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.

Search Support

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

Ask.com has commandeered my lovely mozilla search engine. I want the easy steps to delete their program which I cannot find to get my mozilla search engine back

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by FredMcD

more options

I have a laptop which doesn't need help. I have also a computer which does. The computer is in need of help. It has the same windows 7 program as the laptop.

I downloaded a free pdf to doc for what I thought was to let me view the basketball. But what it did was to hijack my mozilla search engine. I went into my programs installed to uninstall but I couldn't find the Ask.com search engine. I believe the program can be also called SmileyCentral but it was not there.

Can anyone tell me how to get back my mozilla. I am only just not particularly computer literate.

I don't know whether one program might be rogue one. It is called ABBY'Y fine reader 9.0 Sprint perhaps someone can help me please. There was no Ask.com on my browser when I downloaded what I thought was just a program.

I have a laptop which doesn't need help. I have also a computer which does. The computer is in need of help. It has the same windows 7 program as the laptop. I downloaded a free pdf to doc for what I thought was to let me view the basketball. But what it did was to hijack my mozilla search engine. I went into my programs installed to uninstall but I couldn't find the Ask.com search engine. I believe the program can be also called SmileyCentral but it was not there. Can anyone tell me how to get back my mozilla. I am only just not particularly computer literate. I don't know whether one program might be rogue one. It is called ABBY'Y fine reader 9.0 Sprint perhaps someone can help me please. There was no Ask.com on my browser when I downloaded what I thought was just a program.

Modified by NoahSUMO

All Replies (2)

more options

Hello Magestic,

It seems you have been infected by some malware.If it is only the "Search Engine" that has been altered then can you just check by typing into the url bar "about:preferences#search" and try changing the DefaultSearchEngine to your preferred one.

more options

If the above does not help,

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

Run most or all of the listed malware scanners. Each works differently. If one program misses something, another may pick it up.