I fricken HATE AOL
 

Long story as to why, but recently I allowed AOL to update its SW on my work computer. It installed some component into Firefox that I cannot seem to find or eradicate.

Formerly, in Firefox, if I wanted to go to say, Yahoo, I could just type "yahoo" in the URL space at the top (I know there is a name for that, I just can't think of it at the moment), hit enter,and it would take me to www.yahoo.com.

NOW, when I do the same thing, it takes me to an AOL Search Results page.

When I first did the upgrade, AOL REALLY took over Firefox, even made AOL my home page (not something I clicked to allow) as well as other issues. I was able to fix most of it by getting rid of the Firefox Extension that AOL installed. I also removed the AOL cookies. But this one last thing evades my efforts to rid myself of the scourge.

The only extension currently installed is Talkback (which reports program crashes back to Mozilla). Any suggestions on what I may be missing?

BTW: are "add-ons" the same as "extensions"?

Can't you reinstall a regular version of Firefox?

Change the search mode in the address field

By default, if you enter a search term in the address field and press Enter, a Google "I'm Feeling Lucky" search is performed, and you're taken to the first result of that search directly. If you prefer to see the standard search result list instead, use about:config to change the value of the preference keyword.URL to http://www.google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=.

Of course, you could also change to a completely different search engine by changing the string to something else. The default search string is: "http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&q=".

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So basically what you have to do to restore the default behavior is enter "about:config" in the Address Bar, scroll down to the preference "keyword.URL" and change the value to "http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&q="

Add-ons and extensions are basically the same. Go into "Tools" - "Add-ons" and check under the Extensions tab for something from AOL. Also check what your Homepage is now set to. It wouldn't surprise me if AOL changed that too.

You rock Keith!!! That took care of it.

Thank you!

Thanks for the tips. I had already done both of those steps.

Well... Feh... Heh... Fine then, see if I ever help again! :p


;)

Sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound snarky. I did appreciate your help. I was just letting you know that I had done those things (although I did mention them in my OP :p)

I think this thread should be named A-O- HELL. ;) :p

Just kidding Kevy, AOL is not one of my personal favorites.

I can't stand AOL either. It is our backup email source.

Ah, ok. My complaint is that it seems like they have a ton of spam now, that's all.

What's AOL? Is that some kind of support group or something? ;)

AOL is a virus that takes over your computer and is impossible to delete except via formatting your drive.

Exactly.


Glad I could help Kevy... AOL really go to great lengths to piss its users off- installing extra bookmarks and changing preferences all with out asking. Even installing AIM pisses me off because of all the crap it adds or changes.

It amazes me that people still use AOL. My father does (and he emails quite a bit).

I guess they do a good job for people who need it overly simplified.

No worries bro! Just being facetious! Glad you got it worked out. :)

Well, my initial response was a little bit snarky.

My parents are so attached to AOL. They hate surfing away from sites that are not AOL related or that they found with another search engine. It's weird.