Unable to search or add new engines: Difference between revisions
Alice Wyman (talk | contribs) (→Search Bar not working and cannot add new search engines: removed Firefox 1.5 issue) |
Alice Wyman (talk | contribs) (→Spyware and malware: updated SpywareInfo forum link, added Malwarebytes forum) |
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===Spyware and malware=== | ===Spyware and malware=== | ||
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware Spyware] and other malicious software (malware), including variants of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vundo Vundo/Virtumonde] trojan, can cause certain sites to never finish loading and Google, Yahoo!, or other search engines may fail. For example, after entering a search in Google, "Waiting for www.google.com..." may remain in the status bar and no results will be returned. Your antivirus program may not detect the malware so you should install and scan your system with | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware Spyware] and other malicious software (malware), including variants of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vundo Vundo/Virtumonde] trojan, can cause certain sites to never finish loading and Google, Yahoo!, or other search engines may fail. For example, after entering a search in Google, "Waiting for www.google.com..." may remain in the status bar and no results will be returned. Your antivirus or antispyware program may not detect the malware so you should install and scan your system with a different application that specializes in spyware and malware removal, such as one of these free antispyware products: [http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=1&comments_parentId=52679] [http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=1&comments_parentId=55745] [http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=1&comments_parentId=52696] [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=648153&start=30] | ||
* [http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware] | |||
* [http://www.superantispyware.com/ SUPERAntiSpyware] | |||
* [http://www.spybot.info/ Spybot Search & Destroy]. | |||
A number of online forums can help you with malware removal, including those at [http://forums.spybot.info/ Safer Networking (Spybot S&D forums)], [http://www.spywareinfoforum.com/ SpywareInfo forums]. [http://www.spywarewarrior.com/index.php Spyware Warrior], [http://www.castlecops.com/forums.html CastleCops], [http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/ Malwarebytes], and [http://forum.aumha.org/ AumHa Forums]. | |||
==Search Bar not working and cannot add new search engines== | ==Search Bar not working and cannot add new search engines== |
Revision as of 01:17, 17 November 2008
Unable to search
Extensions
- XPL LinkScanner: The "XPL LinkScanner Firefox 2.6" extension can cause searches to fail [1] or Firefox may crash when using various search engines. Disable or uninstall this extension in Firefox via "Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions".
- AVG Safe Search: The "AVG Safe Search" Firefox extension is included with AVG 8 Free Antivirus as part of the LinkScanner component. Among other issues, this extension is reported (in Firefox 3) to cause problems with Google search results [2] Disable this extension in Firefox via "Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions".
For more information, see the entries for these extensions in the Problematic extensions article.
Spyware and malware
Spyware and other malicious software (malware), including variants of the Vundo/Virtumonde trojan, can cause certain sites to never finish loading and Google, Yahoo!, or other search engines may fail. For example, after entering a search in Google, "Waiting for www.google.com..." may remain in the status bar and no results will be returned. Your antivirus or antispyware program may not detect the malware so you should install and scan your system with a different application that specializes in spyware and malware removal, such as one of these free antispyware products: [3] [4] [5] [6]
A number of online forums can help you with malware removal, including those at Safer Networking (Spybot S&D forums), SpywareInfo forums. Spyware Warrior, CastleCops, Malwarebytes, and AumHa Forums.
Search Bar not working and cannot add new search engines
If the Search Bar no longer works and you can't add new search engines, the problem may be a corrupt "search.sqlite" file. [7]. Try the following solution:
- Exit Firefox and go to your Firefox profile folder.
- Delete (or rename) the file "search.sqlite".
- Re-start Firefox to see if it solves your problem.