problems accessing websites using Yahoo Search only
Here is the problem and "only when I use Yahoo Search" with FireFox I click on a link a window pops open and will say (I'm using an example link) You have chosen to open
which is a: application/octet-stream from http://search.yahoo.com What should Firefox do with this file? Open with Save file
Now if I click on the cached area of any link it will take me to something like below (using this link as an example)
You have reached the cached page for http://www.firefox.com/ Below is a snapshot of the Web page as it appeared on 4/21/2011. This is the version of the page that was used for ranking your search results. The page may have changed since it was last cached. To see what might have changed (without the highlights), go to the current page. You searched for: firefox We have highlighted matching words that appear in the page below.
So basically in yahoo search I can't just click on a web link and go directly to it without it first asking if I want to open with, or save ,or I can click on the cached link and go through all the above and finally get to the website This just recently started happening. And it does not happen when I use Google search,nor does it happen when I use IE,I tried to explain this to Yahoo Support but they will not move pass it being a virus or Firefox issue. Can you tell me have you encountered this problem? I use Spybot Search Destroy,Windows Defender,SpywareBlaster,and my antivirus is Avast.All scans always turn up ok. I'm having No problem with my computer,this is the only problem I'm encountering.
All Replies (6)
Someone else posted this same problem earlier today: https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/813669
I'm going to repeat my same reply, but if there is a pattern with Yahoo, maybe they changed something (not for the better)?
Normally search results are regular web page sent to Firefox as text/html content. If the server indicates it is application/octet-stream content, then Firefox will treat it as a download. This definitely is not normal for search results.
Something is wrong with the way your Firefox is interacting with Yahoo. Assuming it's not something Yahoo changed, it could be malware, since malware has targeted search engine links in the past. Have you done a thorough scrubbing? To supplement your regular full-time antivirus software, you can try:
SuperAntispyware http://www.superantispyware.com/index.html
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
I have ran all my programs to see if there's anything I also downloaded and ran the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scan came up clean I do not believe this is a virus,or malware,or adware,because I don't have this problem using Google Search,nor do I have it if I use IE FireFox works fine except when I try to use the Yahoo Search This is puzzling and I will continue to hope someone can come up with a solution In the meantime I will use Google Search and keep doing research on the internet to see if others are having this issue besides just myself and the other person who posted.
Problem confirmed. This has nothing to do with viruses or malware. It involves clicking on Yahoo search results when using only Firefox 3.6.16 or 3.6.10 on 2 different computers. Same search using Google on Firefox with no problems. IE is fine with either search engine.
Modified by magnetman
Okay, I can replicate this on Firefox 3.6.16 on Windows XP. (On my new Windows 7 PC with Firefox 4, Yahoo seems to work fine.)
For some results, I get a strange partially blank popup. If I cancel the popup and click again the link works fine. In other cases, I get a partial page of gibberish. If I go back and click again, it works fine. This is pretty annoying.
The problem seems to be with the Yahoo tracking script. When you click a link, you will notice that instead of immediately displaying the destination URL in the status bar, there is a yahoo.com URL followed by a bunch of seemingly random characters.
I was using Yahoo logged out, but I'm not sure it makes any difference.
It is possible to bypass the Yahoo tracking links by rewriting part of the page. One approach would be a userscript, or there might be an add-on.
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Okay, I posted a Greasemonkey userscript: Yahoo Search Tracking Clean dirtyhref. This assumes you would be willing to install the Greasemonkey extension. (You can get that using the search box in the Add-ons dialog.)
Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
Ok ,well I just got a email from Yahoo Support (I sent many,many)and in the beginning they kept insisting it was malware,or a virus,this now has changed. The email says they're currently investigating the issue and have determined that this is a problem on their end. They are working to resolve this. I do hope that a lot of people who are experiencing this have not let up on contacting Yahoo,and I do know that they are hard to contact,the support is not easily obtained,but you just have to be persistent till you get one person who is willing to go beyond the standard answer they give to a lot of problems people present to them..and this isn't just Yahoo,but others,who will automatically blame it on a virus,ad-ware,malware-or in this case even the firefox browser. So please submit your complaints to Yahoo this will make them work harder if they see how many people are effected . I did try the firefox safe mode that was brought up earlier,this did not do anything and I more or less felt it wouldn't,but wanted to give it a try. Now I will wait to see how long it takes for Yahoo to resolve this problem.
Hi Everyone I started this Post,but at the time there was others who had this same problem,so I just wanted to let everyone know that Yahoo has fixed the problem on their end Since it was on their end. I just went back to yahoo search and all is well (fingers crossed) I like yahoo as my homepage It was a problem that may have been solved sooner had yahoo realized it was their problem,but usually unless Alot of people complain they narrow it down to a individuals problem. So I appreciate all the post , thanks bunches.