Why is Firefox severely limiting Bing Image Search results?
To start off, I'm using the latest version of Firefox on my Dell Inspiron 1440 laptop, running Win 7 Pro.
I use Bing for image searching, because it is better than Google, particularly for finding gifs. However, since last updating Firefox last week, Firefox has been crippling Bing's image search results. Instead of pages of images, I get a limited selection, most of which doesn't apply to what I've asked for. When I try the same query, in the exact same words, in both IE and Firefox, I get a good selection of images with IE 11, but a paltry few with Firefox.
At first I thought the problem was with Bing, but I checked IE 11 on this computer using Bing, and I don't have this problem with IE; the image search results are normal.
For instance, when I search "Donald Trump Memes" using Bing in Firefox:
(I would have a series of 7 images to illustrate my point, but for whatever reason they won't upload.)
All Replies (6)
Firefox itself should not do this.
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh).
Is the problem still there?
FredMcD said
Firefox itself should not do this. Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox. A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?
Yes, the problem is still there in Safe Mode, so I assume this means the problem isn't with one of my custom settings (such as requiring Flash to ask permission to run) or with AdBlock Plus (which I had already tested with it turned off).
FredMcD said
Firefox itself should not do this. Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox. A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?
I'm replying again to you because I just noticed something weird. When I turn off Safe Search in Bing with Firefox, I get the same results as with IE 11 in Moderate (default) Safe Search mode. In other words, turning off Safe Search causes the results to post as they should, even though the things I'm looking for are not in any way pornographic (this time, anyway ... heh heh).
I've been using "Donald Trump Meme" as a baseline to test the differences between IE 11 and Firefox. Does Firefox have some kind of bullshit filter (hahaha!) that I don't know about?
And now I'm laughing because I just tried "Funny Manure Gif" and I got the same problem: with Safe Search turned on it filtered out most of the images, with Safe Search off the results match IE full load, so to speak.
If it's not a bullshit filter, what is the problem? Is it a problem with Bing or with Firefox. Turning Safe Search off is an okay workaround for home, but could be a problem at work.
Hmmm. It might be the way the items were identified to the filter.
FredMcD said
Hmmm. It might be the way the items were identified to the filter.
The question remains, then, is this a problem with Firefox, or a problem with Bing? I was going to post a question to the Microsoft forums, before I saw that the problem didn't happen in IE 11, and I found this thread where someone is having a similar problem with their Opera browser:
The answer is a bit over my head and limited tech savvy ... something about user agents. Might this apply?
A "User Agent" is how the browser tells the website what browser, and what computer system. Yours is; User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:46.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/46.0
Windows 7-64bit using Firefox v 46. The rest I'm not sure about. I've called the big guys to help you. Good luck.