Remove Firefox Search Bar

Antilope · 14 Dec 2015

I didn't like the Firefox Search Bar. I rarely used it. It takes up valuable real estate that can be used by other ADD-ONS Icons.
I Just do my searches directly in Bing or Google.

To remove the Firefox Search Bar (this actually just moves it and stores it away, you can bring it back),

-Click on the upper right menu icon (three lines).
-Click CUSTOMIZE
-Left Click, Hold and Drag the Firefox Search Bar down to the Additional Tools and Features area. It will be saved there in case you want to bring it back.
-Click EXIT CUSTOMIZE.

The Firefox Search Bar is now gone and the space can be used to add additional ADD-ONS Icons.

If you want the Firefox Search Bar back, just drag it back to the original place after clicking CUSTOMIZE.

dickdunbar · 07 Jan 2016

Antilope said:

I didn't like the Firefox Search Bar.
-Left Click, Hold and Drag the Firefox Search Bar down to the Additional Tools and Features area.
.

If you're interested in saving screen real estate, and extra toolbar line doesn't do that.

I drag the search bar to the toolbar menu at the top, to the right of "Help".

And ... I still cannot figure out how to get rid of that awful Bing search engine.
I remove it as an option in firefox, change my default to Google,
and Bing comes bouncing back when firefox is restarted.

I no longer consider this to be a Windows 10 issue ... it's a firefox issue.

Anyone know how to stop this behaviour?

dickdunbar · 07 Jan 2016

Resolved ... Windows 10 Build 10586.36
firefox 43.04 chrome 47.0.2526.106

dickdunbar said:

I no longer consider this to be a Windows 10 issue ... it's a firefox issue.

Determined to find out how Bing was being restored in firefox,
I used sysinternals "procmon" to trace firefox startup. Nothing Bing related showed up.

After weeks of searching, I am now embarrassed to report:
- Firefox plugin ( "Bing Search") and Chrome extension ("MSN Home Page and Bing Search") were causing this.
- Remove these and reset the advanced search settings:
* Remove Bing & Friends as search engines
* Restore Google as default search
- Test search is now using Google
- Restart the browser.

I am not concerned with Internet Explorer or Edge browsers because I never use them
( call me old fashioned, I don't like being pushed around ).

If I need Active X functionality on a site, I use firefox/chrome AddOn "Fire IE" or "IE Tab"
to render the site on firefox/chrome using the IE engine.

I already purchased a late model Macbook Pro laptop to start my migration,
but it involves exploring multiple ways I can keep my Windows purchased software
running fast on OSX. It's a lot of work, but I am completely discouraged that Windows
will ever restore stability, safety and speed to my work environment.

Bye