Been through the troubleshoot list (disable plug-ins etc).

Deleted all history, cookies, cleaned cache etc.

Deleted chromeappsstore.sqlite file & webappsstore.sqlite file, reset browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone and browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID again. Exited FF.

No joy still.

I haven't tried the malware stuff, but with the Mycroft google.co.uk, I do have a solution of sorts and I can't really put too much more time into this now.

Thanks for all your support guys.

Try to delete the search.sqlite and search.json files in the Firefox Profile Folder.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.

See "Basic Troubleshooting: Make a new profile":

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Basic+Troubleshooting#w_8-make-a-new-profile

There may be extensions and plugins installed by default in a new profile, so check that in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions & Plugins" in case there are still problems.

If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.

See:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

New profile is no different.

Thanks

Is this still a problem with both the search bar on the Navigation Toolbar and on the about:home page?

Try to do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\) before reinstalling a fresh copy of Firefox.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Installation_directory

Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.

• Firefox 14.0.x: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html

Uninstall your current Firefox version, if possible, to cleanup the Windows registry and settings in security software.

• Do NOT remove personal data when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because all profile folders will be removed and you will also lose your personal data like bookmarks and passwords from profiles of other Firefox versions.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

• It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox

Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure that "remove personal data" is NOT selected when you uninstall Firefox.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Clean_reinstall

Q. Is this still a problem with both the search bar on the Navigation Toolbar and on the about:home page?

A. Yes & No. Yes it is still a problem both places with google.com, however as posted above the mycroft google.co.uk works fine in the search bar on the navigation toolbar, but the search box in the middle of the about:home page never works. The other search choices (yahoo etc) all work in the search bar too. It is just google.com and I suspect it something to do with the way google.com re-directs in the UK to google.co.uk.

The point in all this is that it used to work before the update to 14.

Clean re-install tried (including deleting folder from program files), but no change.

You can inspect the current search engine via this code in the Web Console panel with the about:home page on display.
Paste this code in the Web Console command line that gets selected when you open that panel via:

• Firefox > Web Developer > Web Console or Ctrl+Shift+K.

localStorage["search-engine"]

Copy the result via the right-click context menu to the clipboard and paste it here.

"{\"name\":\"Google\",\"searchUrl\":\"https://www.google.com/search?q=_searchTerms_&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a\"}"

[09:16:11.325] "{\"name\":\"Google\",\"searchUrl\":\"https://www.google.com/search?q=_searchTerms_&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a\"}"