Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

ابحث في الدعم

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

I have been using firefox start, however today for no reason when I click my icon for mozilla it goes to ask.com. I do not want this I want firefox back, please assist?

more options

I cannot get the firefox start web search engine back to my screen even though the icon is there in the bar. When I click the mozilla icon, ask.com comes up for the search engine. I do not want ask.com I want mozilla firefox start back. Can you help?

I cannot get the firefox start web search engine back to my screen even though the icon is there in the bar. When I click the mozilla icon, ask.com comes up for the search engine. I do not want ask.com I want mozilla firefox start back. Can you help?

All Replies (1)

more options

upgrade your browser to Firefox 8 first

There are a couple of places to check for the Ask.com toolbar:-

1) Check the Windows Control Panel for the Ask Toolbar - Uninstall them

2) Start Firefox in Safe Mode by holding down SHIFT key while starting Firefox

  • As an alternative method, use Win + R key combination and enter one of the following in the Windows Run box:
  • firefox -safe-mode
  • "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -safe-mode
  • "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -safe-mode

-> Firefox Safe Mode window will appear -> DON'T SELECT ANY OPTIONS, just click Continue in Safe Mode

-> Check your list of extensions, you may be able to Uninstall it from there

3) Restore the default home page

4) Search Bar - Removing a Search Engine

5) Restore Default Search Engine

Type about:config in the Location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key. When you see a warning, click I'll be careful, I promise! button.

   Preferences that have been modified are shown as bold (user set).
   Preferences can be Reset to the default or changed via the right-click context menu. 

-> In the Filter bar, type keyword.URL

   Right click the preference keyword.URL and click Reset
   OR choose Modify -> Replace the text with http://www.google.com/search?q= and then click OK 

-> In the Filter bar, type browser.startup.homepage

   right-click the preference browser.startup.homepage and choose Reset from the menu 

-> In the Filter bar, type browser.search.selectedEngine

   right-click the preference browser.search.selectedEngine and choose Reset from the menu 

-> Now finally in the Filter bar, type ask.com

   This will show the remaining ask.com related preferences
   Reset all ask.com related Preferences to their Default values (right-click a preference and click Reset) 

-> Close the about:config tab and then Restart Firefox.

Modified by Swarnava Sengupta