScript to block the JavaScript that controls the monitoring.
I run Noscript. If I block Google, it won't search at all. I think the problem is that Firefox is sending out keystrokes when typed instead of waiting for the "Return" key.
I'd like to hear from a developer. Is the intent of Firefox to transmit keystrokes to websites as typed or complete sentences on "Return" key? And is the "Search suggestions" check box intended to overide scripts that grab keystrokes? Thanks.
Modified by Jutt
Firefox has control over the (Google) search bar on the Navigation Toolbar.
So it is possible to disable the search suggestions when you do a search via the search bar.
On web pages there runs a script that monitors key presses and sends data to the server which responses by sending a (JSON) file that the script that has send the request interprets and shows as suggestions in a drop down list.
In such a case only blocking that request or the involved script(s) can prevent that.
Maybe someone ar the NoScript forum has a suggestion how to deal with this.