We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Natao arisiva ity resaka mitohy ity. Mametraha fanontaniana azafady raha mila fanampiana.

Yahoo keeps coming back no matter what! >:(

more options

Stupid Yahoo keeps coming back. I used to be able to just stop it by going to Options and removing it from the list of search engines and then resetting my home page to Google. However, this time around it has come back and nothing I do will make it go away. I DO NOT LIKE YAHOO AND IT IS RIDICULOUS TO KEEP CHANGING MY PREFERENCES ON ME. I find this unacceptable of Firefox to do this.

This time around, I can find no reason for it to be there. I have removed it from my search engine preference and just left Google there. I have made Google my home page. It is not listed as any plugin, nor as any extension, nor as a program on my computer, so I can't uninstall or disable it. I cannot find anywhere on Firefox where I can easily block a website address without adding a plugin to do that.

This is totally stupid. I have a very high opinion of Firefox until this constant irritation has become a permanent problem.

STOP IT! Firefox, have you sold out to Yahoo? What point is there to being an open-source free software if you have sold out to a company and forced them upon us with no recourse to remove it? Completely unacceptable! If I can't remove stupid Yahoo, then I'll have to go to the darkside and look at using a different browser. >:(

Stupid Yahoo keeps coming back. I used to be able to just stop it by going to Options and removing it from the list of search engines and then resetting my home page to Google. However, this time around it has come back and nothing I do will make it go away. I DO NOT LIKE YAHOO AND IT IS RIDICULOUS TO KEEP CHANGING MY PREFERENCES ON ME. I find this unacceptable of Firefox to do this. This time around, I can find no reason for it to be there. I have removed it from my search engine preference and just left Google there. I have made Google my home page. It is not listed as any plugin, nor as any extension, nor as a program on my computer, so I can't uninstall or disable it. I cannot find anywhere on Firefox where I can easily block a website address without adding a plugin to do that. This is totally stupid. I have a very high opinion of Firefox until this constant irritation has become a permanent problem. STOP IT! Firefox, have you sold out to Yahoo? What point is there to being an open-source free software if you have sold out to a company and forced them upon us with no recourse to remove it? Completely unacceptable! If I can't remove stupid Yahoo, then I'll have to go to the darkside and look at using a different browser. >:(

All Replies (2)

more options

I have read and tried everything I have found online for this issue. Currently, I have found a fix, although I don't know how long that will last before I open my browser and yet again find Yahoo to be added back.

I uninstalled Firefox from my computer. Then I went to Internet Explorer and use that to reinstall Firefox. Then, I made sure that Yahoo wasn't in my search engines (just Google), and then made sure that Google was my homepage. Double checked that it wasn't listed in extensions/plugins, etc.

Currently, the scourge that is named Yahoo is gone. Hopefully it stays that way. However, Firefox has completely lost my son as a user since he got so tired of Yahoo a while a go that he has become a happy Chrome user. That is too bad, as he is an older een and instead of being a life-long Firefox user, he is anti-firefox.

I am unsure where this stupid Yahoo things has come from, as so many times I have removed it from his computer (and mine) only to find an update or whatever has put it back again and removed Google from being our home page. At least for today, Yahoo is gone, but if the past has taught me anything, it is just temporarily dormant, like some chicken pox virus that is just waiting there, lurking in the shadows, waiting to come out again in the form of shingles (aka Yahoo) to plague us once more. >:(

more options

Hi Jenny, Firefox is designed to allow you to change your default search engine once and remember it permanently. One situation in which Firefox will reset your default search engine is if you use the Refresh feature.

In other threads, users who removed ALL of the search engines other than their default had problems keeping their default when Firefox updated. Instead, try just unchecking unwanted search engines to remove them from the search bar drop-down.

If it changes under other circumstances, the cause might be an extension, locked settings files, or external software.

To address those possibilities, here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons and other hijackers. I know it seems long, but it's really not that bad.

(For Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10; XP is somewhat different)

(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.

(2) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
  • in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
    firefox.exe "about:addons"

In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. All extensions are optional; none come with Firefox.

Often 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.

Any improvement?

(3) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.